Jordan Anthony and Masai Russell Earn Silvers at NCAA Indoors

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Freshman sprinter Jordan Anthony and senior hurdler Masai Russell each earned silver medals on Saturday at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships leading both the Kentucky men’s and women’s teams to top-20 team finishes.

The women’s team placed 17th with 12 points while the men’s team finished tied for 19th with 11 points at the end of the two-day competition.

The UK women’s team has placed in the top-20 for the third year in a row. The UK women’s team has finished in the top-25 at the NCAA Indoor Championships each of the last 10 times they have been contested.

The men have been in the top-25 at the NCAA Indoor Championships three years in a row.

Medals

Freshman Jordan Anthony claimed his first NCAA Indoor Championship medal, a silver in the 60 meters on Saturday. The dual-sport athlete, who also plays wide receiver on the football team, finished in 6.55 seconds in the final to take second place. Anthony scored eight points with the result.

“It’s really a great experience,” Anthony said. “To be honest, to be able to be a freshman so young. Really just 18 racing against all the older kids, older people. Taking this experience and this moment, and just moving on forward to outdoors with Coach Hall. We just want to see what’s for us. Go BBN! Not bad for a football player.”

Just yesterday the freshman set a new career-best time of 6.54 in the prelims. His qualifying time beat his own UK freshman record, 6.55, at the TTU Red Raider Open in January. He tied Olympian Tim Harden on the UK all-time performers list who set the record back in 1995.

Masai Russell was just two-hundredths of a second shy of the win in the NCAA 60-meter hurdles final. Her time of 7.75 equaled her personal record, a then collegiate record at the TTU Red Raider Open in January.

Russell repeated as NCAA 60H silver medalist and earned eight points.

Russell has earned 11 medals over her UKTF career at Southeastern Conference and NCAA Championship meets.

UKTF collected a total of two medals at the championships and scored five top-eight finishes.

The top-eight finishers in each event score points at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The team that scored the most points at the end of the meet wins the team championship.

Notables

The women’s 4x400m relay team of Karimah Davis, Masai Russell, Megan Moss, and Dajour Miles placed fifth with a season best time of 3:29.08. Their time placed them fourth on the UK all-time performers list and earned the team four points.

Josh Sobota placed eighth in his NCAA Indoor Championship debut in the shot put. His best throw at 66’1.25”/20.15 meters, on his fifth attempt, earned the team a point.

Luke Brown placed 12th in the triple jump on a mark of 53’0.75”/16.17m.

The team will now shift its attention to the outdoor season which will start on March 17-18 with the Black & Gold Invite in Orlando, Florida.

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