Some of nation’s best athletes in Lexington this week for NCAA Outdoors qualifying
The University of Kentucky’s track and field teams will host many of the nation’s top athletes in Lexington this week for the NCAA East First Round Meet Wednesday through Saturday.
The East First Round Meet serves as a qualifying round for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 5-8. Simultaneously this week, the NCAA conducts its West First Round Meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Each First Round Meet includes 48 entrants in each event and will send the top 12 athletes from each event to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. However, in the decathlon and the heptathlon, the top 24 athletes have already received their entry into the NCAA Championships.
When to watch
The men will compete on Wednesday and Friday while the women compete on Thursday and Saturday.
The meet at UK’s Outdoor Track and Field Facility gets underway Wednesday with field events starting between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and track events beginning between 6 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. The schedule is the same Thursday.
On Friday, field events start between 1 and 6 p.m., and track events get underway between 5 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. Saturday operates under the same schedule as Friday.
Both the East and West meets will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Athletes to watch
Several UK athletes are in the running this week for spots in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Oregon.
A total of 30 Wildcats — 16 men and 14 women — will take part in the meet in Lexington.
The headliners are pole vaulter Keaton Daniel and triple jump specialist Luke Brown, who both recently won gold medals at the Southeastern Conference championships. Daniel also won the SEC and NCAA indoor championships in February and March, respectively.
Other top contenders for Kentucky include 2024 All-SEC competitors Charity Hufnagel (heptathlon), Payton Phillips (women’s pole vault) and Jackson Watts (men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase).
Athletes representing Eastern Kentucky, Louisville, Murray State and Western Kentucky will also be competing this week in Lexington.
Four athletes who have cracked the 10-second barrier this season in the 100 meters will be here — Tennessee’s T’Mars McCallum (:9.94), South Florida’s Saminu Abdul-Rasheed (:9.95), Auburn’s Favour Ashe (:9.96) and LSU’s Godson Oghenebrume (:9.99).
The fastest women from the East in the 100 meters this season include Tennessee’s Jacious Sears (:10.77), LSU’s Brianna Lyston (:10.84) and Florida State’s Dajaz Defrand (:10.88).
Also, keep an eye out for WKU graduate student Katie Isenbarger, who has the second-best qualifying mark in the women’s high jump (1.88 meters), and EKU’s Abdelhakim Abouzouhir and Kristian Imroth, who are both among the top seven in the 3,000 steeplechase.
This story was originally published May 21, 2024 at 6:20 AM.