May 16, 2024 • 22 mins
After setting two school records at the SEC Outdoor Championships, Charity Hufnagel is here to chat about her season and preview next week's NCAA First Round meet. Also, Softball prepares to open the Stillwater regional on Friday and Baseball posts a school record in a series-opening win over Vanderbilt!
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(00:14):
Happy Friday and welcome inside another editionof UK Sports Network Today presented by the
Big Blue Brew newsletter. Track andField winding Down coming off the SEC Outdoor
Championships, and we're pleased to bejoined this week by Charity Huffnagel, who
is getting ready for the heptathlon inthe NCAA Outdoor Championships, that opening round
(00:37):
right here in Lexington. Hope tosee you out there supporting our athletes as
well as just the overall meat itselfwith Kentucky hosting great chat with Charity.
She just set a couple of schoolrecords at the SEC Outdoor Championship. All
SEC second Team, All American SecondTeam. Just a great chat with her.
(00:58):
Before we get to Charity, Iwant to remind you that the UK
Sports Network Today podcast is presented bythe Big Blue Brew newsletter. You can
sign up today at Ukathletics dot comslash Big Blue Brew. It's completely free
and it hits in boxes every weekdaymorning. That the official newsletter of UK
Athletics. For more information, logonto Ukathletics dot com slash Big Blue Brew.
(01:21):
Without further ado, here's Charity.Charity Huffnagel kind enough to stop by
after a stellar campaign not just inthe regular season but in the SEC Championships
as well, ahead of the NCAA'scoming up next week. Charity, thank
you so much for your time.And how does it feel now to officially
be out of class so to speak, at least with the spring semester and
(01:42):
into postseason play. Honestly, it'salways nice to just be out of class
so I can really like focus inand dial in on just track and be
able to prioritize it more and tojust have no excuses to go to bed
later any of that. No,this never excuses in the first place.
(02:07):
But no, it's really nice tojust focus on it and go to the
prelims confidently and knowing and having thatconfidence that I've prepared all year for to
just go in and compete. Youhad a lot of success at the indoor
SEC Championships. You're just coming offthe outdoor SEC Championships. You set two
(02:27):
school records, which I think isreally cool. For a school that is
so rich in tradition and history that'sproduced so many Olympians as Kentucky Track and
Field has, that's got to bepretty cool. Feather in your cap to
have two school records. Oh no, it's it's really cool. Honestly,
I'm I'm just thankful for this yearwith coaches having patients and me having patients,
(02:49):
with how everything was kind of buildingup. We know everything's starting to
come together, so it's just reallyexciting, and I'm super thankful for just,
yeah, all the pract sessions tobuild up to that moment. How
did you find out you broke theschool record? Was that kind of down
the line or did you know almostright away? Honestly, I had no
idea until it was posted on socialmedia. I was like, oh wait,
(03:10):
that was a school record. Ohcool, five nine and fourteen in
the heptathlon and then a one pointeighty five meters in the high jump one
point eight five meters. That's kindof crazy. So my I came off,
so my pr is definitely higher thanthat, so I'm still working towards
(03:30):
that. Uh mark, My PRis one ninety three, but it actually
is the best mark I've ever jumpedin a heptathlon, and knowing that's my
biggest point maker, that was justreally exciting that I could get above that
height and the heptathlon again, Sothat was really nice. That's a good
transition for folks that may not beas well versed in crack and field terminology
(03:52):
and knowledge. Tell us a littlebit about what the heptathlon kind of involves,
because it's a lot. Yeah,So the first day, compete in
the hurdles, and then we goon to high jump, shot put,
then two hundred, and then thenext day we come back and we compete
in the long jump, javelin,and then finish off the day in the
(04:14):
eight hundred. So you're a truetrack and field athlete, you know,
not just track, not just field, it's it's everything, Yes, And
I think what's so cool about it, especially once you get once you start
getting to like the top, likenationally ranked in the country, there's typically
like one or two events that youhave to be able to most of the
(04:38):
time, we have to be ableto compete against even open inventors, so
that do so for mine, mine'sthe high jump, and there's typically just
that one big couple of big pointmakers that have athlete has and I think
that's just really cool how everybody hastheir own specialties and they have tathlon to
make up points. So, yeah, what was it like can considering that
(05:00):
you're not necessarily a sprinter by trade, per se, but to kind of
have to focus on those a littlebit when you when you're in the heptathlon.
Honestly, I love sprinting. It'sa lot. I used to do
cross country in high school, allthrough high school and middle school, so
and I slowly start transitioning to sprintsvery very into my senior year of high
(05:23):
school, and then obviously started tohave tath on as so as I got
into college. But yeah, I'mit's so fun to try to just develop
my speed and power throughout the yearsand just seeing how much that has improved.
