May 15, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. –
Kentucky track and field athlete Ashley Trimble continued her impressive senior year by setting the UK women’s heptathlon record on the second day of the 2009 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships Friday at host University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track within James G. Pressly Stadium.
The meet continues Saturday with field events beginning at noon ET while running events will get out of the blocks at 6:00 p.m.
Trimble completed her record-breaking performance on day two of the heptathlon. In the final event, she ran a personal-best time of 2:12.02 in the women’s 800m to win the race and move up three spots in the final standings to finish third overall with 5,530 points. Trimble’s point total tops her record of 5,438 set last month at the Sea Ray Relays and automatically qualifies her for the NCAA meet. The senior from Columbus, Ohio, helped her cause by finishing fourth in the long jump and sixth in the javelin. Trimble collected six team points for the Cats.
Freshman Precious Nwokey recorded a personal-best heptathlon point total of 4,833 as the highest-scoring freshman in the event to move into fifth place all-time at UK. Aided by a personal-best 800m time of 2:18.84 to finish second behind Trimble in the final event, Nwokey also notched a personal-best javelin throw to move into the final scoring position in eighth place earning UK an additional team point.
Later in the meet and shortly after completing the women’s 400-meter hurdles prelims, her fourth event of the day, Nwokey collapsed in the recovery area and was non-responsive for a brief moment of time. She was evaluated by the event’s covering physician Dr. Cheree Padilla and the Alachua County Fire and Rescue team who concluded Nwokey’s collapse was most likely due to dehydration and a lack of proper nourishment. Nwokey was deemed able to return to the team. Her status for the remainder of the competition will be re-evaluated by UK team medical personnel.
Sophomore Ashley Newby finished ninth overall with 4,628 points after a personal-best javelin throw on the final day of the heptathlon.
Senior Ashley Muffet threw a personal-best mark of 192-1 in the women’s hammer to place third overall and earn another six points for the Wildcats. The distance improves her third-place mark all-time at UK. Junior Kristin Smith picked up a point for the Cats with an eighth-place throw of 168-11.
Freshman Kevin Carney earned his first point at an SEC Championship meet with an eighth-place finish in the men’s decathlon. He secured the spot by recording a personal-best time of 4:46.94 in the 1,500m run. The 14-point advantage gained by Carney in the race was the difference in the final scoring position – beating the ninth-place competitor by just five points. The Brentwood, Tenn., native recorded four collegiate-best marks in five events on day two, led by a third-place finish in the discus in addition to his marks in the pole vault and javelin.
Freshman Imani DuPerry accumulated a personal-best total of 5,672 points to improve his eighth-place mark all-time at UK. He posted three personal-best marks in the pole vault, javelin and discus. DuPerry’s fourth-place finish in the 110m hurdles aided him to a 13th-place spot overall.
Four Wildcats qualified for Sunday event finals after preliminary running events on day two.
In the men’s 200m dash, junior Rondel Sorrillo qualified for the final by placing eighth in a time of 20.97. His regional-qualifying time was an outdoor season debut for Sorrillo in the event and ranks ninth all-time at UK. Senior Jose Acevedo ran a regional-qualifying 200m time of 21.11 but did not make the cut for the nine-man final.
Senior Mikel Thomas also made his outdoor season debut in the 400m hurdles with a regional-qualifying time of 51.67. He placed seventh overall to qualify for the Sunday final.
Classmate Stephan Smith ran a personal-best 800m run mark of 1:49.55 to qualify eighth overall for the event final on day four.
Senior Jessica Ortman qualified in the women’s 800m final in eighth place. Her finish of 2:06.62 is a season-best time and just 0.10 seconds shy of her sixth-place all-time mark at UK.
The UK men are ranked at No. 25 coming into the meet, one of seven SEC squads ranked nationally in the latest top-25 poll. Other conference teams in the rankings include No. 2 Florida, No. 7 South Carolina, No.8 Arkansas, No. 12 LSU, No. 13 Auburn and No. 20 Georgia.
On the women’s side, Kentucky will compete against four top-25 teams. No. 4 LSU leads the SEC pack, of No. 12 Tennessee, No. 14 Auburn and No. 19 Arkansas.
Video coverage of the Championships will be aired on a tape-delayed basis by FSN South on Sat. May 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Live stats will be available at UKathletics.com.
A full recap of the Cats’ performances will be available after each day of competition on UKathletics.com.
Wildcat Scorers by Event – SEC Outdoor Championships after Day 2
WOMEN (points earned) – 14
Hammer Throw
3. Ashley Muffet – 192-01 (6)
8. Kristin Smith – 168-11 (1)
Heptathlon
3. Ashley Trimble – 5530(6)
8. Precious Nwokey – 4833(1)
MEN (points earned) -1
Decathlon
8. Kevin Carney – 6066 (1)
WOMEN’S TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2 (3 SCORED EVENTS)
1) Arkansas 31
2) Alabama 18
3) Florida 15
4) KENTUCKY 14
5) Mississippi State 12
6) LSU 8
7) Ole Miss 7
8) Auburn 5
9) Tennessee 3
10) Georgia 2
10) South Carolina 2
10) Vanderbilt 2
MEN’S TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2 (3 SCORED EVENTS)
1) Georgia 28
2) Auburn 18
3) LSU 16
4) Tennessee 11
4) Mississippi State 11
6) Alabama 10
6) Florida 10
8) Arkansas 9
9) South Carolina 3
10) KENTUCKY 1
11) Ole Miss —
Kentucky SEC Outdoor Championship Participants Competing on Saturday May 16
Men’s Long Jump – 2:00 p.m. ET
David Banks
Women’s Discus – 3:30 p.m. ET
Mary Angell
Ashley Muffet
Heather Smith
Emilee Strot
Jennifer Svoboda
Women’s Long Jump – 4:00 p.m. ET
Danielle Sampley
Men’s 1500 Meter Run Prelims – 6:00 p.m. ET
Adam Henken
Josh Nadzam
Will Rover
Matt Wagner
Women’s 1500 Meter Run Prelims – 6:15 p.m. ET
Jessica Ortman
Men’s Shot Put – 6:30 p.m. ET
Colin Boevers
Chase Madison
Rashaud Scott
Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles Prelims – 6:30 p.m. ET
Mikel Thomas
Men’s 400 Meter Run Prelims – 7:00 p.m. ET
Jose Acevedo
Kwasi Obeng
Women’s 400 Meter Run Prelims – 7:20 p.m. ET
Brittany Cabbler
Jazmyn Shorter
Men’s 100 Meter Dash Prelims – 7:40 p.m. ET
Brandon Austin
Gordon McKenzie
Rondel Sorrillo
Alex Williams
Men’s Steeplechase – 8:10 p.m. ET
Luis Orta
Women’s Steeplechase – 8:30 p.m. ET
Claire Laverty
