Western Kentucky University track and field reported on May 2 that the team concluded its regular outdoor season with ten podium finishes at the Music City Challenge, which was hosted by Vanderbilt. Sam Crenshaw led the men’s team with a first-place finish in the pole vault, while Kinley Kunkel achieved second place and set a personal record in the women’s 5000-meter run.
The results from Nashville show several strong performances across both men’s and women’s events. Kunkel finished second in her event with a time of 16:04.61, marking a new personal best. Crenshaw cleared 5.10 meters to win the men’s pole vault, while freshman Jackson Gray placed third with a mark of 4.85 meters. On the women’s side, Ella Cleveland also reached the podium by finishing third in pole vault after clearing 3.61 meters.
The men’s relay teams added to WKU’s tally; Kameron Horton, Leland Taylor, Brunel Desinor, and Zachariah Taylor took second place in the men’s 4×100 relay with a time of 40.10 seconds. The men’s 4×400 relay—composed of Leland Taylor, Landon Kempema, Ben Dunkle, and Wade Balcom—secured third place at 3:17.77 minutes.
Additional individual achievements included Desinor placing third in the men’s 200 meters (21.13 seconds), Zachariah Taylor taking third in the men’s 100 meters (10.69 seconds) and fifth in the men’s 200 meters (21.33 seconds), as well as Trevor Hudnall earning second place in the men’s 800-meter run (1:51.10). Ricardo Smith narrowly missed out on a podium spot by finishing fourth in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
Although official team scores were not finalized for this meet, WKU indicated it finished third on points among men’s teams with an unofficial total of 83.5 points.
Looking ahead, Western Kentucky will move into postseason competition at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships scheduled for May 14-16 at Dean A Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium in Murfreesboro.
