March 7, 2009
AMES, Iowa; SOUTH BEND, Ind. and BLACKSBURG Va. – Kentucky sprinter Rondel Sorrillo earned an NCAA automatic mark in his second event of the season, clocking in at 20.83 in the 200m dash at the Iowa State Qualifier in Ames, Iowa on Saturday.
The UK junior’s winning time is ties him for third in the nation and eighth in the world. Sorrillo’s mark ranks second all-time at UK in the event and is his best time as a Wildcat.
Last week at the Southeastern Conference Championships, Sorrillo collected an automatic mark in the 60m dash with a time of 6.66 in the preliminaries. Both marks guarantee Sorrillo participation in each event at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend in College Station, Texas.
UK sprinters Justin Austin (21.08) and Jose Acevedo (21.23) earned provisional marks in the 200m dash.
In the women’s 800m run, senior Jessica Ortman finished third collecting a provisional mark at 2:08.96.
Kentucky senior Gordon McKenzie won the 60m dash in a time of 6.73 while freshman Alex Williams clocked in at 6.78 for second place. McKenzie earned a provisional mark with his finish.
However, all will await the selection process next week based on provisional times from earlier this season.
Meanwhile at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational, senior Ashley Trimble finished five points shy of her varsity record in the pentathlon that she set last week at the SEC Championship; finishing first with 3,986 points. Trimble set a season-best mark in the high jump of 5-2.50 and a personal-best time of 2:12.98 in the 800m run to attain her score.
Freshman Precious Nwokey also competed in the pentathlon with a season-best time in the 800m run and personal-best height in the high jump of 5-5 to finish the day in third with 3,388 points.
Two more Cats finished with top-three performances on Saturday.
In the Invitational men’s triple jump, sophomore David Banks finished second overall with a distance of 47-9.75.
At the Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet, junior Kristin Smith led the throwers with a third-place finish in the women’s weight throw, pitching the weight a distance of 61-3.50.
Kentucky track and field athletes will await provisional invitations for the NCAA Indoor Championships announced next week.
Click UKathletics.com for all of the latest track and field news.