What does training look like for that, because you know, if you're
just focused on the high jump,I assume it's pretty straightforward, as you
(05:44):
know, you're doing the same typeof thing every day, but you're having
to get ready for so many eventsand really short windows of time. Yeah,
it's like we work probably about twoto three events a day. Sometimes
it could just be jav picks orso, like this Tuesday, I did
(06:06):
no yes. Yeah, two daysago, for example, I did long
jump, shot put and then Iwent to go do a speed endurance workout.
So it's like we just kind ofswitch up the events every single day,
And it's honestly just a lot offun because it's like you get to
switch up every single day and notdoing the same thing every every day.
(06:29):
Or something goes wrong, you canjust move on to the next event and
hopefully that one goes better. So, I mean, you're using really so
much more of your body, reallyhead to toe compared to maybe some other
athletes in track and field. Howimportant is it for recovery to kind of
hang in there for that entire heptathlonfor all those three days. Yeah,
recovery is very important. It's likemaking sure you get in certain types of
(06:54):
nutrition, planning out exactly, planningout exactly what you're going to eat throughout
the havetathlon to make sure that youcan come back and recover for the next
day. Actually, really funny story. Coach knew that I was getting ready
to do the high jump the nextday for the final day on Saturday,
(07:16):
and after the eight hundred, hewas just making sure that I could recover,
like kind of just he wanted meto get in some like meat.
He's like, you know what,I think I have a leftover chicken breast
in my fridge and somebody brings itout hous it in the plastic about you.
He's like, all right, eaton this during the day. I
said, Okay, I was goingto make a joke like, do you
(07:39):
carry a cliff bar during one ofthose sprints and you just kind of whip
it out in the middle of it, maybe munch on it while you're kind
of running. But it sounds likethat's not too terribly far from the truth
if you have a random chicken floatingaround it. Yeah, that was one
of my funnier things that I've hadto eat during heptackle on But typically it's
just like sticking with honey stingers orkind of just roots and have you r
(08:01):
something like peanut butter jellies and stuff. But he's like, no, you
need like genuine protein to recover afterthis eight hundred for tomorrow. Well,
hopefully there's a random chicken breast lyingaround next weekend. Yeah, Likesington,
you're really stacking up the postseason honors. Second Team All Americans, second Team
(08:22):
All SEC. So first off,congrats, but second office, that's something
that you pay much attention to orhave you really even been able to process
it with as busy as you've been. I guess it's not something I really
think about too much, because Imean, I have my eyeset on like
really high goals for the year,so it's like, you know, it's
(08:43):
just like the small increments, it'slike okay, like no, this is
like really cool. But it waslike, obviously my mind is set on
higher things, and I'm very thankfulfor those things up obviously as well too.
But what's what's the biggest difference?I asked Heaton this about about his
discipline. What's the biggest difference indoorversus outdoor for you? Or is there
one? Really With heptathlon, soindoors is pentathlon, so we do five
(09:07):
events for indoors and then havetathlon outdoors. Pent Tathlon is personally more challenging because
you do five events in the oneday, so it's like eight hundred after
all four events, just all oneday. So personally that's more challenging.
But I feel like in the preparationyou're preparing almost for outdoors all year long.
(09:31):
It's like the javelin's not really indoors, but you kind of just touch
it here and there throughout indoors andoutdoors. Is I mean, regardless,
like fall season training is so muchmore challenging than those spring training because it's
all about conditioning and getting in shape, and so it really starts to show
(09:54):
a lot more once you get tooutdoors, I believe, especially if you're
injured like me in the first half. But what at Ball State, you
weren't necessarily kind of in those eventsconsistently or at least doing well in those
events, and now you've kind ofjust taken off ever since transferring into Kentucky,
whether it be in high school orin college, whether it Ball State
(10:16):
or in Lexington. What drove youto the heptathlon? So actually two of
my brothers did the decathlon, andso I grew up with a really athletic
family, and I was kind ofaverage and like everything in high school,
like I only jumped five five.I mean, high jump was my best,
it was five six, but saymy two hundred was like a twenty
(10:39):
seven, and long jump was likea sixteen foot long jump. So it
was like there was this kind ofaverage. I went to Ball State and
I was like, I'm just gonnawant to do everything. I want to
do what my brothers did. Itlooks fun, and always in high school,
I was like, coach, canI try this? Event. Can
I do this one? Can I? He's like charity, like no,
So I was like, why not, I'll do I'll do it in college
(11:03):
paid off. And so you mentionedyou were at Ball State, you're an
Indiana native. What what what droveyou to want to go see what's out
there in the portal? And andwhy did you you choose Lexington? So
my my biggest school. I wantedto accomplish something really big while I was
at Ball State, and I didthat at the end of the year,
(11:24):
and I was super excited. Ikind of just did my four years,
I finished my degree, and Ikind of just want to see what else
was out there. And I alsojust didn't want to be so my husband,
he lives about three and a halfhours from here, so it's also
kind of unideal to move across thecountry for somewhere else. But I also
heard a lot of a lot ofgreat things about Coach Grimes as a coach,
(11:46):
and I know the coaches are justand I knew i'd be able to
work with the other coaches who arevery like like Coach Green. He's a
very high specialist in the hurdles,and I knew i'd get to work with
him, and so you know,that's something really great that I get to
do and Coach Grinds being an amazingcoach as he is, knowing having all
(12:09):
this knowledge about all these different events, and so I was very excited to
just hop on board and get tolearn so much more about my events and
kind of just I kind of knewI'll just take off when I came here,
and yeah, it was really good. Fortunately, you won't have to
travel very far for the for atleast the first part of your journey and
(12:30):
post season play for NC Double A'sthat all begins six days from recording.
