The Kentucky track and field teams will begin their seasons in earnest at home with this weekend’s Kentucky Invitational, which begins Friday at 4 p.m., and continues Saturday at 9 a.m.
The Wildcats had a banner opening meet a month ago in Indiana, and this weekend’s competitions will serve as an important test of progress made over the winter holidays ahead of next weekend’s nationally-renown McCravy Memorial Meet.
Notable times
On Friday the women’s weight throw kick the meet off at 4 p.m. ET, with the men’s competition to follow at 6:30 p.m.
The women’s distance medley relay will go off at 7 p.m., and the men’s race will follow at 7:15 p.m.
On Saturday, field events will begin at 9 a.m. and running events start at noon with the meet scheduled to conclude with the 4×400-meter relays just after 5 p.m.
Meet information
UKathletics.com will provide live results.
The Kentucky Invitational will not be broadcast although parking and admission are free. UK will show the following Saturday’s McCravy Memorial on SEC Network+.
Parking is available for free in the green lot in front of Nutter Field House.
Twenty-two teams, most of them from Kentucky or bordering states, will compete at the Kentucky Invitational.
UKTF 2017 outlook
Kentucky’s women’s team will begin the season ranked No. 8 beginning the year in the preseason top-10 for the fourth season in a row. Kentucky is preseason No. 8 for the second year in a row, after starting ranked sixth the two seasons prior.
The Wildcats return plenty of established national scorers for the 2017 season.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn enters her sophomore season as one of the nation’s most heralded athletes. Said assertion was confirmed by her place on the Bowerman Award Preseason Watch List, announced last week.
Perhaps flying more under the radar Sha’Keela Saunders, a four-time NCAA medalist – also appears poised for a quality season as she produced the best December indoor long jump in collegiate history last month.
The likes of Javianne Oliver, Destiny Carter, Kianna Gray, Jacklyn Howell, Marie-Josée Ebwea-Bile and countless more, in diverse events, also have marks contributing to this season’s strong early ranking with plenty of more Wildcats currently or potentially able to score at the NCAA meet.
Kentucky’s men’s team enters 2017 likely to be led by senior Nick Anderson and junior Jacob Thomson.
Anderson was SEC 110m hurdles bronze medalist, and NCAA silver medalist last year. Thomson claimed a SEC bronze indoors before going on to win the league 5k and 10k outdoors.
Kentucky will begin 2017 at home with two-day meets each of the next two weeks. Next week the Wildcats will play host to one of the nation’s most stacked fields for the 2017 McCravy Memorial, which will be shown streaming live on SEC Network+ via ESPN3 and WatchESPN.
| Participating Teams |
| Arkansas State |
| Akron |
| Asbury |
| Ball State |
| Bellarmine |
| Berea |
| Cincinnati |
| Cumberland |
| Dayton |
| Eastern Kentucky |
| Indiana Tech |
| IUPUI |
| James Madison |
| Kentucky |
| Kentucky State |
| Louisville |
| Marshall |
| Ohio State |
| Tennessee State |
| Xavier |
| Spalding |
| Washington & Jefferson |
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The most up-to-date coverage of the UK track and field program is available via @KentuckyTrack handles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Jake Most