By LARRY VAUGHT
Chloe Abbott was the 2019 NCAA runner-up in the 400-meter dash and a six-time first-team All-American at Purdue and Kentucky during her collegiate career. She’s now a professional athlete for On Running who is aiming to make the 2024 U.S. Olympic team.
But Abbott is also an actress, model and singer and she’s competing now on NBC-TV’s “The Voice” and is hoping for plenty of support from Big Blue Nation if she advances in the show. Her audition likely will air March 13.
“Right now the shows are prerecorded but in May the shows will be live,” she said. “If I make it that far, Kentucky fans can vote and rally behind me and show their love for me.
“Having Big Blue just supporting me the whole way has always been huge. So many people during my collegiate career encouraged me. I was able to sing the national anthem in college and those performances helped me for ‘The Voice.’ The opportunity Kentucky gave me to sing and use my passion despite my busy schedule was really special.”
She is now coached by the legendary Bobby Kersee and says he encourages her to sing just like On Running does and UK coach Lonnie Greene did.
“Bobby and On continue to tell me that they want to see me sing and even sing at meets. Kentucky always supported me like that and now my sponsor and coach are my biggest supporters and that really helps,” she said.
Abbott said it was a “tough secret” to keep for almost six months that she was going to be on the NBC-TV reality competition. Her family, coach and sponsor knew she was taking part in the competition and going through auditions but no one else did.
“I had to keep it under wraps,” Abbott, who now lives in Los Angeles, said. “It sucked. I would see people doing fun things and could not wait to share how I was grinding with my singing and practicing track. It was super tough not sharing that information. I would have to leave for auditions and could not tell anyone what I was doing.”
Abbott, a theater major at UK with a minor in vocal performance, has wanted to perform on Broadway in New York and that dream has not gone away.
“Since I have been on ‘The Voice’ it has sparked a fire in me to get back to work on that dream. I love to do track but that is my job. I am finding time off the track to send things out I have done as an artist. I have to open that door for myself. I have done the track thing for so long. Broadway is in the cards for me. I am starting the process now to see if acting is something that will work out.”
However, she’s not lost focus on making the 2024 U.S. Olympic team or the training it will take to make it. Her ultimate goal remains to break 49 seconds in the 400 dash. She thinks “overlapping” World Championship and Olympic years will help her.
“I have a great coach, a great training group, and a great sponsor. There’s no reason for me not to give it a full shot to make my dream come true,” she said.
Eleven-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix’s husband, Kenneth Ferguson, is from the Detroit area like Abbott. She told him after her rookie professional season that she was “struggling” and might need to change coaches.
“It was nothing against coach Greene at UK. We parted on great terms,” Abbott said. “Allyson’s husband asked me if I needed help finding a coach. I balled out crying telling him I need help and I would work with Bobby or anybody that would take me. The next day Kenneth called me and asked if I was serious about track and if I was then call Bobby in the next 30 minutes.”
Kersee has trained numerous Olympic and world champions, including former UK standout Sydney McLaughlin.
“Talking to Bobby was extremely intimidating. He said he would be back in touch and we talked the next day, kept talking and finally met up in Florida (where she was living). There was really no reason for him to take me on. I had been second at nationals but I didn’t have world records or Olympic medals. But he took me,” Abbott said. “It was just divine intervention.”
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis certainly was selling himself at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
“I think I have one of the strongest arms that’s come out of any draft class in recent memory. I’ve got a cannon and I’ll show it off,” Levis said during an interview at the combine.
Levis is being projected as a possible top 10 pick — or higher — in the April draft and he certainly has a big supporter in Fox Sports national radio host Colin Cowherd. He doesn’t understand why Levis is being doubted more than other high-profile college quarterbacks eligible for the draft.
“Let’s talk about stuff that matters for quarterbacks,” Cowherd said on his radio show, The Herd. “So, brain power. His mom went to Yale, his grandfather to Cornell. Highly-educated northeast kid. Brain power, A plus. Four-point finance major. Cognitively, kid is as smart as anybody in this draft. Any player.
“Arm strength? It’s all over the internet. The kid has a hose. He’s got a rocket arm. Brain power and arm strength, doesn’t mean everything, but they matter.”
He also likes that Levis is being questioned by so many.
“There’s also a third component. He’s been doubted,” Cowherd said. “He had to transfer from Penn State. Players that are doubted get a chip on their shoulder. Those three components: big brain, big arm and he’s been doubted so he’s not cocky, he had nothing handed to him.”
Cowherd pointed out that other quarterbacks like Joe Burrow and Aaron Rogers were doubted coming into the NFL and fared very well. Cowherd also noted Levis played in a top conference without elite players around him.
“Will Levis did not have a single first or second team all-conference player on offense,” Cowherd said. “Translation: the receivers aren’t as open. You’re under duress. You’re getting the crap kicked out of you. Translation: a real NFL experience.”
Cowherd compared Levis to quarterbacks Eli Manning of Mississippi and Philip Rivers of North Carolina State. Manning won two Super Bowls and was the MVP in both games. Rivers played 17 years and was named to eight Pro Bowls.
“Completion percentage, Will Levis is the highest of the three. Winning percentage, Will Levis the highest of the three. Touchdown to interception ratio, Will Levis in line with Eli Manning,” Cowherd said. “Brain power, arm, doubted, playing at a basketball school in the talent-rich south.”
