Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

What a way to start the University of Kentucky’s indoor track and field season.

Competition was simply outstanding in the Kentucky Invitational, with eight Southeastern Conference schools (UK, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt), two from the Big Ten (Michigan State, Ohio State), two from the Atlantic Coast Conference (Georgia Tech, Miami) and three in-state visitors (Louisville, Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky). Add to that post-collegiate Olympians such as Reese Hoffa, Perdita Felicien, Hazel Clark and Dee Dee Trotter, to name a few.

Hoffa, a world champion indoors and outdoors, as well as a two-time Olympian, blasted the Nutter Fieldhouse record in the shot put with a final-attempt distance of 69-6 3/4.

Nutter records also fell to Florida’s Mariam Kevkhishvili in the women’s shot and Western Kentucky’s Janet Jesang in the women’s 3,000 meters.

Don Weber

“An excellent field for an early season meet,” said Don Weber, UK head coach. “Obviously, very few if anybodyis where they want to be at this time of year, just coming back from Christmas break. To be competitive in a variety of events is certainly an encouraging start. So I feel pretty good about it, and when you look at some individual situations, (there has been) some significant development from one year to the next.”

Most noteworthy, he said, is Kristin Smith, who set a school record of 64-1 3/4 in Friday’s weight throw.

“She said, ‘as a freshman, rather than just focusing on me, I worried about how good everybody else was and that really was intimidating to me, and interfered with my development’,” Weber said.

No more, which is a lesson the coach hopes the rest of his team will get after a competition such as the one this weekend. Focus on improving your own performance rather than worry about what someone else.

Some event-by-event highlights from Saturday, with ladies first:

60-meter hurdles — Felicien (8.13) prevailed in a photo finish over Danielle Carruthers (8.1311) and Vonette Dixon (8.1391).

“I totally didn’t react to the gun,” said Felicien, the 2003 world champion, eight-time Canadian national champion and former University of Illinois standout. “I’m happy to come out with a win. First race of the season.”

Felicien was the Olympic gold-medal favorite going into the 100-meter hurdles finals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, she clobbered the first hurdle and fell. She missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to a foot injury.

“We don’t need to talk about that. That was six years ago,” Felicien said of her Athens mishap. “There’s always going to be motivation, but it’s been so many years and I’ve done well since then that I’m not using that as a centerpiece or focal point of my season or my career. Just race my race.”

Her light at the end of the tunnel this season is the Indoor World Championships, March 12-14 at Doha, Qatar.

“The plan is to go there, be ready for Doha, be on the podium,” Felicien said.

Danielle Carruthers

Carruthers, a former Kentucky high school (Paducah Tilghman) and Big Ten (Indiana) champion, is Felicien’s club teammate (Speed Dynamics) and training partner. Carruthers lives in Atlanta now, but spent the last week training at Naples, Fla., due to cold weather.

“We’ve been training really hard,” Carruthers said. “I had some great sessions before I came (up) here. … We did a lot for about a week and a half, every day — hard, hard, hard! Then I drove 10 hours back to Atlanta, had Thursday off, drove five hours here, and race the next day. I’m just trying to get in shape and get ready for Millrose.”

60 — Carruthers also competed in Saturday’s 60-meter dash, placing second in the consolation heat and ninth overall (7.53). 

Sheniqua Ferguson

Auburn junior Shaniqua Ferguson won in an NCAA provisional-qualifying 7.28, ahead of Speed Dynamics’ Ebonie Floyd-Broadnax (7.34).

Janet Jesang

3,000 — WKU’s Jesang, a senior from Uganda, blazed to an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 9:11.09. New Balance’s Sarah Bowman, who won the NCAA mile title for Tennessee last March, was a distant second in 9:28.63.

4-by-400 relay — Kentucky got its lone win of the day from the foursome of Jenna Martin, Jazmyn Shorter, Brittany Cabbler and Precious Nwokey, 3:39.94 to Florida’s 3:39.96. All are juniors except for Nwokey, a sophomore from Houston. 

Precious Nwokey

Nwokey had the Wildcats’ fastest split, 54-flat, and was recognized by Weber as someone who has made “dramatic improvement” since last season.

High jump — Chaunte Howard, a 2004 Olympian out of Georgia Tech, topped former Auburn star Raevan Harris, 6-2 to 6-0 3/4. Howard barely missed at 6-4, which would have tied the fieldhouse record. 