If you're listening to this on Friday, five days from now in Lexington.
Final question for your charity before welet you go, what's the build up
like for you these next five orsix days build up? So we in
the beginning of this week we kindof just hit it a little bit harder
(12:52):
kind of conditioning, and now we'restarting to let off the load a little
bit, maybe tack it a fewmore days, but a week it's game
on recovery, get ready for thehigh jump. Continue to focus on recovery
and nutrition, sleep, everything that'snecessary to perform well. Taking those small
(13:13):
steps that make a big difference andperformance. But yeah, honestly, just
try and do continue to do thegood habits that is necessary for all year
long. Awesome, Well, thankyou so much for your time. I'm
just exhausted simply thinking of your trainingregimen, much less the actual meat days
in the heptathlon. But we wishyou the best luck. We're all going
(13:35):
to be watching and we look forwardto seeing what you accomplished next week.
All right, awesome, thank youso much for having me on here.
First round of the NCAAs will getunderway on Wednesday, May twenty second in
Lexington. Scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all day events.
For ticketing information, while going toUK Athletics dot com, you can
(13:58):
navigate to the either the ticketing pageor the track and Field page will get
you there for those tickets. Sohope to see out supporting our track and
field athletes and just the event itselfas Kentucky hosts for the NCUBA. Unfortunately,
the NCAA curtain closing for UK men'stennis, but not before it was
a fantastic season as they advanced allthe way to the quarterfinals just eight teams
(14:24):
left standing in Stillwater, but itis TCU who will move on to that
semi final with four teams left inthe men's tennis tournament. But just a
great season overall SEC regular season andtournament champions. We had a chance to
chat with some of those guys alongthe way. Eli Stevenson, what a
bright future he has with Kentucky men'stennis, just a freshman, and Taha
(14:46):
body appreciate his time just before thearound the quarterfinal round if you will against
Harvard him stopping by just saw somerecord crowds in that postc action at the
Boone Tennis Center. But unfortunately TCUwill move on as they win out in
Stillwater. But a huge congrats notjust to Eli and Taha obviously, but
(15:09):
all of their teammates and the coachesas well for just an outstanding season,
yet another huge step forward for Kentuckymen's tennis. Best of luck to Kentucky
SAW. They will start their NCDouble A tournament journey Friday afternoon. It's
a three o'clock scheduled start. They'realso coincidentally enough out in Stillwater, just
(15:31):
like tennis was. They will takeon Michigan in their first round matchup at
three pm. That'll be a nationallytelevised game on ESPN two. Hope to
tune in. I know I willbe locked in as Kentucky hopes to get
in the winners side of the bracketat the Stillwater Regional again, that's against
the Michigan Wolverines at three pm.Every single SEC team made the NC Double
(15:56):
a tournament, just a tremendous feat. It shows you what co Tracher Lawson
and company we're up against. Thisyear, we had a chance to have
Stephanie schoonover as well as Aaron Koffel, who, by the way, just
got drafted into a professional league forsoftball, so big concrats to her.
But we met those along the way. We had a handful of games live
on the network as well. Excitedto see this big next step of their
(16:18):
journey. Michigan three o'clock on Fridayon ESPN two. Meanwhile, at Kentucky
Proud Park on Thursday night, itwas a record setting evening. The Batcats
roll to a ten to five winover Vanderbilt, and in doing so,
they secured their twenty first conference winof the year. That is the most
SEC wins in school history, andwe still have two regular season games to
(16:44):
go against the Vanderbilt Commodores before it'soff to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.
