UK Track & Field’s Fautsch & Thomas Award Kentucky Bronzes on Friday at SECs

Nicole Fautsch broke a 13-year-old school record to claim women’s shot put bronze and Matthew Thomas executed a bold race plan to run a big personal best en route to men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase bronze to highlight Kentucky’s Friday at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at John McDonnell Field on the University of Arkansas campus.

The UK men’s team is 10th on 15 points with 13 events to go. The UK women’s team sits in 11th place with 11 points through 8 of 21 events.

Fautsch bettered her personal best for the fourth meet in a row, this time by more than a foot – 55’0”16.76m to claim bronze, score six points and pass Ashley Muffet atop the UK women’s shot put all-time performers’ list.

Thomas, never before an SEC scorer, went to the lead early in the men’s steeplechase and stayed clean over all the barriers. 

The junior held on for bronze and the six points that go along with that medal in a PB 8:53.48 to move to No.  6 on the UK all-time list.

Friday scorers

Men’s team scorers

Noah Castle (sixth – 61’3.5”/18.68m | three points) and Charles Lenford Jr. (eighth – 60’10.5”/18.55m | one point) combined to score four in the men’s shot put. Freshman Josh Sobota placed ninth. Lenford’s final attempt was measured at the bronze-medal distance, but after protest was ruled a foul.

Rahman Minor picked up the first SEC point of his career with an outdoor season-best clearance at 7’1.5”/2.17m

Women’s team scorers
Molly Leppelmeier scored three points in the hammer throw with a 1’2” PB 199’0”/60.74m to place sixth.

Freshman Tatiana Aholou leapt to the best wind-legal long jump mark of her young collegiate career to score a point with an eighth-place mark of 20’5.25”/6.23m (+0.8). Zhane Smith placed 10th.

Freshman Perri Bockrath gritted out a point in the women’s 3k steeplechase with a PB time of 10:33.23, improving her No. 4 

mark on the UK all-time list.

Saturday outlook
UK advanced 17 entries – 10 women, seven men – out of prelimary rounds over the past two days into Saturday finals. 

Combined with Saturday events that didn’t require qualification over the first two days of the three-day meet, UK will have 41 scoring chances across the track and field on the competition’s final day.

Friday qualifiers

Men’s team

Daniel Roberts and Tai Brown each advanced to the men’s 110m hurdles final to begin Friday’s track action.

Roberts (13.31Q | +0.8) and Brown (13.62Q) earned the second- and third-place automatic qualifying (Q) places in the first of two heats with Florida’s Grant Holloway winning in 13.07Q, which improved his No. 2 fastest spot on the collegiate all-time performers’ list (Renaldo Nehemiah’s collegiate record of 13.00 was run in 1979).

Brown broke Robert’s Kentucky freshman record, and moved to No. 3 on the UK all-time list.

Caleb Wilt ran a PB 13.85 (+0.9), but fell an agonizing .02 seconds short of the last time qualifying place (q). His time put him at No. 6 on the UK all-time performers’ list.

One week after walking at UK commencement ceremonies, senior Kendall Muhammad turned in one of the best 1,500m trips of his career qualifying automatically into the final with second fastest time of the heats – 3:45.35Q a season best. Ben Young also advanced to the 1,500m final running 3:52.55 to get a big Q.

Dwight St. Hillaire was the second fastest qualifier of the men’s 400m prelims, winning his heat easily in 45.98Q. Nathanial Bann did not advance, but ran a PB 46.86.

Women’s Friday qualifiers

Chloe Abbott left no doubt as relates to qualification in earning the top time of the women’s 400m prelims – 51.80Q.

A minimum of two Wildcats advanced to the women’s 100m final with senior Kianna Gray third fastest (11.41Q | -0.5) and Abby Steiner getting a little q with the fourth-fastest qualifying time (11.74q | 0.0).

Celera Barnes ended up tied with LSU’s Kortnei Johnson for the ninth and last qualifying place in the final as they each ran 11.590 measured to the thousands place. By rule 5-10.4 on page 15 of the NCAA manual, they will have to run-off for that spot in the final at 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT – local) on Saturday.

