WKU is looking to continue a successful season on the track with an in-state trip to Lexington for the Kentucky Relays this weekend.

Ten Hilltoppers: Stuart Nichols, Sandra Akachukwu, Peli Alzola, Jadzia Beasley, Jenessa Jackson, Getter Lemberg, Morgan McIntyre, Kaila Smith, Ariel Terrell and Khadijah Valentine, will take the trip to Lexington.

Other Hilltoppers were supposed to go to the Ole Miss Open, but a decision was made to rest some competitors before the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships next Thursday.

Valentine is looking to continue her success from last week in Louisville, where she won titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. She also helped WKU take third place in the in the 4×100 meter relay. The rest of the 4×100 team, Alzola, Terrell and Beasley will be there as well, looking to build on their 45.19 time from last week.

Smith will want to continue her success after winning a title in the 400 meter dash last week, as she ran a time of 1:00.44. Smith will also look to build on her sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.

McIntyre is also looking to build on her great performance from last week, where she took yet another top-three finish in the pole vault, reaching 3.73 meters in the pole vault, and finishing third.

Jackson will also be looking to continue not only her success from last week but the success she has sustained all year. She continued that success by posting top-five finishes in  both the shot put and the hammer throw in Louisville.

With the C-USA Championships coming up next Thursday, most of the team is off this week. That includes the highly-touted 4×100 meter men’s team, consisting of Ventavius Sears, Emmanuel Dasor, Julius Morris and Eli Minor, who have taken home multiple 4×100 meter relay titles this year.

Sears and Desmond Mobley will also be resting up in preparation for field events, such as the long jump and triple jump, both of which they have excelled in this season.

This will be the final meet of the regular season for WKU, as they’ll be onto the conference championships from May 11-14, potentially followed by the NCAA East Preliminaries from the 25-27 and the NCAA Championships in June. 

Reporter Jeremy Chisenhall can be reached at 859-760-0198 and [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JSChisenhall.