UK Track & field Sees Nine Qualify for NCAAs Friday at East Prelims

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Nine more Kentucky Wildcats punched tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday during East Prelims at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium.


UK’s total through two days of the three-day meet is 11 entries that have moved on to compete at the NCAA Championships finals site in Austin, Texas — June 5-8.

Friday qualifiers
Chloe Abbott continued to display scintillating quarter-mile form, lowering her personal best for the second day running and coming out of East Prelims as top qualifier. Her 400m time of 51.32Q improved her No. 2 mark on the UK all-time list.

Senior SEC silver medalist Kianna Gray made NCAAs in the 100m for the fourth year in a row, running 11.27Q (+0.3), eighth best of the prelims. Celera Barnes made it to the NCAA Finals site in the 100m for the second year in a row, running 11.35q (+0.7), 10th best of the round.

Faith Ross and Masai Russell each lowered their PBs and respective Nos. 4 and 5 marks on the UK all-time 400m hurdles list en route to booking spots on the plane to NCAAs in Austin. Ross ran 56.71Q, third best of the quarters, and Russell was eighth fastest in 57.34.

Charles Lenford Jr. punched a ticket for his first NCAA trip in the men’s discus with a toss of 190’10”/58.09m Q (fifth place).

Noah Castle improved his PB by six inches with a mark of 190’7”/58.09m Q, which improved his No. 9 mark on the UK all-time list and got him the No. 7 NCAA Championships qualifying place. The senior made NCAAs in the discus for the second year in a row.

Elijah Marta got the last men’s javelin qualification spot, with a mark of 216’9”/66.07m Q (12th place). He qualified for the second year in a row.

Dwight St. Hillaire got a small q to advance to NCAAs in the men’s 400m for a second year in a row with a time of 45.89, ninth best of the quarterfinals.

Friday first-round advancers 
Russell and Ross advanced out of the women’s 100m hurdles first round as well. Russell got a big Q with a time of 13.19Q (+0.7) as did Faith Ross in 13.31Q (+0.8) – 13th.

Daniel Roberts (6th — 13.67Q +0.6), Tai Brown (12th – 13.81Q -0.6) and Caleb Wilt (20th – 13.94q +1.0) all advanced into Saturday’s 110m hurdles quarterfinal.

Four Wildcats – Steiner (fourth – 22.92Q +0.7), Gray (15th – 23.27Q +0.4), Abbott (17th – 23.29Q +0.4) and Barnes (23rd – 23.53q +0.6) – moved into the women’s 200m quarterfinal.

Freshman Jacob Smith moved into the men’s 200m QF with a time of 20.78Q (15th).

Thursday qualifiers
Ellen Ekholm as well as Matt Peare advanced to the NCAA Finals site as banner carriers for the Kentucky on Thursday.

Six more Wildcats advanced from the first round into quarterfinal races that ran Friday.

Ekholm earned one of the East Prelims’ 12 available places in the NCAA Outdoor Championships (finals site) high jump field in Austin, Texas. She cleared at 5’10.75”/1.80m on her second attempt after getting over on first tries at 5’7” and 5’8.75”. At that point she was tied for fourth and the field was already whittled down to the 12 who earned their trips to NCAAs so they stopped jumping.

The junior made the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the third year in a row. 

Peare cleared an outdoor PB 17’5”/5.31m on his second attempt, which was enough be amoung the 12 men’s pole vaulters remaining and stop jumping while tied for seventh with just one miss on his first attempt at that height. The sophomore made the NCAA Championships for the first time.

He moved to No. 2 on the UK outdoor all-time PV list, a half an inch from the outdoor school record. His indoor PB is 2.75” higher, achieved at the SEC Indoor Championships earlier this year, is the absolute (indoor/outdoor) school record.

Pre-meet primer
Kentucky entered 45 spots in the NCAA East Preliminary Championships.

The UK women’s entered 25 and the men’s team sent 20 entries to the meet.

The UK women’s team is ranked No. 4 and the Wildcat men are No. 21 in the latest edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association computer rankings.


The format 
The East and West regions are comprised of all Division I institutions in 25 states apiece for each of the two regions.
 
Twelve performers from each preliminary site advance to the NCAA Championships – hosted at Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.
 
The East and West Preliminary Championship intended to have parallel schedules. California State University, Sacramento will host NCAA West Prelims the same days.
 
For each individual event contested at each of the preliminary sites, the top 48 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition.  For each relay event, the top 24 declared relay teams were accepted into the competition.
 
For the heptathlon and decathlon, the top 24 declared student-athletes in each event based on their position on the national descending-order list were accepted into the Championships. Heptathlon and decathlon are not contested at preliminary championships sites.
 
But as it relates to the NCAA Championships, qualifying entries into the preliminary championships is less significant than the number of entries who make it through prelims and advance to Eugene for the NCAA Championships.

