LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky track and field program is heading to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with one of its largest teams in recent years, sending 22 total athletes to compete at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from June 10-13.

The Wildcats qualified 13 women and nine men for the national championships after competing at the NCAA East First Round in Lexington last month. The squad features several standout performers, including SEC champion Emmi Scales and freshman sensation Kemarah Howard, who earned SEC Women's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year honors.

Scales, a junior hurdler, has emerged as one of the nation's premier track athletes this season. She won gold in the women's 60-meter hurdles at the SEC Indoor Championships with a time of 7.85 seconds and enters the outdoor championships as the NCAA leader in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best of 12.64 seconds, set at the SEC Outdoor Championships in May.

Howard, the Kentucky freshman competing in the high jump, has had a remarkable debut season. She won the women's high jump at both the SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor Championships this year, becoming the first true freshman in SEC history to accomplish the feat. Howard's season-best clearance of 1.90 meters ranks among the nation's best.

On the men's side, the Wildcats will compete in track and field events as well as relays. Sprinter Anthony Waterman leads the men's contingent in the 110-meter hurdles, while the 4x100-meter relay team features Miles Jones, Oscar Baltan Vivero, TK Pahuwa and alternate Denzel Simusialela.

Additional women's qualifiers include multiple runners competing in hurdles, sprints and distance events, along with field athletes in pole vault and heptathlon. Julia Gunnell will compete in the women's heptathlon, a grueling seven-event competition that spans multiple days of the championship.

The championships will be held simultaneously for both men and women over the four-day period. Events began on June 10 with men's preliminaries and continue through Saturday with final rounds across multiple disciplines.