COLUMBIA, SC – The University of Kentucky athletics teams open the outdoor season this week at the University of South Carolina’s Weems Baskin. A Wildcat is competing in a separate event this week, while multi-event athlete Annika Williams is in the women’s heptathlon at Texas Relays.
Friday’s action on the Creggar Track starts with field events at 10am and track events at 4pm. On Saturday, the action resumes on the field at 10am and on the track at 11am
Meeting scheduling
In addition to Kentucky and South Carolina, schools scheduled to compete include Appalachian State, Benedict, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Claflin, Coastal Carolina, Coppin State, Emmanuel College, Furman, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Limestone College, North Carolina A&T, North Greenville University, Presbyterian College, Savannah State, South Carolina State, Southern Wesleyan, The Citadel, Charlotte, Northern Colorado, Virginia Tech and Voorhees College.
The event is named after Weems Baskin, the 1949-72 South Carolina athletics trainer. The event opens six consecutive action weekends in the regular season for the Wildcats. Here is the complete schedule:
- March 26-27: Weems Baskin (Columbia, SC)
- April 2 – 3: Florida Relays (Gainesville)
- April 9-10: Joe Walker Invite (Oxford, Mississippi)
- April 16-17: Tom Jones Classic (Gainesville, Florida)
- April 16-17: Eastern Kentucky Twilight (Richmond)
- April 23-24: LSU Alumni Gold (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
- April 30 to May 1: Kentucky Open (Lexington)
Post-season action begins May 13-15 at the Southeastern Conference Championships at Texas A&M. The NCAA Preliminary Meeting will be May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Florida, followed by the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 9-12.
After Texas Relays 100 meters hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 meter dash on Thursday, Williams is fifth out of 15 competitors with 3,340 points. The long jump, javelin and 800-meter sprint will compete in the heptathlon on Friday.
Kentucky completed the indoor season on March 13 with Wildcat women ranking 13º at the NCAA championships and the men at 14º place – the best display for UK men in a quarter of a century. UK scorers for women included Abby Steiner, gold medalist in the 200 meters, along with the 4×400 relay (fifth place) and Annika Williams in the pentathlon (sixth place). The count for the UK men was the 4×400 silver medal relay, Lance Lang in the 200m race (sixth place) and Dwight St. Hillaire in the 400m race (eighth place).
Both teams will be supported by athletes who have completed qualifying for the indoor track, but are now available for the outdoor season, including sprinters Celera Barneshigh jumper Ellen Ekholmlauncher Nicole Fautschand sprinter Faith Ross for the women’s team and pitcher Charles Lenford on the men’s side. In addition, male sprinter Langston Jackson hopes to resume the competition this week after losing the covered season due to an injury. In the coming weeks, the UK hopes to recover the contributions of female sprinter Alexis Holmes, who is also dealing with injuries.
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