Faith Ross and Masai Russell each qualified automatically into the women’s 100m hurdles to go along with the 400m hurdles final places they earned the previous evening.

Ross ran a PB 13.18Q (+0.2), fifth fastest of the heats, and Russell ran a PB 13.21 (+0.2), sixth best of the prelims. They rank seventh and eighth on the UK all-time list.

The meet resumes at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The meet will air live on the SEC Network Saturday at 6 p.m. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones, Larra Overton, Jill Montgomery and John Anderson.

Thursday report
Senior Elijah Marta used a one-foot-two-inch javelin personal best to place fifth and score the UK’s first four points of the SEC Championships on Thursday.

Marta hit a PB on his last throw of the six-throw series to move into fourth place, but was passed by Texas A&M’s Sam Hardin a few positions later to be knocked back into fifth where he finished. The All-American’s mark of 233’6”/71.17m improved Marta’s No. 2 mark on the UK all-time performers’ list.

Six Wildcats advanced out of preliminary track rounds into Saturday finals on Thursday.

Abby Steiner paced the 200-meter qualifiers with the top time of the heats, 22.79wQ (+2.1). Kianna Gray also advanced to the final with a time of 22.92Q (+2.0) to win her prelim heat in a season best.

Two Wildcats made the men’s 200m final as well as Dwight St. Hillaire ran 20.73q (+1.0), fifth fastest of the prelims and freshman Jacob Smith ran 20.84wq (+2.2), seventh best of the nine qualifiers.

Two Wildcats made the women’s 400m hurdles final with Faith Ross getting third best of the rounds with a 58.23Q and Masai Russell sixth best (59.13Q).

Meet format
The name of the game at the SEC Championships is scoring points by virtue of top-eight finishes. First place scores 10 points in each event, and the point correlations reduce down to one point for eight place.

The team that accrues the most points at the end of the meet wins.
 
Peripherally, this weekend will serve as the last chance for individuals and relay teams to record marks that will rank inside NCAA Preliminary Championships-qualifying positions on individual-event Division I rankings lists (top-48 for individuals and top-24 for relay teams in each of the two regions (east and west) that will qualify for the NCAA Preliminary Championships in two weeks.

Pre-meet primer
A total of 16 SEC men’s and women’s track and field teams are ranked among the nation’s top-25 teams, according to the latest national rankings announced Monday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Kentucky women’s team is No. 4.

Florida won both the men’s and women’s titles last year in Knoxville, Tenn. It was the sixth SEC crown for both programs. Tennessee has claimed a league-leading 25 SEC men’s titles, while LSU has claimed a league-leading 13 SEC women’s titles.

T

he UK women’s team tied for sixth place with 70 points, and the men’s team placed seventh with 54.33 points at the SEC Outdoor Championships last season.

The UK women’s team finished sixth in the team standings with 51 points, and UK men’s team finished ninth on 31 points at the 2019 SEC Indoor Championships – at Arkansas’ indoor facility in March.

UK had three event victories at the SEC Outdoor Championships last year – two by individual hurdlers who turned professional following the season. The UK women’s 4x400m relay are the defending SEC Champions with Faith Ross the lone returner from that squad.

UK’s women’s 4x100m relay, which returns Celera Barnes and Kianna Gray from last years’ squad took silver a year ago. Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile Excel was bronze medalist in the triple jump at SECs outdoors last May.

Dwight St. Hillaire and Daniel Roberts claimed SEC silvers in the 400m and 110m hurdles respectively a year ago, and Noah Castle took bronze in the discus.

Tickets are available for purchase ArkansasRazorbacks.com, with all-session passes $25 for adults and $10 for students.

Meet: 2019 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Site: Fayetteville, Ark.

Venue: John McDonnell Field

Dates: Thursday-Saturday, May 9-11, 2019

Results: https://flashresults.com/2019_Meets/Outdoor/05-09_SEC/

SEC Network + Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET)

SEC Network + Friday (7 p.m. ET)

Television: SEC Network (Saturday 6 p.m. ET)