2 gold medals for UK track and field at SEC outdoors; men’s tennis reaches NCAA Elite Eight
A pair of Kentucky track and field stars earned gold medals on the final day of the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida.
For senior Keaton Daniel Daniel, it was his fourth straight SEC gold medal in the pole vault, and his sixth SEC gold overall. The Nevada native, who won the SEC indoor title earlier this year, battled Georgia’s Nikolai Van Huyssteen for the gold, which he won by clearing 18’0.50”/5.50 meters.
For junior Luke Brown, it was his first SEC outdoor gold medal in the triple jump. His effort on his fourth attempt — 53’9.75”/16.40 meters — was enough to fend off Florida’s Sean Dixon-Bodie for the victory.
Also Saturday, Sydney Steely set a school record in the women’s 800 meters with a time of 2:02.19. She finished fourth.
The UK women finished the championships in 11th place with a total of 36 points. The men also finished 11th with 35 points.
Kentucky will be a host for the NCAA East First Rounds on May 22-25.
Men’s tennis
Kentucky’s men’s tennis team reached the NCAA Elite Eight for the third straight year and seventh time overall with its 4-2 defeat of Harvard on Saturday at the Boone Tennis Complex.
The fifth-seeded Wildcats (27-2, 12-0 SEC) won the doubles point and got singles wins from Taha Baadi, Charlelie Cosnet and Eli Stephenson against the 12th-seeded Crimson (22-7, 6-1 Ivy).
“I’m just so happy for the boys,” head coach Cedric Kauffman said, according to a report by the school. “They’ve been working hard since August when we first came on campus. It’s a great victory for us and our program. My players were connected to the crowd and the crowd was connected to the players, so that helped us push through at the end.”
Kentucky improved to 7-5 in the all-time series against the Crimson and has won the last four matchups.
The Wildcats will face fourth-seeded TCU in the Elite Eight in Stillwater, Oklahoma, at 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday, May 16.
All top eight seeds reached Thursday’s NCAA quarterfinals — No. 1 Ohio State will face No. 8 Columbia at noon. No. 2 Texas and No. 7 Tennessee will play at 5 p.m., followed by No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 6 Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m.
The NCAA semifinals will be played at noon and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and the championship is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.
