Sharmelle Holmes Named SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kentucky Track & Field athlete Sharmelle Holmes earned the Southeastern Conference Women’s Freshman of the Week award of the 2025 season, the league office announced Tuesday. Holmes earned the honor after her performance at Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational last weekend where she set a new Kentucky freshman record in the 60m dash.
The Winnsboro, S.C. native, competing in only her second collegiate meet, stormed to a personal best time of 7.29 seconds to win the preliminary round of the 60m dash on Friday. In addition to shaving a near-tenth of a second off her personal best—set in her collegiate debut in December—Holmes broke the Kentucky Freshman Record in the event, a mark of 7.30 seconds set by NCAA and World Champion Abby Steiner in 2019. Holmes would win the semifinal round on Saturday before finishing third in the final.
Holmes currently holds the seventh fastest 60m time in the nation and is ranked second in the league in the event, including first among freshmen.
The Wildcat debutante also took home a third-place finish in the 200m on Saturday, stopping the clock at 23.96 seconds for her second personal best of the weekend. She ranks 15th in the NCAA in that event and second in the conference, including first among freshmen.
Holmes enters her freshman season at Kentucky after a stellar prep career at Fairfield Central High School, highlighted by winning the 2023-24 Gatorade South Carolina Girls Track & Field Player of the Year award. Holmes won four individual state titles her senior year—100m, 200m, Long Jump, and 4x100m—and was named an All-American via her fourth-place finish in the 100m at the 2024 New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
The Wildcats will return to the track this weekend as sprinters and jumpers compete at the Corky Classic in Lubbock, Texas while throwers and distance runners compete at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville. Both meets will take place from Friday, January 17 to Saturday, January 18.
Southeastern Conference Track & Field Weekly Awards – Week 1
| Men’s Runner | Auhmad Robinson | Texas A&M |
| Men’s Field | Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan | Ole Miss |
| Men’s Freshman | Aleksandr Solovev | Texas A&M |
| Women’s Runner | JaMeesia Ford | South Carolina |
| Women’s Field | Akaoma Odeluga | Ole Miss |
| Women’s Freshman | Sharmelle Holmes | Kentucky |
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