UK track & field excels at Tennessee Relays behind great javelin performances

Brianna Dooley

UK’s outdoor track & field team competed at the Tennessee Relays this past weekend. The whole team did not travel and compete though, mostly only distance runners and throwers were competing in the meet.

With the women’s team currently being ranked No. 2 in the country, people were expecting big things to come out of UK this weekend. Also in other news, Tim Duckworth traveled to the Georgia’s Bulldog meet to compete in his first decathlon of the season.

The meet started Thursday with men’s and women’s hammer throw. UK junior David Cline finished with a mark of 206’/62.80m which earned him fourth place in the event and tied a personal record for himself. 

On Friday evening, UK javelin throwers Sarah Blake and Ethan Shalaway excelled in their events. Shalaway won the men’s contest with a mark of 223’6”/68.12m which is a seasons best for him. Blake completed the women’s contest as the top collegiate competitor, finishing second overall with a mark of 165’9”/50.52m.

Blake competed against a professional javelin thrower during this meet, Kimberly Hamilton who was representing Nike, and she put up a great fight against Hamilton.

During the Baldy Castillo Invitational in March, Blake broke her own school record in the javelin throw with a mark of 171’4”/52.23m which landed her a fourth place finish. She finished second-place in the Florida Relays two weeks ago, so it’s safe to say that Blake is off to a great start this outdoor season.

In the women’s shot put, Nicole Fautsch finished ninth overall with a mark of 44’6”/13.56m, which is her outdoor seasons best. Noah Castle finished eighth overall in the men’s shot put competition with a mark of 56’11.25”.

The field athletes weren’t the only ones to succeed in their events on Friday, as Amy Hansen won the women’s 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 10:52.10 and Matthew Thomas finished fourth overall in the men’s 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 9:40.66.

There were also two PR’s in the men’s 5000m, Mick Iacofano finished fifth overall with a time of 14:26.97. Tanner Dowdy finished twenty-sixth overall with a time of 15:18.00.

On Saturday the men’s and women’s discus competitions went on and Castle placed sixth overall with a mark of 170’4”/51.93m and Charles Lenford came in eighth place with a mark of 167’8”/51.11m. Fautsch was UK’s only women’s discus competitor and she finished twelfth overall with a mark of 142’5”.

Next weekend, the UK T&F Team will be competing at the Texas Invitational starting on Friday, April 14.