Current Cat, former Kentucky star win NCAA titles; another perfect 10 for Raena Worley

Kentucky pole vaulter Keaton Daniel, a five-time SEC champion, won his first individual NCAA title on Friday at the indoor championships in Boston.

The senior beat out Arkansas State junior Bradley Jelmert through two heights for the gold medal. He previously won NCAA outdoors silver and bronze medal in 2021 and 2022.

After both pole vaulters cleared 18 feet, 6.5 inches/5.65 meters, Daniel cleared the next height at 18 feet, 8.25 inches/5.70 meters on his second attempt. Jelmert, who had two misses on the height, opted to forgo his final attempt and move to a final attempt at the next height. He fouled on his only attempt at 18 feet, 10.25 inches/5.75 meters.

The victory comes after Daniel won his second Southeastern Conference indoor title and fifth overall SEC gold medal at the SEC Indoor Championships two weeks ago. He has led the country since Jan. 20 when he set a Kentucky school record at the Corky Classic by clearing 19 feet, 0.25 inches/5.80 meters.

Rifle

Former Kentucky star Mary Tucker, now a fifth-year senior at West Virginia, earned the second individual NCAA title of her career when she won smallbore at the 2024 NCAA Rifle Championships on Friday in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tucker won the 2021 NCAA title in smallbore while a sophomore with the Wildcats.

The Sarasota, Florida, native took first place with a 462.0 mark in the smallbore individual finals. She earned a spot in the finals after shooting a qualifying score of 596 to lead the field.

Kentucky sophomore Sofia Ceccarello and freshman Braden Peiser made the individual finals, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.

After shooting an opening-day smallbore aggregate score of 2,353, West Virginia was six points ahead of second-place TCU’s 2,347. Kentucky is third with 2,338. The competition continued Saturday with air rifle.

Kentucky, which qualified fourth for the eight-team event, has won the national title four times — 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2022 — with six runner-up finishes. Last year, UK finished third.

Gymnastics

Senior Raena Worley earned her fourth career 10.0, all this season, and won her 28th all-around title as the No. 6 Kentucky gymnastics team (8-4, 4-3 SEC) defeated host North Carolina (5-11, 1-5 ACC) 197.800-196.525 on Friday.

The Wildcats’ total tied their program-best away overall score, which was set last season at Illinois.

Worley’s perfect score once again came on the floor exercise.

Kentucky will close out its regular-season schedule next week in Nashville, Tennessee, at the inaugural Kidney Care Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

Men’s tennis

No. 5 Kentucky (12-2, 3-0 SEC) continued its undefeated conference run with a 6-1 victory against No. 27 Florida (6-5, 2-1 SEC) on Friday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The Gators claimed the doubles point before the Wildcats dominated singles.

Softball

No. 3 LSU (20-0) continued its undefeated start to the season Friday night by defeating No. 21 Kentucky 6-2 at John Cropp Stadium.

The Tigers took control of the game in the top of the second inning, scoring a pair of runs thanks to a passed ball and a walk with the bases loaded to make it a 2-0 lead. LSU scored three more runs in the top of the third inning as Kentucky (14-5) committed three errors.

Baseball

No. 25 Kentucky made several uncharacteristic miscues that contributed to an early four-run hole from which it could not recover, in a 13-1 loss to Kennesaw State (8-6) at Kentucky Proud Park on Friday. The loss ended an eight-game win streak for the Wildcats (12-2).