Cat Scratches: Five things you need to know about UK track and field heading into NCAA Championships
Eugene, Ore. – The University of Kentucky track and field team sends 11 athletes to compete in nine events during the four day NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., beginning Wednesday.
The culmination of a season and three All-American careers will take place in one the most historic places in all of track and field, evident by its name, Track Town USA. AshleyMuffet, Kwasi Obeng and Rondel Sorrillo have had great careers at Kentucky and can top it all with their efforts at these NCAA Championships.
Wednesday, the first day of competition, multi-event athlete Precious Nwokey begins the action for the Wildcats as the 11th seed in the heptathlon with four events throughout day one. First on the list is the 100-meter hurdles at 1:00 p.m. PT followed by the high jump at 2:00 p.m. PT, shot put at 4:15 p.m. PT and in the final event of her day in the 200m dash at 5:30 p.m. PT. The heptathlon concludes on day two after the long jump at 1:45 p.m. PT, javelin at 3:00 p.m. PT and the final event the 800m run at 5:15 p.m. PT. As a sophomore,Nwokey is the current school record holder in the heptathlon at 5543 set at this year’s SEC Championships and is making her debut at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
First on the schedule for the men is SEC Champion ColinBoevers in the discus throw at 2:00 p.m. PT. Boevers goes into the event as the 14th seed with a mark of 55.04m. The junior has a season best mark of 192-01/58.55m set in San Diego, his only other trip to the west coast this season.Boevers, a junior, is making his first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Ashley Muffet moves into the ring following Boevers in the discus at 5:15 p.m. PT as the third seed with a mark of 54.55m. Muffet is coming off a tough second place finish in the East Regional and will be competing in her third consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championships in the discus. The senior will also compete in the women’s shot put as the 12th seed with a mark of 16.30m. This is Muffet’s first appearance in the shot put at NCAA’s since her freshman year and the first time she has qualified in the both events.
Junior David Banks is the third individual Wildcat making his first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and will be competing in the men’s triple jump at 4:00 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Banks was the last man to qualify in the event as the 24th seed with a mark of 15.63 meters.
The slate for the running events on day one includes two events beginning with the men’s 4x100m relay semifinal at 4:00 p.m. PT. The relay team comes in as the 12th seed and includes All-Americans Sorrillo and Obeng with under-classman Alex Williams and Sean Lange. The quartet pulled together for a season best time of 39.63 at the east regional meet to qualify for nationals.
The final event of the day for Kentucky could be considered the most anticipated as Sorrillo competes in the 100m dash semifinal at 5:45 p.m. PT. Sorrillo is currently tied with former Kentucky track star Tim Harden for the school record in the 100m dash with a time of 10.05. The senior is the third seed just two hundredths of a second behind the first seed Marcus Rowland from Auburn. Even though very successful in the 100m dash, the 200m dash is Sorrillo’s mostcomfortable event. In his impressive east regional performance, where he tied the 100m dash school record, he dismantled his own 200m dash record with a time of 20.29 previously 20.45. The first heat of the 200m dash begins onThursday at 4:15 p.m. PT.
The women’s 4x400m relay is the last of UK’s semifinal events beginning Thursday at 7:05 p.m. PT. This will be the women’s 4x400m relays first trip to NCAA Championships since 1996 in Bloomington, Ind. The team destroyed the 1996 time this year by more than three seconds with a time of 3:35.14. The relay squad comes into the meet as the 15th seed with their school record mark.
A full schedule of events is available on NCAA.com under the Track and Field page.
Follow all Kentucky Track and Field updates at UKathletics.com.
