Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Rondel Sorrillo

Kentucky junior Rondel Sorrillo finished a strong second place in Saturday’s 200-meter dash for men at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Sorrillo came up big after UK discus throwers Rashaud Scott and Chase Madison failed to score at Fayetteville, Ark.

Texas A&M, under Coach Pat Henry, swept the men’s and women’s team championships. LSU, then coached by Henry, is the only other school to sweep the men’s and women’s crowns, in 1989 and 1990.

Sorrillo, a junior who competed for Trinidad and Tobago at last year’s Beijing Olympics, finished in 20.70 seconds. Florida State junior Charles Clark won in 20.55.

Sorrillo’s eight points pushed the Wildcats’ total to 15, moving the team from 30th place to 15th. Sorrillo was involved in all 15 points, placing fifth in Friday’s 100-meter dash and anchoring UK’s 4-by-100-meter relay to a sixth-place finish.

Gavin Smellie

In the 200, after Sorrillo came Auburn freshman Marcus Rowland in 20.82, Texas A&M’s Gerald Phiri in 20.83 and Western Kentucky senior Gavin Smellie in 20.96. Smellie’s four points put the Hilltoppers in a tie for 46th place with Louisville, 4-4.

In the discus, seniors Scott and Madison both have career bests of more than 200 feet. They didn’t come close to that distance at the University of Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field.

Chase Madison

Martin Maric, a senior from Cal, came through on the final throw of the competion – 196 feet, 3 inches — to nip Arizona State’s Ryan Whiting by an inch.

Scott, the defending champion, was coming off a school-record and NCAA-leading 216-2 regional victory. He was eliminated after three attempts Saturday. After opening at 179-3, Scott fouled his last two tries to wind up in 10th.

Rashaud Scott

Madison made it in on his third throw overall, 182-0, but was unable to improve. He fouled on four of his six attempts and finished ninth.

Louisville’s Andrew Hackney came in 12th at 177-2.

U of L’s Jere’ Summers, who qualified first in the women’s discus with a mark of 183-2, fouled on all three attempts in Saturday’s finals. That left her 12th overall. D’Andra Carter of Texas Tech won wth a throw of 182-6.

Texas A&M secured the men’s team title by placing second to Florida State in the final event, the 4-by-400 relay. The Aggies wound up with 48 points. Florida State, Florida and Oregon tied for second place with 46 each.

Southeastern Conference teams bagged eight of the top 17 spots. In addition to Florida’s second-place tie, the SEC had LSU in fifth, South Carolina sixth, Arkansas ninth, Georgia 11th, Auburn 12, UK 15th and Mississippi State 17th.

A&M’s women totaled 50 points. Second-ranked Oregon edged Arizona State for second place, 43-41. Western Kentucky tied for 52nd place with four points.

The SEC had three teams in the women’s top 10: No. 6 LSU, No. 9 Florida and No. 10 Tennessee.

Lexington native Tyson Gay is among the winners as the U.S. Olympic Committee has announced its Athletes of the Month for May.

Gay, out of Lafayette High School and the University of Arkansas, took men’s honors. The American record-holder at 100 meters, Gay posted the world’s third-fastest 200 meters ever and blew away a world-class field in the Reebok Grand Prix, May 30 at New York.

TYSON GAY, from his photos on Facebook.

In his first 200 in the United States since pulling a hamstring last July at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Gay crossed the finish line in 19.58 seconds. The only faster races recorded are 1996 Olympic gold-medalist Michael Johnson’s world-record 19.32, and 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Usain Bolt’s world-record 19.30.

Earlier in May, Gay lowered his personal best for 400 meters to 45.57 at the Texas Invitational.

Gay will be out to defend his titles in the 100, 200 and as part of the Team USA 4-by-100-meter relay in this summer’s World Outdoor Championships at Berlin.

Other USOC awards for May went to diver Allison Brennan and the National Sled Hockey Team.

Brennan won on the 3-meter springboard in the USA Diving Grand Prix at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Her score of 358.55 points was 18 better than Russia’s Anastasia Pozdniakova, last year’s Olympic silver-medalist. Brennan, an assistant coach at South Carolina, also beat four-time Olympic medalist Wu Minxia of China. Brennan’s final dive, a reverse 1 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists, earned the highest score of the finals, 76.85. 

