Yahoo Finance The year UK showed the world it is much more than a ‘basketball school’
The one-two finish by former Kentucky Wildcats stars Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Keni Harrison in the 100-meter hurdles at the Olympics on Sunday night (Lexington time) was one of the epic moments in UK sports history.
It was also a redemptive outcome for both women.
A Ladson, South Carolina, native who chose to compete internationally for Puerto Rico, where her mother was born, Camacho-Quinn’s 2016 Olympics ended dramatically in the 100-meter hurdles semifinals in Rio de Janeiro. She clipped the ninth hurdle and fell to the track.
“Somebody’s always, ‘Oh, I’m sorry for what happened,’” Camacho-Quinn said in Tokyo of her 2016 Olympics tumble. “I’m like, ‘I need y’all to let that go.’’’
A Clayton, N.C., product who ran two years (2014-15) for Kentucky after transferring from Clemson, Harrison was the favorite in the 100-meter hurdles entering the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
However, she did not run to form, finishing sixth and failing to earn a trip to Rio. In a bittersweet twist, Harrison set the world record in the 100 hurdles (12.20) only two weeks later, a mark that still stands.
“To miss out in Rio and then come to my first Olympics and get a silver medal — of course, everyone wants the gold, but I got myself back out here on this world stage and I’m getting better and better,” the 28-year-old Harrison said.
Though the United States had won the 100-meter hurdles in three of the past four Olympics, those calling Camacho-Quinn’s victory an upset were not paying attention. Before Tokyo, Camacho-Quinn, 24, had run five of the six fastest 100-meter hurdles times in the world in 2021.
While competing at Kentucky for the former UK and current Texas head coach Edrick Floreal, both Camacho-Quinn and Harrison were team-first stars.
In 2015, Harrison and fellow-Clemson transfer Dezerea Bryant almost single-handedly led Kentucky to the NCAA women’s outdoor track and field national championship.
Harrison won the 100-meter hurdles and ran second in the 400 hurdles, while Bryant won the 200 sprint and was third in the 100 meters.
Getting 34 of its 50 team points from the two ex-Clemson stars, UK finished second to Oregon.
Meanwhile, Camacho-Quinn led UK to fourth-place team finishes outdoors in both 2017 and 2018.
Over her three-year Wildcats career (2016-18), the South Carolina product scored team points for UK in the outdoor national championship meet in four different events — 100-meter hurdles, 200 dash and 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Camacho-Quinn won NCAA individual championships in the short hurdles in 2016 and 2018 and was part of UK’s national title-winning 4x100 relay in 2017.
There are still opportunities for former Kentucky Wildcats hurdlers to attain more Olympics glory.
After setting the world record in the 400-meter hurdles (51.90) to win the U.S. Olympic Trials, former UK one-and-done star Sydney McLaughlin is through to Tuesday night’s finals of that event.
To add another gold medal for an ex-Cat, McLaughlin, 21, will have to beat archrival and American teammate Dalilah Muhammad, the defending Olympic champion.
The last three times McLaughlin and Muhammad have raced each other in the finals of a major event, the 400-meter hurdles world record has fallen.
On the men’s side, former UK star Daniel Roberts, 23, could contend for a medal in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
It will be fascinating to see if all the positive attention that former Kentucky hurdlers have attracted due to the Tokyo Olympics helps current UK track and field coach Lonnie Greene or Texas’s Floreal — a hurdles guru — more in future years on the recruiting trail.
The Olympic medals won by Camacho-Quinn and Harrison were the third and fourth claimed so far in Tokyo by athletes who competed for Kentucky. Current UK rifle stars Will Shaner (gold in men’s 10-meter air rifle) and Mary Tucker (silver in mixed team 10-meter air rifle) have also tallied.
Though they fenced for Notre Dame in college, University of Kentucky medical school students and wife/husband fencing stars Lee Kiefer (gold in women’s individual foil) and Gerek Meinhardt (bronze in men’s team foil) make six Tokyo medal-winners so far with meaningful ties to UK.
The Olympics success for athletes with UK connections comes after a school year in which Kentucky had substantial breakthroughs in multiple sports that were not basketball.
In February, the Wildcats’ women’s swimming and diving team won the Southeastern Conference championship for the first time in school history.
March saw UK win its third NCAA team title in rifle.
Then, in April, Kentucky claimed the NCAA championship in women’s volleyball, becoming the first SEC school ever to earn that crown.
Football and men’s basketball are all but certainly going to be the most popular UK sports for eons into the future.
Still, by building an athletics department that can produce excellence from multiple points, Mitch Barnhart and Co. have set the Big Blue Nation up to enjoy some thrilling fan experiences having nothing to do with March Madness.
Watching ex-UK stars run 1-2 in a high-profile Olympics track and field event should long rank high on that list.
Former Kentucky stars take gold and silver in 100-meter hurdles at Tokyo Olympics
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