Cats coming in at number two inmost polls this week, they'll have a
really good chance at improving that lateron this weekend and at the SEC Tournament.
But big picture, you look attheir overall resume. They have sixteen
road wins. You look at ateam like Tennessee who's also in contention for
(17:04):
that number one overall seed, theywon't win double digit road games. They
have nine games one away from home, and they're at home to finish this
season. So you look at theRPI Kentucky number one in that, you
look at the overall body of work, you figure, if the Cats can
win one or two more games thisweekend, maybe make a little bit of
noise at Hoover. In Hoover,I should say for the SEC Tournament,
(17:26):
they should have the number one overallseed wrapped up. You would hope that,
you would think. And then obviouslymoving forward, if they go on
a run in Hoover, that wouldpretty much eliminate any question just given what
they've done this year. It wasa fun one on Thursday night, nearly
forty five hundred came out to KentuckyProud Park. As reserve seeding has been
(17:47):
sold out all weekend long, shouldbe even bigger crowds on Friday and Saturday
as well. Top of the orderdid the heavy lifting as far as the
hits go, they got all tenhits hitters one through five, but make
no mistake of it, Hitters seventhrough nine. Nolan McCarthy, James McCoy,
and Grant Smith each had an RBI. But how about Ryan Waldschmidt.
Three for four, including a threerun homer for Waltschmidt put him in double
(18:11):
digits in that category, his tenthblast of the year. The batting average
now up to three seventy three.Really really good chance. We won't have
to wait very long to hear hisname in the draft in a couple of
months when Major League Baseball holds theirentry their first year player Draft. Otherwise,
Devin Burk's two for five, hisbatting average up to two fifty six.
(18:33):
Remember he battled that hamstring injury duringthe Louisville game. He's been playing
through it, and we talked tohead coach Nick Minjeon before the Arkansas finale,
said he's finally getting back to onehundred percent and it's certainly looking like
that at the plate and defensively aswell. Cleanup man Nick Lopez two for
four with a couple of RBIs hisaverage now at three seventy eight. Oh
(18:55):
by the way, he went yardas well, his sixth of the season.
So just two more chits to seeKentucky at Kentucky Proud Park in the
regular season. Of course, we'llsee how the Regionals shake out and then
hopefully Super Regionals as well. Fridaywill be a six to thirty PM start.
That means my man Darren Hedrick willhave pregame coverage across the UK Sports
(19:15):
Network at six point fifteen and thenon Saturday, the regular season finale,
it'll be at high noon against theVanderbilt Commodores and Darren'll be on the air
at eleven forty five in the morningfor pregame coverage on the UK Sports Network.
That Saturday game is scheduled for anational telecast on the SEC Network,
so feel free to mute that volumeand get a UK flavor with Darren beginning
(19:38):
at eleven forty five am on Saturday. So once again that's a six thirty
start on Friday six fifteen airtime,and then a noon start on Saturday in
the regular season finale eleven forty fiveam airtime, and then the SEC Baseball
Tournament will kickstart on Wednesday, Maytwenty second in Hoover. Will know exactly
(19:59):
more about and where for Kentucky oncethe results play out the rest of the
weekend, should know a lot reallyto be honest. At the end of
the day tomorrow, and if you'relistening to this on Friday, later on
tonight, Kentucky, with just onewin in their final two games against Vanderbilt,
clinches at least a share of theSEC regular season title. If they
win out they'll win it outright.So a big congrats to head coach Nick
(20:22):
Minion and company for an outstanding season. It's been a blast seeing this team
go the way that they've gone,and they have a lot more left as
they are thirty eight and eleven overall, twenty one school record, twenty one
SEC wins now, and still twoto go at Kentucky Proud Park against Vanderbilt,
so we will be locked into thosegames at Kentucky Proud Park. The
(20:45):
rest of the weekend. We're goingto be super locked in on Friday at
three pm for UK Softball against Michiganand their opener of the Stillwater Regional in
the NCAA Tournament, and the nextweek of course UK Track in Field in
Action as well, and next week'sepisodes will also take a deeper dive into
baseball as they get ready for Hooverand the SEC Tournament. Big thanks to
(21:11):
Charity Huffnagel for taking time out ofher busy schedule as she preps for the
NCAAs to chat about her season andalso look ahead at those NCAA's best of
luck to her. Can't wait tosee her compete and hopefully some Cats get
some medals as Lexington the host ofthat opening round of the NCAA tournament again.