How to watch
NCAA track and field fans can watch a live stream of the NCAA Division I East and/or West Preliminary Championships as FloTrack Pro subscribers. The subscription will include access to all FloTrack live broadcasts, video on-demand from all events, documentaries, technique videos and more. Coverage of the preliminary competitions will be available May 23 – 25 atwww.flotrack.org

NCAA East Preliminary Round

Hodges Stadium — Jacksonville, FL | May 23-25, 2019

Friday Track Events 
Friday Running EventsRoundStart List
Women 100 M HurdlesFirst Round8. Masai Russell: 13.19Q (+0.7)13. Faith Ross: 13.31Q (+0.8)
Men 110 M HurdlesFirst Round6. Daniel Roberts: 13.67Q (+0.6)12. Tai Brown: 13.81Q (-0.6)20. Caleb Wilt: 13.94q (+1.0)
Women 400 MQuarterfinal1. Chloe Abbott: 51.32Q | PB, improves No. 2 performance on UK all-time list
Men 400 MQuarterfinal9. Dwight St. Hillaire: 45.89q
Women 100 MQuarterfinal8. Kianna Gray: 11.27Q (+0.3)10. Celera Barnes: 11.35q (+0.7)
Women 400 M HurdlesQuarterfinal3. Faith Ross: 56.71Q | PB, improves No. 4 mark on UK all-time list8. Masai Russell: 57.34Q | PB, improves No. 5 mark on UK all-time list
Women 200 MFirst Round4. Abby Steiner: 22.92Q (+0.7)15. Kianna Gray: 23.27Q (+0.4)17. Chloe Abbott: 23.29Q (+0.4)23. Celera Barnes: 23.53q (+0.6)
Men 200 MFirst Round15. Jacob Smith: 20.78Q
Men 3k SteeplechaseQuarterfinalMatthew Thomas: 9:22.43Brennan Fields
Friday Field Events
Friday Field EventsRoundStart List
Women DiscusFirst Round28. Molly Leppelmeier: 160’7”/48.95m35. Nicole Fautsch: 153’11”/46.92m
Men JavelinFirst Round12. Elijah Marta: 216’9“/66.07m Q

Men DiscusFirst Round5. Charles Lenford Jr.: 190’10”/58.09m Q7. Noah Castle: 190’7”/58.09m Q | 6’ PB, improves No. 9 mark on UK all-time list33. Josh Sobota: 169’2”/51.57m
Women Pole VaultFirst Round36. Jaci Bickett: 12’4.5”/3.77m
Saturday Track Events
TimeSaturday Running EventsRoundStart List
6:00 PMWomen 4×100 M RelayQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 1 | Ln. 3: UK
6:15 PMMen 4×100 M RelayQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 2 | Ln. 3: UK
6:30 PMWomen 1500 MQuarterfinal
6:45 PMMen 1500 MQuarterfinal
7:05 PMWomen 100 M HurdlesQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 3 | Ln. 4. Faith Ross | Ln. 7. Masai Russell
7:20 PMMen 110 M HurdlesQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 1 | Ln. 5. Tai BrownHt. 3 | Ln. 2. Caleb Wilt | Ln. 5. Daniel Roberts
7:35 PMWomen 200 MQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat +  Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 1 | Ln. 2. Celera BarnesHt. 3 | Ln. 3. Chloe Abbott | Ln. 4. Kianna Gray | Ln. 7. Abby Steiner
7:50 PMMen 200 MQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat +  Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 1 | Ln. 8: Jacob Smith
8:05 PMWomen 5000 MSemifinal
8:45 PMMen 5000 MSemifinal
9:25 PMWomen 4×400 M RelayQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 2 | Ln. 4: UK
9:45 PMMen 4×400 M RelayQuarterfinal3 heats12 Advance: Top 3 Each Heat + Next 3 Best Times to AustinHt. 1 | Ln. 4: UK
Saturday Field Events
TimeSaturday Field EventsRoundStart List
2:45 PMMen Shot PutFirst Round4 flightsFl. 3 | #2. Josh SobotaFl. 4 | #9. Charles Lenford Jr., #11. Noah Castle
3:00 PMWomen Triple JumpFirst Round4 flightsFl. 4 | #11. Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile Excel
4:00 PMMen High JumpFirst Round2 flightsFl. 2 | #17. Rahman Minor
5:15 PMWomen Shot PutFirst Round4 flightsFl. 2 | #9. Molly LeppelmeierFl. 4 | #1. Nicole Fautsch
6:30 PMMen Triple JumpFirst Round
Thursday Track
Thursday Running EventsRoundStart List
Women 400 M HurdlesFirst Round2. Faith Ross: 57.77Q7. Masai Russell: 58.38Q
Men 1500 MFirst Round30. Ben Young: 3:55.2637. Kendall Muhammad: 3:56.83
Women 100 MFirst Round4. Kianna Gray: 11.34Q (-0.9)11. Celera Barnes: 11.44Q (-0.4)
Women 400 MFirst Round1. Chloe Abbott: 51.44Q | PB, improves No. 2 mark on UK all-time list
Men 400 MFirst Round6 heats7. Dwight St. Hillaire: 45.94Q
Thursday Field
Thursday Field EventsRoundStart List
Women High JumpFirst Round2 FlightsT-4. Ellen Ekholm: 5’10.75”/1.80m Q21. Carly Hinkle: 5’7”/1.70m
Women HammerFirst Round3 flights36. Molly Leppelmeier: 184’4”/56.18m
Men Pole VaultFirst Round2 flightsT-7. Matt Peare: 17’5”/ 5.31m Q | Outdoor PB, No. 2 on UK outdoor all-time list
Women Long JumpFirst Round4 flights19. Tatiana Aholou: 19’6.26”/5.95m (+0.2)23. Zhane Smith: 19’5.5”/5.93m (+0.1)30. Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile Excel: 19’4.25”/ 5.90m (+0.7)

For the most in-depth coverage of the UK cross country and track and field program follow the @KentuckyTrack social media channels on InstagramTwitter and Facebook as well as on  UKathletics.com.

 ‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Jake Most