By Nick Gray | @KyKernelGray

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The UK men’s and women’s track and field teams dominated the 3,000-meter run in the highlight of the teams’ effort in the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet on Saturday at Nutter Field House.

Junior Cally Macumber set the Nutter Field House record in the women’s 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:10.34, the fastest time in the nation so far this year. Senior Chelsea Oswald (9:19.01) also broke the meet record as she finished second.

The men’s 3,000-meter run was taken by UK junior Matt Hillenbrand (8:10.04) for his first-ever collegiate victory at the distance.

The women’s 4×400 team, consisting of sophomore Angelica Whaley, senior Shiara Robinson, sophomore Devinn Cartwright and freshman Morganne Phillips, followed with the third consecutive win for the Cats at a time of 3:43.81. Junior Kayla Parker finished third in the women’s 60-meter hurdles.

“Cally (Macumber) and Chelsea (Oswald) stepped up. I think Kayla Parker stepped up. She had a big personal record and she’s very close. I think Morganne Phillips also stepped up,” head coach Edrick Floreal said.

Even though both teams finished with three victories during the final hour of the meet, those would be the only wins by either team at the end of the meet, which boasted a relatively weak field.

Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Louisville were the only schools in BCS conferences in the majority of the events.

Floreal was admittedly frustrated.

“We’re just not very consistent. Sometimes when you’re building something new, people get a spark then sometimes revert back to what they were doing,” he said. “Instead of going back and forth, what we’re trying to get done is get (the athletes) comfortable with something new. They’ve been comfortable doing whatever (they do). And we have to change that, and people have to get uncomfortable.”

Floreal also said that he lacks patience, but he’s “working on” trying to gain patience with the team.

“I refuse to compromise, I refuse to accept status quo,” he said. “That can be difficult for some people to handle, but we are all going to be good. I got innovation in my mind and big goals and dreams for the team.

“Frankly, for some people, (this competition) is not for them. I don’t mean that in a bad way. The SEC is not for everybody. This is not your mama’s conference. This is not your grand-mama’s conference. This is a serious, intense conference. You either belong here or you don’t. And some people don’t belong here. They are going to have to realize that by themselves, and sometimes (coaches) will have to help them realize that they don’t belong here.”