Ticket info at Ukathletics dot com.Huge thanks as always to Curtis and
(21:36):
Michelle Darren for supporting us with somebaseball info too, and thank you to
you for stopping by on this editionof the UK Sports Network Today podcast and
until next time. I made herkapus saying thanks for listening. There were ten pass
Happy Friday and welcome inside another editionof UK Sports Network Today presented by the
Big Blue Brew newsletter. Track andField winding Down coming off the SEC Outdoor
Championships, and we're pleased to bejoined this week by Charity Huffnagel, who
is getting ready for the heptathlon inthe NCAA Outdoor Championships, that opening round
(00:37):
right here in Lexington. Hope tosee you out there supporting our athletes as
well as just the overall meat itselfwith Kentucky hosting great chat with Charity.
She just set a couple of schoolrecords at the SEC Outdoor Championship. All
SEC second Team, All American SecondTeam. Just a great chat with her.
(00:58):
Before we get to Charity, Iwant to remind you that the UK
Sports Network Today podcast is presented bythe Big Blue Brew newsletter. You can
sign up today at Ukathletics dot comslash Big Blue Brew. It's completely free
and it hits in boxes every weekdaymorning. That the official newsletter of UK
Athletics. For more information, logonto Ukathletics dot com slash Big Blue Brew.
(01:21):
Without further ado, here's Charity.Charity Huffnagel kind enough to stop by
after a stellar campaign not just inthe regular season but in the SEC Championships
as well, ahead of the NCAA'scoming up next week. Charity, thank
you so much for your time.And how does it feel now to officially
be out of class so to speak, at least with the spring semester and
(01:42):
into postseason play. Honestly, it'salways nice to just be out of class
so I can really like focus inand dial in on just track and be
able to prioritize it more and tojust have no excuses to go to bed
later any of that. No,this never excuses in the first place.
(02:07):
But no, it's really nice tojust focus on it and go to the
prelims confidently and knowing and having thatconfidence that I've prepared all year for to
just go in and compete. Youhad a lot of success at the indoor
SEC Championships. You're just coming offthe outdoor SEC Championships. You set two
(02:27):
school records, which I think isreally cool. For a school that is
so rich in tradition and history that'sproduced so many Olympians as Kentucky Track and
Field has, that's got to bepretty cool. Feather in your cap to
have two school records. Oh no, it's it's really cool. Honestly,
I'm I'm just thankful for this yearwith coaches having patients and me having patients,
(02:49):
with how everything was kind of buildingup. We know everything's starting to
come together, so it's just reallyexciting, and I'm super thankful for just,
yeah, all the pract sessions tobuild up to that moment. How
did you find out you broke theschool record? Was that kind of down
the line or did you know almostright away? Honestly, I had no
idea until it was posted on socialmedia. I was like, oh wait,
(03:10):
that was a school record. Ohcool, five nine and fourteen in
the heptathlon and then a one pointeighty five meters in the high jump one
point eight five meters. That's kindof crazy. So my I came off,
so my pr is definitely higher thanthat, so I'm still working towards
(03:30):
that. Uh mark, My PRis one ninety three, but it actually
is the best mark I've ever jumpedin a heptathlon, and knowing that's my
biggest point maker, that was justreally exciting that I could get above that
height and the heptathlon again, Sothat was really nice. That's a good
transition for folks that may not beas well versed in crack and field terminology
(03:52):
and knowledge. Tell us a littlebit about what the heptathlon kind of involves,
because it's a lot. Yeah,So the first day, compete in
the hurdles, and then we goon to high jump, shot put,
then two hundred, and then thenext day we come back and we compete
in the long jump, javelin,and then finish off the day in the
(04:14):
eight hundred. So you're a truetrack and field athlete, you know,
not just track, not just field, it's it's everything, Yes, And
I think what's so cool about it, especially once you get once you start
getting to like the top, likenationally ranked in the country, there's typically
like one or two events that youhave to be able to most of the
(04:38):
time, we have to be ableto compete against even open inventors, so
that do so for mine, mine'sthe high jump, and there's typically just
that one big couple of big pointmakers that have athlete has and I think
that's just really cool how everybody hastheir own specialties and they have tathlon to
make up points. So, yeah, what was it like can considering that
(05:00):
you're not necessarily a sprinter by trade, per se, but to kind of
have to focus on those a littlebit when you when you're in the heptathlon.
Honestly, I love sprinting. It'sa lot. I used to do
cross country in high school, allthrough high school and middle school, so
and I slowly start transitioning to sprintsvery very into my senior year of high
(05:23):
school, and then obviously started tohave tath on as so as I got
into college. But yeah, I'mit's so fun to try to just develop
my speed and power throughout the yearsand just seeing how much that has improved.
