Kentucky Track & Field Sweeps 2018 McCravy Team Titles

The Kentucky track and field program swept the 2018 Rod McCravy Memorial Track and Field meet men’s and women’s team titles in emphatic fashion on Saturday inside Nutter Field house.

The No. 9-ranked UK women’s team won with 172 points, 83 points ahead of second-place Kansas.

The No. 12-ranked UK men’s team won with 143 points, 46 points better than second-place Illinois.

“I liked the idea of the team concept,” UK head coach Edrick Floréal said. “It brought a lot of kids that typically don’t score, to positions to contribute for us. Brought them into the fold and they competed really well. I think the team got excited about winning stuff, and winning is always good.”

“Sometimes when you have an invitational you worry about people running fast as opposed to just people scoring points and becoming a team so I like that aspect. I like the fact that we basically scored all over the place, which is good as we move closer to the (Southeastern Conference) Championships later this month.”

Kentucky won 13 individual events overall. Wildcats won eight women’s individual events and five men’s individual events.

The meet featured a formidable 11 marks that rank inside the NCAA top-10 at publication time. Wildcats recorded six of those marks.

“I’m pretty pleased with the idea of team competition,” Floréal said. “Team competition is by far better than ‘invitational,’ so we’re going to keep the McCravy a team competition.”

Kentucky got NCAA leading marks from 2017 outdoor pole vault NCAA Champion Olivia Gruver, and freshman Phenom Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m.

“Moving into February, it’s always great to start out with a win,” Gruver said. “It’s a great confidence-booster for when we go into championship season.”

Marie-Josée Ebwea-Bile (two PRs and national top-10 marks), and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn were top scorers for the UK women’s team winning two events each for 20 points apiece.

Tim Duckworth scored 18 points in two individual events winning the high jump and taking second in the 60m. Dwight St. Hillaire set the track alight with another freshman record, while Jacob Thomson and Ben Young brushed up against sub-four-minute miles.

Wildcats Noah Castle, Nikolas Huffman, and Charles Lenford Jr. combined to score 24 points in the men’s shot put.

McCravy individual event winners

Gruver won the pole vault with a formidable nation-leading personal best and Nutter Field House record clearance over 15’3″/4.65m. Gruver’s first-attempt clearance moved her up to No. 3 on the all-time indoor collegiate performers’ list, and tied the third highest bar ever cleared by a collegian indoors.

On the absolute (indoor and outdoor) all-time collegiate list, Gruver is now the the No. 4 all-time performer, tied for the ninth highest clearance.

Of course two of the top-four performers on the all-time collegiate list are just juniors, and they’re vaulting plenty well in early February. Arkansas’ decorated Olympian Lexi Jacobus cleared a season best 15’2.75″/4.64m on Friday.

Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile leapt to personal bests in winning both the long jump and triple jump.

A bit unexpectedly, she PR’d by a significant margin in the long jump, reaching a mark at 21’0.75″/6.42m – No. 4 on the all-time UK indoor list. That mark ranks fifth nationally.

The 2017 NCAA outdoor triple jump runner-up improved her school record in her “signature” event to 45’1.75”/13.76m. That’s ranked second nationally. Latavia Coombs was second to Ebwea-Bile and her mark of 43’2.5”/13.17m ranks ninth nationally.

Camacho-Quinn scored 20 points running 8.03 in the 60m hurdles and 23.30 in the 200m.

McLaughlin ran a nation-leading 51.44 in her UK 400m debut to set a new UK and UK freshman record.

“It’s the first meet where I actually got to benefit my team,” McLaughlin said. “My coach told us coming in, ‘we’re at home, we have to try and win. Do everything we can.’ For me, personally, watching my teammates go out there and start scoring points it definitely set the tone. I was really excited to go out there and run my race. I just knew I needed to do my part in order for us to be able to come out with a win today.”

Celera Barnes: (7.363) edged teammate Kianna Gray (7.369) in a 60m photo finish.

Mohammed Abubakar won the men’s long jump with a mark of 24’9.25”/7.55M.

Top heptathlete Tim Duckworth won the high jump and took second place in the 60m.

Jacob Thomson (4:01.42) scared running a first career sub-four-minute mile, just ahead of Ben Young who ran a PR 4:02.07. Young also ran an 800m PR 1:53.41.

“We really wanted to go sub-four, both Ben Young and I,” Thomson said. “Coach Flo told us to come out here and put on a show in front of the home crowd. Unfortunately came up a bit short of sub-four, but a big personal best for me. We had a bunch of guys PR again in the 3k so good stuff.

“We definitely wanted to defend the home turf. We did that bigtime I think.”

Top rookie Dwight St. Hillaire set the UK freshman record in the 400m with a time of 46.20, the UK freshman record. The time ranks sixth nationally, and he also moved to No. 2 on the all-time UK indoor performers’ list.

“Dwight’s phenomenal,” Thomson said. “Coming out in anything from 200 to 400 and the relays, he really puts on a show every time he steps on the track. For distance guys like me it’s really fun to watch guys go fast like that.”

Kentucky swept the men’s and women’s shot puts as Noah Castle and Nicole Fautsch both posted PRs. Castle tossed a mark of 60’4”/18.39m to edge teammate Nikolas Huffman (60’0.25”/18.29m). Fautsch reached a mark of 52’9.5”/16.09m to win her first collegiate meet. That mark ranks No. 3 on the UK indoor performers’ list all-time.

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

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Jake Most