Kentucky Track & Field Racks Up 12 Event Wins at Louisville Opener
LOUISVILLE Ky. – The majority of the Kentucky Track & Field team began their 2024-25 campaign on Wednesday afternoon, competing in the Louisville Opener at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center. Featuring competition from Louisville and Texas, the meet saw the season debuts of the sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers. 12 Wildcats were able to earn event wins, with eight new top ten marks being added to the school record book.
Freshman Colin Wilson had the honor of earning the first event win of the season for the Cats, taking the Shot Put title with a top throw of 16.74m. Fellow Wildcat Grayson Brashear took second in the event with a top toss of16.50m.
Two more Wildcat wins followed shortly in the horizontal jumps, as Luke Brown won the Triple Jump and Morgan Davis took the top spot in the Long Jump. Brown, the defending SEC Champion in the Indoor and Outdoor Triple Jump, leaped 15.62m to coast to a win in his season debut. Davis, a regional qualifier in the outdoor Long Jump in her freshman campaign, leapt 6.08m to edge out her teammate, Aliyah Adams, and earn the victory. Adams, making her Kentucky debut after transferring from Western Illinois, earned second-place laurels with a top mark of 6.01m.
The Wildcats swept the sprint events in the Derby City, winning four event titles across the 60m Dash and 60m Hurdles. All-American Alexis Glasco led a sweep for the Wildcats in the Women’s 60m hurdles, taking the race in 8.21 seconds. Emmi Scales was second in 8.38 seconds while Kori Martin finished her collegiate debut in third with a mark of 8.82 seconds.
On the men’s side, Alexander Chukwukulu opened his sophomore campaign with a win in the 60m hurdles in 7.99 seconds, edging out teammate Anthony Waterman—another Wildcat freshman making his collegiate debut—who took second in 8.26 seconds.
In the 60m dash, freshman Sharmelle Holmes ran a new personal best in both of her prelim and final races, taking the top spot in each. Her final time of 7.37 seconds earned her the win in a photo finish, as she picked up an event win in her first race as a Wildcat.
Sophomore Miles Jones took the victory in the Men’s 60m Dash, setting a new personal best in 6.67 seconds, a mark that tied the eighth-fastest time in school history. Olympian Carlie Makarawu made his Wildcat debut in the 60m prelims, setting the top mark in the round at 6.75 seconds, but the junior transfer from New Mexico Junior College did not contest the final.
An All-American from a season ago, Payton Phillps continued her momentum from 2024 with a new indoor personal best performance in the Pole Vault. Phillips tied the highest mark in the competition at 4.30m but finished second due to more misses during the competition series. Her new mark equals her all-time personal best and is the third best indoor mark in Kentucky history.
Logan Coles and Kate Powers led a Wildcat sweep of the weight throws, with Coles taking the top spot in the Men’s division with a top heave of 19.73 meters. Powers set a new personal best with her performance, throwing the second-best mark in school history with her 21.52m performance.
Cha’iel Johnson won her season debut in the 600m in a personal best time of 1:30.83. Oneika McAnnuff led four Wildcats who set personal bests in the 300m, taking second in 38.04.
Makarawu also took second in the Men’s 300m, running 32.72 to set the third-fastest time in school history while also running under the previous facility record. The mark was also good enough to break the Zimbabwe national record in the event, giving the Harare native his third Zimbabwean record (200m Indoor and Outdoor). Two more top ten times in school history were set, as Shavique Bascus became the fifth fastest Wildcat in the event with his time of 33.33. Jones earned his second top ten time of the day with a mark of 33.52, good for sixth all-time.
The Wildcats will break for the holidays and return to the competition track in one month’s time, hosting the annual Rod McCravy Memorial at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center in Louisville on January 10 and 11.