Mariam Kevkhishvili

Shot put — Florida’s Kevkhishvili, with a put of 60-7 1/4, won by exactly six feet over Tennessee’s Annie Alexander. Kevkhishvili also set a national record for the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. (No, not the Bulldogs.) UK had a good showing as Ashley Muffet and Jennifer Svoboda placed 4-5, just ahead of Louisville’s Jere’ Summers.

Long jump — Miami (Fla.) got its only win from Deandra Doyler (20-4 1/4). Rachel Gehret, who placed fourth in the high jump, and Louisville teammate Amaka Omenyinma placed 2-3 at 19-10 1/4 and 19-8 1/4.

                            MEN’S EVENTS
60 hurdles — Eric Mitchum (7.72), an all-American out of Oregon, bested former Tennessee standout Karl Jennings (7.85).

D'Angelo Cherry

60 — This was an SEC trifecta. Mississippi State sophomore D’Angelo Cherry zipped to the win (6.65), trailed by Alabama senior Ray Jadusingh (6.69) and Auburn sophmore Harry Adams (6.73). After Miami’s Cory Nelms in fourth, SEC sprinters from six schools took the next nine spots.
200 — More SEC domination of the sprints here. Ex-Seton Hall blazer Obra Hogans, fourth in 21.44, was the only non-SEC runner to crack the top eight. Georgia sophomore Torrin Lawrence ruled in 21.29, followed by Tennessee senior Evander Wells in 21.20. Both are provisional qualifying marks.

800 — Things got crazy here when a photographer strayed onto the track near the finish line with a lap left, triggering a collision that knocked out a pair of runners. Kentucky junior Sharif Webb, a junior college transfer, avoided the pileup and went on to win the first heat in 1:51.07.

Sharif Webb

Mile — Former Tennessee performer Andrew Dawsom (4:11.52) won out over a pair of Michigan State runners, freshman Isaiah VanDoorne (4:12.12) and Spencer Beatty (4:12.35).

3,000 — One of the more exciting finishes came with Louisville junior Matt Bruce (8:13.50) holding off UK sophomore Luis Orta (8:14.11).

4-by-400 relay — Florida led from the second exchange on and finished in 3:06.40, fourth-best in Gators history. Mississippi State (3:09.80) rallied for second, followed by UK (3:11.64). A dropped baton on the final straightaway cost Alabama a chance to hold off Mississippi State.

Shot put — Hoffa led all the way despite a worthy challenger in Shore Athletic Club’s Rhuben Williams, the runner-upat 65-11. Georgia senior Israel Machovec was third (58-1 1/4), followed by UK junior Colin Boevers (57-6 1/2).

Colin Boevers

“It was a good opener. I threw well,” Boevers said. Doug Reynolds, UK throws coach, “told us to execute what we do in practice, and I feel like I did it pretty well. I didn’t quite connect on any throws, so I know there’s more in the tank.”

Boevers was impressed by Hoffa, a two-time Olympian and a world champion indoors and outdoors.

“Reese Hoffa, he’s really a hero in this sport and he’s incredible to watch,” Boevers said. “This is my first time competing with him. I was kind of jittery at first, but I settled in. I did my thing and he ended up with a great throw, and it was an honor to compete with him.”

Reese Hoffa

Hoffa would like to add a World Championships indoor gold to the one he won in 2006. (He won silver medals in 2004 and 2008.)
“World Indoors in Doha, that’s where my eye’s on right now,” said Hoffa, who represents the New York Athletic Club.

Hoffa says he’s better equipped now than he was in 2008, when he won the U.S. Olympic Trials but finished seventh at the Beijing Olympics.

“I think I’m more comfortable being in a limelight position,” Hoffa said. “Beijing, although I had had some success, it was nothing like having everybody have their eye on you. And, if you’re not used to that, there’s no way to prepare for that. You’ve just got to experience it, live through it and learn from it.”

Long jump — How about a 1-2-3-5 finish for Louisville? Wesley Smith, a sophomore, led the pack at 25-4 1/2. Tone Belt, who won Friday’s high jump, was second (25-2 1/2), followed by Rudon Bastian (25-1 1/4), UK’s Keenon Hall (24-7 1/4) and Friday’s runner-up in the triple jump, Andre Black (24-3 1/2).