John Calipari appreciates how most Kentucky fans have supported his team during what he calls the “process” of building this team going into postseason play.
“Our fans have stuck with us. There’s been some outlying stuff, but the reality of it is they’ve never left. That’s what makes this school, this program, Rupp Arena, what it is,” Calipari said.
He understands fans being frustrated after some losses because he felt the same way.
“Our fans are engaged. You lose, they get mad. You win, they’re ecstatic,” Calipari said. “But there are those that follow us and watch the tape twice. That’s part of being a fan here. And the connection between this program and our fanbase has never been stronger.”
Calipari said after Saturday’s win at Arkansas that the players wanted to win for fans because of severe storms in Kentucky a day earlier.
“We knew about the storm. They wanted to do this for our fans,” Calipari said. “Some of you, I imagine, had to go to someone with electricity to watch the game. This was for you. Don’t think we weren’t thinking about that as a team because we know what this team means to the state of Kentucky.”
Calipari likes the tenacity his team has shown to keep finding ways to win despite injuries and other adversity.
“I’m proud of what this team is doing. I’m proud of these young men. And it’s not been easy. Like I’ve always said, this isn’t for everybody. Playing here is not for everybody. This is a hard road and you’re going to have to take the ups and the downs, take the lumps,” the Kentucky coach said.
“If you try to be comfortable, you’re not going to get better. There are things that happen. There are mountains you’re climbing, things that fall in your way. You’ve got to stay up and keep stepping forward. This team has done it.”
Kentucky associate coach Bruiser Flint believes Calipari’s philosophy has been perfect to help sophomore Daimion Collins cope with more than just basketball after the death of his father before the season started.
“I think Cal has done an unbelievable job in terms of not rushing him back. Let him take his time and told him when he was ready to help us, you come help us,” Flint said. “I lost my dad when I was a head coach and I know how tough it was for me. I can only imagine how tough it has been for him being away from home.
“Cal has been very patient. Did not put any pressure on him. He let the kid do it on his own time. Nobody pushed to get him back faster.”
Collins had four key points in UK’s win at Arkansas Saturday.
All-American catcher Kayla Kowalik got off to a slow start for her this season but it was only fitting she had a rare five-hit game when she became UK’s all-time leader in hits.
“I think my expectations are always high. They never decrease,” said Kowalik, who is hitting .404 with nine RBI’s and 10 runs scored in 17 games.
That’s part of the reason she took her COVID year to play a fifth season for Kentucky even though she has been brilliant both offensively and defensively the previous two years.
“I am not going to lie. The minute COVID hit, it was like, ‘Coach Lawson, I am coming back.’ I knew I wanted a year back and could pursue my MBA and extend my education. I knew I wanted to stick around Kentucky softball and our staff,” Kowalik said.
She admitted she wanted to “beat everybody” this year, especially teams that have friends she made while playing USA Softball. She also said she was looking forward to playing SEC rival Florida.
“One of my best friends is playing for Ole Miss, so I am looking forward to going there and hopefully giving them a beatdown,” Kowalik said.
Kowalik says she is a bit more “sentimental” this season because she knows it is her last one at Kentucky.
“I am taking in more opportunities and memories,” the catcher said. “I am playing with some of my best friends and I would not want to be with anybody else.”
As good as Kowalik has been at Kentucky, she said last year she made some changes in attitude that helped her.
“I am such a hard headed person that it takes me a little bit to understand things. It was kind of like a switch just flipped last year. What can I do to help my pitchers out more? What can I do not only to be a good player but also be a good person for my teammate to help them perform the way they need to,” Kowalik said. “I want to help them as much as they help me. So if I can help them, our team will be infinitely better.”
Jeff Sheppard was one of the players who attended the reunion celebration for Kentucky’s 1996-97-98 basketball teams that won two national titles and lost in the title game the other year.
Rick Pitino recruited Sheppard and coached the 1996 national title team and 1997 team that lost to Arizona in the title game. Tubby Smith was the 1998 national championship coach after Pitino left for the NBA.
Pitino is now the head coach at Iona and did not attend the reunion celebration.
“I was texting coach Pitino the morning of the (Tennessee) game. It was not the same without the man who led us with so much passion, style and energy,” Sheppard said. “He said, ‘Tell guys I love them and they (1996 team) are the best team ever. He believes the 1996 team was the best team ever assembled in college basketball.
“We missed him. I look forward to when the time is appropriate for Kentucky to make a decision to honor coach Pitino. I hope I can be there at that moment, I believe he deserves appreciation for the work he did at Kentucky.
“He brought Kentucky from one of lowest points to this incredible run in the 1990’s. He laid the foundation for coach Smith to come in and finish the 98 championship. He just did an incredible job and that should never be forgotten.”
Quote of the Week: “That’s the single best performance I’ve seen a player have against a team I’ve coached outside of the NBA. He was phenomenal. I thought he was fantastic,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman on Antonio Reeves’ 37-point game.
Quote of the Week 2: “Kentucky is probably the greatest college basketball program in the history of college basketball. The following is phenomenal. Everywhere you go in the state they love the game of basketball and they always will,” former UK coach Tubby Smith on Kentucky fans.
Quote of the Week 3: “I don’t know many freshmen that are built like that. Great player. Great size. Great tempo,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl on UK freshman point guard Cason Wallace.