The Paralympics Sled Hockey Team won the World Championships at Ostrava, Czech Republic. Team captain Andy Yohe scored with 11 seconds left in the championship game to earn a 1-0 victory over Norway. Steve Cash made 11 saves for the Americans.

Others on the team: Mike Blabac, Taylor Chace, Jimmy Connelly, Brad Emmerson, Mike Hallman, Lonnie Hannah, Tim Jones, Taylor Lipsett, Chris Mans, Adam Page, Josh Pauls, Greg Shaw and Kip St. Germaine.

The top three in the USOC monthly award results:

Women — 1. Allison Brennan (diving); 2. Alaina Williams (gymnastics); 3. Lauren Wenger (water polo).
Williams won one international and two national trampoline competitions. Wenger scored three goals in a 10-5 Team USA win over Canada in the World League Super Finals for the Americas.

Men — 1. Tyson Gay (track and field); 2. Steve Cash (sled hockey); 3. Devin Britton (tennis).
Britton, an unseeded freshman, won the NCAA singles title and led Ole Miss to the quarterfinals.

Team — 1. U.S. National Sled Hockey Team; 2. Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen (diving); 3. U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team.
Dumais and Ipsen won the synchronized 3-meter springboard event at the USA Diving Grand Prix, and were selected to dive for the U.S. at this summer’s World Championships in Italy. The gymnatics team won a pair of “friendlies” against Germany and France. Bridget Sloan took all-around honors in both meets.

Chase Madison

Rashaud Scott

Scott, the defending champion, had the fourth-best mark among 12 finalists, 193-8. Fellow senior Madison ranked 10th at 187-9.

Martin Maric of California was the furthest throw of the day, 201-10.

Louisville’s Andrew Harding claimed the last qualifying spot, throwing 184-8. The Cardinals’ Josh Greenwald did not advance, finishing 17th at 179-11.

UK’s 4-by-400 relay men had one of their poorer results of the year and failed to advance to the finals. Western Kentucky also was knocked out.

The UK quartet of Kwasi Obeng, Stephan Smith, Brandon Austin and Jose Acevedo placed fifth in the third heat and 16th overall with a time of 3:08.15. First-place Florida State had the fastest time of the three heats, 3:03.13.

Gavin Smellie

Western’s Gavin Smellie, Terrill McCombs, Alexander Larin and Romaine McKay also placed fifth in their heat, 13th overall, in 3:06.35.

Rondel Sorrillo

However, Smellie advanced through two rounds of the 200 meters to reach Saturday’s finals, as did UK’s Rondel Sorrillo.

Smellie had the fastest time in the first round, 20.65. Sorrillo won his heat and ranked fifth overall in 20.87.

Chris Dykes of Texas A&M paced the semifinals in 20.40. Sorrillo stepped up to second, winning his heat in a school-record 20.45. Smellie, running the same heat as Sorrillo, took fourth in the race and seventh overall in 20.57.

U of L’s Summers leads qualifying in women’s discus

Jere' Summers

Louisville’s Jere’ Summers led qualifying in the women’s discus with a throw of 183-2.

Ashley Muffet

Emilee Strot

Both UK throwers failed to advance. Ashley Muffet wound up 17th at 161-2 and Emilee Strot was 22nd at 153-1.

UK’s Ashley Trimble is in 19th place with 3,240 points after the first four disciplines in the heptathlon. The long jump, javelin and 800 meters will decide the final outcome Friday.

Southern Cal’s Nia Ali leads with 3,663 points.

Trimble’s best result Thursday came in the 100-meter hurdles. Her time of 13.67 was sixth-best and worth 1,026 points.

Ashley Trimble

She avoided a no-height disaster in the high jump, but didn’t make it past her opening height. She cleared 5-0 1/2 on her final try to score 666.

Trimble followed that with a 38-0 (633 points) in the shot put and 24.69 (915 points) in the 200 meters.

Louisville’s Tarah McKay finished 27th (last) in preliminaries of the 1,500 meters, 4:27.01.

Western’s Miaie Williams eked through the first round of the 200, getting the 18th and final qualifying spot in 23.85.

In the semifinals, though, her 23.84 still ranked her 18th and eliminated her.