“It was pretty good. That’s our second meet,” said Jake Jacoby, U of L’s jumps coach. “We’re still working on things and they’re dialing in fairly well. I was very happy with the way we performed tonight.”

Daily competition in practice keeps Jacoby’s group sharp.

“They’re jawing all the time,” he said. “It’s a day-to-day thing. They challenge each other in the weight room and on the track, and it makes for a good, solid corps.”

Pole vault — Florida junior Eric Foran won in a jumpoff, clearing 16-2 3/4 after tying with Georgia sophomore Allen Brandon at 16-0 3/4. Third-place Logan Lynch of Michigan State also cleared 16-0 3/4, but had one more miss.

 

 

… And a clarification

However, a later check of UK’s meet notes, as well as the media guide listings of “top 10 marks” in each event, showed that Buncic threw 217-4.

And now …

You’ve got to love how the Kentucky men stepped up to take third place in the team standings. The top five in individual events, as well as the top three relays, automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, June 10-13, at Arkansas.

The 20th-ranked Wildcats have been snake-bitten with injuries for most of the outdoor season, particularly in the sprints.

But there was Rondel Sorrillo, who didn’t even compete outdoors until the Southeastern Conference meet because of injuries, taking third place in the 200 meters and anchoring the second-place 4-by-100-meter relay.

Rondel Sorrillo

“Better than SEC, but it still hurts,” said Sorrillo, who ran the 200 for Trinidad and Tobago at last summer’s Beijing Olympics — beating eventual gold-medal winner Usain Bolt in the first round. “It hurts, but I’m back.”

What hurts?

“My butt, my hamstrings, my calves,” he said. “Both legs.”

Jose Acevedo

There was Jose Acevedo, who also ran the 200 at Beijing, representing Venezuela.

He ran second on the 4-by-100 relay, then anchored the third-place 4-by-400 relay. That despite a foot injury that, Coach Don Weber said, would have kept a less-determined sprinter out of the meet.

When Justin Austin went down at the Penn Relays, the Cats had to plug holes on both relays.

Also missing was Mikel Thomas, a 2008 Olympian for Trinidad and Tobago in the 110-meter hurdles. He suffered a broken collarbone during practice, a week-and-a-half ago.

Kwasi Obeng

Stephan Smith

Saturday, Kwasi Obeng did the job on the relays, running the third leg on the quick relay and leading off the 4-by-4.

Stephan Smith, a half-miler, filled in on the second leg of the 4-by-4.

“Considering the way we’ve been for most of the outdoor season, especially in our sprint group — hurt and banged up as much as we have been — it’s a great day,” Weber said. “Especially for those guys.”

Now, being off next weekend, the Cats will try to “maintain” fitness and continue the healing process.

Erin Tucker

Don Weber

“We can get a little bit better,” Weber said, “so that’s encouraging.”

In the 4-by-100, UK led through three legs. Obeng’s handoff to Sorrillo didn’t go too well, though, allowing 100-meter champion Trindon Holliday of LSU to be first out of the final exchange zone.

“Trindon … had the baton first because (Sorrillo) had to wait on Kwasi to get the baton,” said Erin Tucker, UK’s sprints and hurdles coach. “Anytime, the four-by-one, when you have to wait a little bit, you lose that acceleration and then you’ve got to start back up from square one. … You want to get the baton going full speed.”

The good news is that the problem was due in part to Sorrillo accelerating, finally, through the zone. By his own admission, Sorrillo had been deficient in that area during practice. And now Obeng and Sorrillo have nearly two weeks to work on the final exchange.

Gordon McKenzie

Tucker said Gordon McKenzie “ran an awesome leadoff leg. … Jose built off it. … Kwasi just looked like a superstar because he’s out in front. And then we had the little thing with Rondel.”

As good as the sprint results were, UK came out best in the weights.

Rashaud Scott, who won the shot put on Friday, added the discus title Saturday. Having successfully defended his regional title, Scott will try to repeat as national champion at Arkansas.

And consider this: all six of his throws Saturday were better than second-place finisher Greg Pilling of Central Michigan.

Pilling threw 197-2, two feet ahead of UK’s Chase Madison.

Rashaud Scott

Madison, a senior who transferred in 2007 from Iowa State, can relate to UK’s sprinters.

