The University of Louisville track & field teams had a successful first day of competition at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invite on Friday afternoon. Standout performances from Jeremiah Willis and Jake Burkey in the men’s long jump landed them spots on the podium and in the top-ten nationally.
Willis took home the gold with a personal-best leap of 7.82m (25-8), currently the fourth-best jump in the NCAA. Burkey finished in third place with a mark of 7.69m (25-2.75), ranking sixth in the nation.
In the women’s long jump, Synclair Savage secured fourth place with a jump of 5.97m (19-7), while Lucy Fellows made an impressive collegiate debut with a fifth-place finish at 5.93m (19-5.5).
Louisville also had success in the men’s high jump, with Brion Stephens finishing in fifth place after clearing a final bar of 2.08m (6-9.75).
On the track, Jaylen Cole advanced to the semifinals of the 60m with a time of 6.82 in the preliminaries. Cole also performed well in the men’s 200m, securing sixth place with a personal-best time of 21.36.
Paul Kallenberg also had a strong showing, advancing to the semifinals of the 60m hurdles with a new personal-best time of 8.40.
The Cardinals saw three athletes make their mark in the record books in the track events. Lauren Bettencourt finished in fourth place in the women’s 1000m, setting the fifth-fastest time in program history at 2:54.86. McKenzie Bell took sixth place in the women’s 600m, moving up to third on the all-time list with a time of 1:33.31. Ryan Farrell also claimed sixth place in the men’s 600m, posting a time of 1:20.23 that landed him third on the all-time list.
Competition will continue on the second day of the Rod McCravy Memorial Invite, with the men’s pole vault and women’s shot put beginning at 11:00 a.m. The track events will start at 12:00 p.m. with the semifinals of the women’s 60m.
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