What does training look like for that, because you know, if you're
just focused on the high jump,I assume it's pretty straightforward, as you
(05:44):
know, you're doing the same typeof thing every day, but you're having
to get ready for so many eventsand really short windows of time. Yeah,
it's like we work probably about twoto three events a day. Sometimes
it could just be jav picks orso, like this Tuesday, I did
(06:06):
no yes. Yeah, two daysago, for example, I did long
jump, shot put and then Iwent to go do a speed endurance workout.
So it's like we just kind ofswitch up the events every single day,
And it's honestly just a lot offun because it's like you get to
switch up every single day and notdoing the same thing every every day.
(06:29):
Or something goes wrong, you canjust move on to the next event and
hopefully that one goes better. So, I mean, you're using really so
much more of your body, reallyhead to toe compared to maybe some other
athletes in track and field. Howimportant is it for recovery to kind of
hang in there for that entire heptathlonfor all those three days. Yeah,
recovery is very important. It's likemaking sure you get in certain types of
(06:54):
nutrition, planning out exactly, planningout exactly what you're going to eat throughout
the havetathlon to make sure that youcan come back and recover for the next
day. Actually, really funny story. Coach knew that I was getting ready
to do the high jump the nextday for the final day on Saturday,
(07:16):
and after the eight hundred, hewas just making sure that I could recover,
like kind of just he wanted meto get in some like meat.
He's like, you know what,I think I have a leftover chicken breast
in my fridge and somebody brings itout hous it in the plastic about you.
He's like, all right, eaton this during the day. I
said, Okay, I was goingto make a joke like, do you
(07:39):
carry a cliff bar during one ofthose sprints and you just kind of whip
it out in the middle of it, maybe munch on it while you're kind
of running. But it sounds likethat's not too terribly far from the truth
if you have a random chicken floatingaround it. Yeah, that was one
of my funnier things that I've hadto eat during heptackle on But typically it's
just like sticking with honey stingers orkind of just roots and have you r
(08:01):
something like peanut butter jellies and stuff. But he's like, no, you
need like genuine protein to recover afterthis eight hundred for tomorrow. Well,
hopefully there's a random chicken breast lyingaround next weekend. Yeah, Likesington,
you're really stacking up the postseason honors. Second Team All Americans, second Team
(08:22):
All SEC. So first off,congrats, but second office, that's something
that you pay much attention to orhave you really even been able to process
it with as busy as you've been. I guess it's not something I really
think about too much, because Imean, I have my eyeset on like
really high goals for the year,so it's like, you know, it's
(08:43):
just like the small increments, it'slike okay, like no, this is
like really cool. But it waslike, obviously my mind is set on
higher things, and I'm very thankfulfor those things up obviously as well too.
But what's what's the biggest difference?I asked Heaton this about about his
discipline. What's the biggest difference indoorversus outdoor for you? Or is there
one? Really With heptathlon, soindoors is pentathlon, so we do five
(09:07):
events for indoors and then havetathlon outdoors. Pent Tathlon is personally more challenging because
you do five events in the oneday, so it's like eight hundred after
all four events, just all oneday. So personally that's more challenging.
But I feel like in the preparationyou're preparing almost for outdoors all year long.
(09:31):
It's like the javelin's not really indoors, but you kind of just touch
it here and there throughout indoors andoutdoors. Is I mean, regardless,
like fall season training is so muchmore challenging than those spring training because it's
all about conditioning and getting in shape, and so it really starts to show
(09:54):
a lot more once you get tooutdoors, I believe, especially if you're
injured like me in the first half. But what at Ball State, you
weren't necessarily kind of in those eventsconsistently or at least doing well in those
events, and now you've kind ofjust taken off ever since transferring into Kentucky,
whether it be in high school orin college, whether it Ball State
(10:16):
or in Lexington. What drove youto the heptathlon? So actually two of
my brothers did the decathlon, andso I grew up with a really athletic
family, and I was kind ofaverage and like everything in high school,
like I only jumped five five.I mean, high jump was my best,
it was five six, but saymy two hundred was like a twenty
(10:39):
seven, and long jump was likea sixteen foot long jump. So it
was like there was this kind ofaverage. I went to Ball State and
I was like, I'm just gonnawant to do everything. I want to
do what my brothers did. Itlooks fun, and always in high school,
I was like, coach, canI try this? Event. Can
I do this one? Can I? He's like charity, like no,
So I was like, why not, I'll do I'll do it in college
(11:03):
paid off. And so you mentionedyou were at Ball State, you're an
Indiana native. What what what droveyou to want to go see what's out
there in the portal? And andwhy did you you choose Lexington? So
my my biggest school. I wantedto accomplish something really big while I was
at Ball State, and I didthat at the end of the year,
(11:24):
and I was super excited. Ikind of just did my four years,
I finished my degree, and Ikind of just want to see what else
was out there. And I alsojust didn't want to be so my husband,
he lives about three and a halfhours from here, so it's also
kind of unideal to move across thecountry for somewhere else. But I also
heard a lot of a lot ofgreat things about Coach Grimes as a coach,
(11:46):
and I know the coaches are justand I knew i'd be able to
work with the other coaches who arevery like like Coach Green. He's a
very high specialist in the hurdles,and I knew i'd get to work with
him, and so you know,that's something really great that I get to
do and Coach Grinds being an amazingcoach as he is, knowing having all
(12:09):
this knowledge about all these different events, and so I was very excited to
just hop on board and get tolearn so much more about my events and
kind of just I kind of knewI'll just take off when I came here,
and yeah, it was really good. Fortunately, you won't have to
travel very far for the for atleast the first part of your journey and
(12:30):
post season play for NC Double A'sthat all begins six days from recording.
