April 18, 2010

Gainesville, Fla. —

The University of Kentucky track and field team collected 10 victories, 26 season best marks and established a new school record during the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. on Saturday.

The Tom Jones Memorial Event showcased seven collegiate teams and several professional athletes but as the competition moved along Kentucky and No. 1 Florida dueled as they combined for 21 wins out of a total 38 events.

Senior All-American Rondel Sorrillo started his outdoor campaign rather slow due to injury but in his first attempt at the 200m dash this season didn’t miss a step picking up a win with a time of 20.75. Moving into the heart of the season with the Penn Relays coming up April 23-24, Sorrillo moves back into form just at the right time.

Freshman distance runner Samantha Norman re-writes the Kentucky record books in her 3,000m steeplechase debut grabbing a first place finish with a time of 11:04.97. Norman now holds the UK freshman record in 3000m steeplechase eclipsing the previous mark by more than 25 seconds.

“I was really excited to do the steeplechase for the first time and wasn’t even thinking about records I was just happy to get my first win in college, Norman said.”

In addition to Norman, Kentucky freshmen as a whole had an outstanding day gathering four wins including a win from multi-sport athlete Alexandra Morgan. Morgan finished atop her competitors in the high jump with a personal best height of 5-06/1.68m for her first collegiate victory.

Two members of the All-SEC Indoor freshmen team, Patrick McGregor and Cally Macumber continued the success for the freshmen as they both won as well. McGregor with a personal best time of 3:48.65 finished in first position just ahead of fellow freshmen teammate Chris Heibell. McGregor’s time in the 1,500m ranks second among all freshmen in the SEC. Macumber, the only Kentucky female athlete to run in the 3,000m on Saturday, finished ahead of the pack to pick up yet another win for the Wildcats with a time of 9:57.66.

UK’s Senior throwers have become the model of consistency as they dominate once again. Kristin Smith and Ashley Muffet take wins in the hammer and discus throw respectively, each furthering their season best mark in the process. Smith claimed her victory with a throw of 199-08/60.85m and not far behind in the hammer event was Heather Smith who finished fourth with a toss of 173-06/52.88m. Muffet in similar fashion took control launching the discus 181-10/55.43m pummeling the competition.

The UK track and field team will head north for the Penn Relays for their next challenge in a gargantuan event that will include runners from high school and the collegiate level as well as the Visa World Tour. To add even more excitement world renowned sprinter Usain Bolt will be in action competing for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay, which the United States team is also entered.