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| Women’s Pentathlon | 3. Julia Gunnell – 3678 points (PB, No. 6 UK All-Time)
60H – 9.00 (PB) – 910 pts HJ – 1.58m/5-2.25 (PB) – 712 pts SP – 11.01m/36-1.50 (PB) – 596 pts LJ – 5.34m/17-6.25 (PB) – 654 pts 800 – 2:21.33 (PB) – 806 pts |
| Men’s Shot Put | 1. Colin Wilson – 16.74m/54-11.25 (PR)
2. Grayson Brashear – 16.50m/54-1.75 |
| Women’s Long Jump | 1. Morgan Davis – 6.08m/19-11.50
2. Aliyah Adams – 6.01m/19-8.75 |
| Men’s Triple Jump | 1. Luke Brown – 15.62m/51-3.00 |
| Women’s 60m Prelim | 1. Sharmelle Holmes – 7.38 Q
4. Briley Cline – 7.65 Q |
| Men’s 60m Prelim | 1. Carlie Makarawu – 6.75 Q
2. Miles Jones – 6.76 Q 5. Clinton Muunga – 6.84 Q 6. Shavique Bascus – 6.882 Q 7. Joshua Onwunili – 6.887 Q 8. Troy Lane – 6.91 q 9. Mekhai Williams-Villafane – 7.01 |
| Women’s Shot Put | 1. Amya Livingston – 13.52m/44-4.25 (PR) |
| Men’s Pole Vault | NH – Jordan Frank
NH – Brayden Jackson NH – Shane Racey |
| Women’s 60mH | 1. Alexis Glasco – 8.21
2. Emmi Scales – 8.34 3. Kori Martin – 8.82 |
| Men’s 60mH | 1. Alexander Chukwukulu – 7.99
2. Anthony Waterman – 8.26 |
| Women’s Triple Jump | 1. Sophie Galloway – 12.56m/41-2.50 |
| Men’s 60m Final | 1. Miles Jones – 6.67 (PR, No. 8 UK All-Time)
4. Clinton Muunga – 6.78 5. Shavique Bascus – 6.79 6. Joshua Onwunili – 6.83 (PR) 7. Troy Lane – 6.86 |
| Women’s 60m Final | 1. Sharmelle Holmes – 7.37 (7.364) (PR)
6. Briley Cline – 7.63 |
| Women’s 5000m | 4. Elly Heine – 17:50.23 (PR) |
| Men’s High Jump | 3. Donsten Brown – 2.00m/6-6.75 |
| Women’s Pole Vault | 2. Payton Phillips – 4.30m/14-1.25 (=PB, No. 3 UK All-Time)
6. Chelsea Wetzel – 3.90m/12-9.50 (No. 9 UK All-Time) 9. Kaitlyn Cain – 3.75m/12-3.50 11. Annie Murphy – 3.75m/12-3.50 |
| Women’s 500m | 4. Aliyah Allen – 1:19.50 |
| Men’s Weight Throw | 1. Logan Coles – 19.73m/64-8.75
2. DaRoyce Flemons – 18.35m/60-2.50 3. Grayson Brashear – 17.66m/75-11.25 (PR) 4. Colin Wilson – 15.55m/51-0.25 (PR) |
| Women’s 300m | 2. Oneika McAnnuff – 38.04 (PR)
4. Stacey Onyepunuka – 38.76 (PR) 8. A’Laji Bradley – 39.28 (PR) 10. Briley Cline – 40.11 (PR) 11. Ava Alexander – 40.25 |
| Men’s 300m | 2. Carlie Makarawu – 32.72 (PR, No. 3 UK All-Time)
3. Shavique Bascus – 33.33 (PR, No. 5 UK All-Time) 5. Miles Jones – 33.52 (PR, No. 6 UK All-Time) 7. Mekhai Williams-Villafane – 34.29 (PR) 9. Joshua Onwunili – 34.51 (PR) 10. Brandon Nyandoro – 34.63 (PR) T12. Troy Lane – 34.75 (PR) T12 – Brandon Miller – 34.75 17. Clinton Muunga – 35.44 (PR) 18. Anthony Waterman – 35.73 (PR) 19. Alexander Chukwukulu – 35.93 (PR) |
| Women’s 600m | 1. Cha’iel Johnson – 1:30.83 (PR) |
| Men’s 600m | 6. Christopher Adams – 1:23.98 (PR) |
| Women’s Weight Throw | 1. Kate Powers – 21.52m/70-7.25 (PR, No. 2 UK All-Time)
5. Amya Livingston – 14.03m/46-0.50 |
| Women’s 4x400m Relay | 3. Kentucky ‘A’ (Onyepunuka, McAnnuff, Bradley, Johnson) – 3:43.15
5. Kentucky ‘B’ (Scales, Martin, Glasco, Holmes) – 3:47.46 |