If you're listening to this on Friday, five days from now in Lexington.
Final question for your charity before welet you go, what's the build up
like for you these next five orsix days build up? So we in
the beginning of this week we kindof just hit it a little bit harder
(12:52):
kind of conditioning, and now we'restarting to let off the load a little
bit, maybe tack it a fewmore days, but a week it's game
on recovery, get ready for thehigh jump. Continue to focus on recovery
and nutrition, sleep, everything that'snecessary to perform well. Taking those small
(13:13):
steps that make a big difference andperformance. But yeah, honestly, just
try and do continue to do thegood habits that is necessary for all year
long. Awesome, Well, thankyou so much for your time. I'm
just exhausted simply thinking of your trainingregimen, much less the actual meat days
in the heptathlon. But we wishyou the best luck. We're all going
(13:35):
to be watching and we look forwardto seeing what you accomplished next week.
All right, awesome, thank youso much for having me on here.
First round of the NCAAs will getunderway on Wednesday, May twenty second in
Lexington. Scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all day events.
For ticketing information, while going toUK Athletics dot com, you can
(13:58):
navigate to the either the ticketing pageor the track and Field page will get
you there for those tickets. Sohope to see out supporting our track and
field athletes and just the event itselfas Kentucky hosts for the NCUBA. Unfortunately,
the NCAA curtain closing for UK men'stennis, but not before it was
a fantastic season as they advanced allthe way to the quarterfinals just eight teams
(14:24):
left standing in Stillwater, but itis TCU who will move on to that
semi final with four teams left inthe men's tennis tournament. But just a
great season overall SEC regular season andtournament champions. We had a chance to
chat with some of those guys alongthe way. Eli Stevenson, what a
bright future he has with Kentucky men'stennis, just a freshman, and Taha
(14:46):
body appreciate his time just before thearound the quarterfinal round if you will against
Harvard him stopping by just saw somerecord crowds in that postc action at the
Boone Tennis Center. But unfortunately TCUwill move on as they win out in
Stillwater. But a huge congrats notjust to Eli and Taha obviously, but
(15:09):
all of their teammates and the coachesas well for just an outstanding season,
yet another huge step forward for Kentuckymen's tennis. Best of luck to Kentucky
SAW. They will start their NCDouble A tournament journey Friday afternoon. It's
a three o'clock scheduled start. They'realso coincidentally enough out in Stillwater, just
(15:31):
like tennis was. They will takeon Michigan in their first round matchup at
three pm. That'll be a nationallytelevised game on ESPN two. Hope to
tune in. I know I willbe locked in as Kentucky hopes to get
in the winners side of the bracketat the Stillwater Regional again, that's against
the Michigan Wolverines at three pm.Every single SEC team made the NC Double
(15:56):
a tournament, just a tremendous feat. It shows you what co Tracher Lawson
and company we're up against. Thisyear, we had a chance to have
Stephanie schoonover as well as Aaron Koffel, who, by the way, just
got drafted into a professional league forsoftball, so big concrats to her.
But we met those along the way. We had a handful of games live
on the network as well. Excitedto see this big next step of their
(16:18):
journey. Michigan three o'clock on Fridayon ESPN two. Meanwhile, at Kentucky
Proud Park on Thursday night, itwas a record setting evening. The Batcats
roll to a ten to five winover Vanderbilt, and in doing so,
they secured their twenty first conference winof the year. That is the most
SEC wins in school history, andwe still have two regular season games to
(16:44):
go against the Vanderbilt Commodores before it'soff to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.
Cats coming in at number two inmost polls this week, they'll have a
really good chance at improving that lateron this weekend and at the SEC Tournament.
