Horton and Crenshaw prepare for NCAA track and field outdoor championships

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Sam Crenshaw and Kameron Horton are set to compete in the NCAA track and field outdoor championships this week.

It’s been seven years since WKU has seen qualifiers on the men’s side, and these Tops are thrilled to bring their schools name back to the national level.

“ It means a lot, especially because this is the school that I picked to be mine,” Crenshaw said. “Being able to represent them on the big stage is pretty cool.”

“It’s a great feeling to represent the Hilltoppers,” Horton said. “I’ve been here three, going on four, years. When I got here, rest in peace to my coach, but Coach Chumbley was here, and I went to regionals with him and a few other people. He brought Katie Eisenberger to nationals, and that’s just something that I really looked up to from freshman year to now. To actually be in that position and be going to Oregon, that’s it’s a great feeling and I know he’s up there proud, happy for me.”

Kam Horton ran a time of 20.42 seconds in the men’s 200 meters at the NCAA East Regional in Lexington to lock in his spot, while Sam Crenshaw cleared 5.35 meters in the men’s pole vault to join his teammate in Oregon.

That height tied Crenshaw’s personal-best this season, which is also WKU’s outdoor program record.

Of course, Horton and Crenshaw are excited for the opportunity to compete in nationals, but just as excited is their head coach, Lee Wood.

Wood says what’s gotten these two to the championship stage isn’t the two hours a day they put into practice, but the 22 hours outside of that dedicated to their career.

That work ethic on and off the track is setting the standard for this program’s culture.

“It’s just such a bright spot for Western Kentucky track and field and it’s contagious,” Wood said. “I think it’s going to help us build our program even more and it makes our job as coaches a little bit easier because they’re intrinsically motivated. They’re motivated from within, and that’s what they bring to the table.”

Crenshaw and Horton will begin competition on Wednesday, June 10, at the University of Oregon.