Kentucky track and field traveled down to Auburn, Alabama for its first postseason meet at the 2026 SEC Outdoor Championships at the Hustell-Rosen Track. The Wildcats finished the competition with seven medals, with three of those being gold.

On day one of the competition, Anthony Waterman started off the day by breaking Kentucky’s program record with a time of 49.85 in the men’s 400-meter hurdles to land himself an eighth place finish.

Waterman advanced to the SEC 400-meter hurdles finals on Saturday, where he finished in ninth with his time of 50.58.

In the women’s heptathlon, both Julia Gunnell and Dahlia Beasley competed in the four events: the 100-meter hurdles, heptathlon high jump, shot put and the women’s 200-meter. Junior Gunnell performed a career-best in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.75, and placed second in the 200-meter.

Beasley also had career-best performances in the women’s 100-meter hurdles and heptathlon high jump, finishing day one of the competition placing first in the women’s 200-meter and second in the high jump.

In the women’s hammer throw final, junior Kate Powers finished in seventh place with a season best mark of 62.30 meters.

Just behind her was freshman Meagan Ewers, who finished in 10th place with a new personal-best mark of 60.11 meters, moving her to No. 6 on Kentucky’s all-time best list. Freshman Addison Stadsholt also recorded a personal best with a throw of 57.03 meters, placing her No. 10 on Kentucky’s all-time list.

Denzel Simusialela, the current NCAA leader in the 200-meter, ran a 20.65 to get himself a fourth place finish, qualifying himself for the finals on Saturday. He went on to place second in the finals with a time of 19.98.

To end the first day of the competition, Venice Kerubo Nyagisera ran the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.21, which qualified her for the event finals on Saturday.

In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, Waterman broke the Kentucky school record with an eighth-place finish and a new personal-best time 49.85; he qualified for the men’s event finals with his placement.

The second day of competition started off with another personal best from Beasley in the women’s long jump, where she finished fifth with a mark of 5.88 meters. Gunnell also hit a personal best in the women’s long jump, with a mark of 5.69 meters.

Just after the women’s long jump, both Gunnell and Beasley were up for the women’s 800-meter, where Gunnell ran a personal best and finished in second place with a time of 2:14.09. Gunnel finished with a total of 5,626 points, placing her at No. 2 Kentucky All-Time.

Right behind her was Beasley, finishing in fifth with a time of 2:16.55. Beasley also set a new personal-best mark with a total of 5,367 points, which is the sixth highest total in Kentucky program history.

Both Emmi Scales and Camden Bentley, who are the current No. 2 and No. 9 women’s hurdlers in the nation, qualified for the 100-meter finals with their second-day performances.

Scales finished in first place with a qualifying time of 12.73, and Bentley finished in fifth with a time of 13.01.

Additionally, both Doricah Minsari Isoe and Ally Kruger advanced to the women’s 1500-meter final, where Minsari Isoe ran a time of 4:14.92, placing sixth, and Kruger finished in 10th with a time of 4:17.54.

In the women’s preliminaries, Hannah Douglas ran a personal best in the women’s 400-meter with a time of 50.81. The time moved her to placing fourth overall, qualifying for the finals and hitting the No. 3 Kentucky All-Time mark. A’Laji Bradley also qualified for the finals with a ninth-place finish and time of 51.40.

At the end of the second day of competition, Collins Kriprop Kigngok took gold in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:29.50.

The Wildcats finished the last day of the competition with one gold medal, two silver and two bronze medals.

In the men’s 4×100-meter relay, Waterman, Simusialela, Oscar Baltan and Miles Jones ran the sixth fastest time in Kentucky program history with their time of 39.14 to place in seventh.

Simusialela earned himself two medals, firstly finishing in third in the men’s 100-meter final to earn a bronze and setting a new Kentucky record time of 10.04. Later on in the men’s 200-meter final, he finished in second with a career-best time of 19.98, receiving a silver medal.

Sophomore Janet Jepkemboi Amimo earned herself a second SEC silver medal in the women’s 800-meter, running a career-best of a time of 1:59.01.

Scales continued her dominant season in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, where she finished in first place with a new career-best time of 12.64, earning a gold medal to close out the competition.

Closing out the competition was the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relay. The women’s side finished in sixth with a time of 3.25.68, putting them at No. 3 Kentucky All-Time. The men finished in eighth with a time of 3:04.49, placing them at No. 10 Kentucky All-Time.

Next up for Kentucky track and field will be the 2026 NCAA East First Round which will be held at the Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Complex from May 27 through May 30.