But big picture, you look attheir overall resume. They have sixteen
road wins. You look at ateam like Tennessee who's also in contention for
(17:04):
that number one overall seed, theywon't win double digit road games. They
have nine games one away from home, and they're at home to finish this
season. So you look at theRPI Kentucky number one in that, you
look at the overall body of work, you figure, if the Cats can
win one or two more games thisweekend, maybe make a little bit of
noise at Hoover. In Hoover,I should say for the SEC Tournament,
(17:26):
they should have the number one overallseed wrapped up. You would hope that,
you would think. And then obviouslymoving forward, if they go on
a run in Hoover, that wouldpretty much eliminate any question just given what
they've done this year. It wasa fun one on Thursday night, nearly
forty five hundred came out to KentuckyProud Park. As reserve seeding has been
(17:47):
sold out all weekend long, shouldbe even bigger crowds on Friday and Saturday
as well. Top of the orderdid the heavy lifting as far as the
hits go, they got all tenhits hitters one through five, but make
no mistake of it, Hitters seventhrough nine. Nolan McCarthy, James McCoy,
and Grant Smith each had an RBI. But how about Ryan Waldschmidt.
Three for four, including a threerun homer for Waltschmidt put him in double
(18:11):
digits in that category, his tenthblast of the year. The batting average
now up to three seventy three.Really really good chance. We won't have
to wait very long to hear hisname in the draft in a couple of
months when Major League Baseball holds theirentry their first year player Draft. Otherwise,
Devin Burk's two for five, hisbatting average up to two fifty six.
(18:33):
Remember he battled that hamstring injury duringthe Louisville game. He's been playing
through it, and we talked tohead coach Nick Minjeon before the Arkansas finale,
said he's finally getting back to onehundred percent and it's certainly looking like
that at the plate and defensively aswell. Cleanup man Nick Lopez two for
four with a couple of RBIs hisaverage now at three seventy eight. Oh
(18:55):
by the way, he went yardas well, his sixth of the season.
So just two more chits to seeKentucky at Kentucky Proud Park in the
regular season. Of course, we'llsee how the Regionals shake out and then
hopefully Super Regionals as well. Fridaywill be a six to thirty PM start.
That means my man Darren Hedrick willhave pregame coverage across the UK Sports
(19:15):
Network at six point fifteen and thenon Saturday, the regular season finale,
it'll be at high noon against theVanderbilt Commodores and Darren'll be on the air
at eleven forty five in the morningfor pregame coverage on the UK Sports Network.
That Saturday game is scheduled for anational telecast on the SEC Network,
so feel free to mute that volumeand get a UK flavor with Darren beginning
(19:38):
at eleven forty five am on Saturday. So once again that's a six thirty
start on Friday six fifteen airtime,and then a noon start on Saturday in
the regular season finale eleven forty fiveam airtime, and then the SEC Baseball
Tournament will kickstart on Wednesday, Maytwenty second in Hoover. Will know exactly
(19:59):
more about and where for Kentucky oncethe results play out the rest of the
weekend, should know a lot reallyto be honest. At the end of
the day tomorrow, and if you'relistening to this on Friday, later on
tonight, Kentucky, with just onewin in their final two games against Vanderbilt,
clinches at least a share of theSEC regular season title. If they
win out they'll win it outright.So a big congrats to head coach Nick
(20:22):
Minion and company for an outstanding season. It's been a blast seeing this team
go the way that they've gone,and they have a lot more left as
they are thirty eight and eleven overall, twenty one school record, twenty one
SEC wins now, and still twoto go at Kentucky Proud Park against Vanderbilt,
so we will be locked into thosegames at Kentucky Proud Park. The
(20:45):
rest of the weekend. We're goingto be super locked in on Friday at
three pm for UK Softball against Michiganand their opener of the Stillwater Regional in
the NCAA Tournament, and the nextweek of course UK Track in Field in
Action as well, and next week'sepisodes will also take a deeper dive into
baseball as they get ready for Hooverand the SEC Tournament. Big thanks to
(21:11):
Charity Huffnagel for taking time out ofher busy schedule as she preps for the
NCAAs to chat about her season andalso look ahead at those NCAA's best of
luck to her. Can't wait tosee her compete and hopefully some Cats get
some medals as Lexington the host ofthat opening round of the NCAA tournament again.
Ticket info at Ukathletics dot com.Huge thanks as always to Curtis and
(21:36):
Michelle Darren for supporting us with somebaseball info too, and thank you to
you for stopping by on this editionof the UK Sports Network Today podcast and
until next time. I made herkapus saying thanks for listening. There were ten pass
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