At Iowa State, he broke a bone in his left foot. A titanium screw was inserted to fix the bone. It didn’t work.

Chase Madison

When he arrived at UK for his entrance physical, “they said, ‘well, you’re either going to have to have another surgery on that thing to fix it because they did it totally incorrect, or you’re never going to throw again,’” Madison said when interviewed before last winter’s SEC Indoor Championships.

He opted for surgery, which involved taking bone from his ankle and grafting the bone to his foot. Oh, and four screws and a plate.

He went from June 2006 until April 2008 without throwing a disc in competition.

Now, he throws in pain. Look at his foot and you can actually see the plate and a screw sticking out from the bone. Pain limits his practice time, but he’s a believer in quality workouts over quantity. When he does throw, he throws with purpose.

Saturday, he said his pain was controlled as well as could be expected: “I had quite a bit of Aleve in me.”

“It’s nice to be back to a national meet. I haven’t been since 2006, since I’ve been hurt,” he said. “It was a decent day, I guess. Could have expected a lot more, could have been a lot worse. So, regroup and get ready for two weeks.”

U of L: A crown of Thorne’s

Corey Thorne

Louisville’s highlight Saturday came from Corey Thorne, who outkicked Eastern Michigan’s Josh Karanja to win the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a stadium-record 8:36.98. Karanja finished in 8:37.20.

“It’s going to be just like that at nationals,” Thorne said. “Whether it goes fast or slow, it’s going to come down to who has the best kick. So coming out here, it’s kind of like a trial.”

Ron Mann

Head coach Ron Mann and distance coach Brice Allen prepared Thorne well.

“One of the things that Coach Allen and I have done over the last 10 days is doing a lot of speed work over the barriers, preparing for that last quarter,” Mann said. “Those barriers come up very quickly and you’ve got to be ready for it. He did a nice job of executing that.”

Tarah McKay

Jere' Summers

U of L also had two automatic qualifiers in women’s events.

Tarah McKay ran fourth at 1,500 meters. Jeré Summers, the surprise winner of Friday’s discus, took second in Saturday’s shot put.

McKay, a junior from St. Clements, Ontario, Canada, improved one spot from her regional finish of a year ago.

Summers, a junior from Oakland, Calif., is a two-time Most Outstanding Field Event Performer in the Big East.  She transferred to U of L after competing two indoor seasons and one outdoor season at Cal State Northridge.

WKU: Smellie is good

Gavin Smellie

Western Kentucky senior Gavin Smellie won the men’s 200 meters, tying the Cardinal Park record of 20.45 seconds. (Auburn freshman Marcus Rowland was runner-up, followed by Sorrillo. Earlier, Rowland false-started out of the 100 meters, an event in which he was ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 4 in the nation.) 

Smellie, a Canadian, also led off the Hilltoppers’ second-place 4-by-400 relay and anchored the eighth-place 4-by-100 relay. The first seven spots in the quick relay went to Southeastern Conference schools, led by LSU and Kentucky.

Western’s women placed third in the 4-by-100 relay.

EKU: I go, you go, we all go for Mugo

Stanley Mugo

Eastern Kentucky’s top finish of the day came from Stanley Mugo in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

 

A junior from Kenya and the Ohio Valley Conference’s Co-Male Track Athlete of the Year, Mugo placed 10th.

By placing among the top 12 in the region, he still has a chance of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships (bids to be announced Tuesday). His time Saturday was 9:00.89. However, he ran 8:52.07 in April at the Penn Relays.

Regions and records

The Mideast, one of four regionals, is comprised of 167 teams from 12 states (Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin).

Cardinal Park records were set in 22 of Saturday’s 28 events. Two others were tied, and another was negated because it was wind-aided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK’s Scott was among five athletes setting regional records, and the only male.  

Phoebe Wright

Women’s meet records went to: 

* U.S. Olympic Trials champion Kara Patterson of Purdue, who won javelin for the fourth year in a row, this time at 192-1.

* Two-time defending NCAA champ Tiffany Ofili of Michigan, 12.96 in the 100-meter hurdles.

* Tennessee former walk-on and now top-ranked Phoebe Wright, 2:02.20 in the 800.

* Middle Tennessee State’s Sarah Nambawa, ranked second nationally, with a triple jump of 45-9.