Kentucky track and field’s Nick Anderson claimed the NCAA Silver Medal in the 110-meter hurdles scoring eight points, and helping Kentucky to a 22nd-place team finish, on Fridayat Oregon’s Hayward Field.
The Wildcats scored 11 points for the meet – eight by Anderson and three by Jacob Thomson in the 10k – up from five a season ago when the UK men’s team placed 44th.
Anderson ran 13.67 into a -0.7 headwind finishing second to Oregon’s Devon Allen (13.50).
“Right now I’m just happy,” Anderson said. “It probably wasn’t my fastest time, but in a championship race it doesn’t matter. Since I was in lane two it helped me to run in my own little zone in a way. As I got to the end of the race I got off the last hurdle and just ran for it.
“Coach (Allen) Johnson (Anderson’s event coach) and (UK head coach) Edrick Floréal both knew I could do something like this and it just took me believing in myself to do it.”
Anderson was UK’s first NCAA finalist in the 110m hurdles since Keith Hayes placed fourth in 2013.
The UK men’s team last had a men’s individual NCAA Silver Medalist in 2014 when Ray Dykstra claimed the honor in the javelin.
Jacob Thomson scored three points with a sixth place finish in the 10k final on Wednesday.
Also on Friday, Xavier McAllister was unable to clear a height in the high jump with his first attempts coming at 6’10.25″/2.09m.
UK’s record NCAA outdoor finish was ninth place with 25 points in 2008. The Wildcats placed in the NCAA outdoor top-20 in 2013 and 2014.
Points are scored at the NCAA Championships by finishing in the top eight of each event. The points are awarded on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis with 10 going to the winner and one point to eighth place.
Saturday outlook
The No. 2-ranked Kentucky women’s team will have six scoring opportunities to score points on Saturday, the final day of the meet.
The broadcast information
The 2016 NCAA Championships will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.
Saturday’s women’s finals will air from 6:30-9 p.m. on ESPN.
The NCAA Championships precedent
The Kentucky women’s team’s NCAA record finish came a year ago when the Wildcats finished as national runner-up with 50 points.
The most up-to-date coverage of the UK track and field program is available via @KentuckyTrack handles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
| Friday UK Events | UK Result |
| Men’s High Jump | NH: Xaivier McAllister |
| Men’s 110m Hurdles | 2. Nick Anderson: 13.67 (-0.9) – 8 points |
Saturday Schedule: Times ET
| Start Time | Saturday Running Events | UK Entry |
| 6:32 PM | Women 4×100 M Relay Final | Lane 7: Kentucky |
| 7:12 PM | Women 100 M Hurdles Final | Lane 5: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn |
| 7:22 PM | Women 100 M Final | Lane 4: Kianna Gray |
| 7:57 PM | Women 400 M Hurdles Final | Lane 8: Kiah Seymour |
| 8:07 PM | Women 200 M Final | Lane 1: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn |
| Start Time | Saturday Field Events | UK Entry |
| 6:30 PM | Women Triple Jump Prelim & Final | Flight 1, No. 11: Sha’Keela Saunders |
Jake Most