Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Three teams from Kentucky are among the top 10 ranked cross country squads in the Southeast Region, both on the men’s and women’s lists compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Cory Thorne

The top ranking among state schools came from the Louisville men at No. 4. William & Mary is No. 1, followed by North Carolina State, Virginia and Louisville.

The Cardinals, who will host the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday, Nov. 14, are coming off a fourth-place finish in the Big East Conference championships. Cory Thorne, a senior, became U of L’s first-ever Big East cross country individual champion.

After Louisville comes No. 5 Duke, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky and, at No. 10, Kentucky.

Wesley Ruttoh

EKU, led by individual champion Wesley Ruttoh, captured its fourth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championship last weekend.

UK, paced by Luis Orta in 13th place, finished seventh at the Southeastern Conference championships.

Ranked women’s teams from the Bluegrass are Western Kentucky, Kentucky and Louisville at 7-8-9.

Duke leads the women’s rankings, trailed by Virginia, N.C. State, North Carolina, William & Mary, James Madison and the three Kentucky teams. Charlotte completes the top 10.

Janet Jesang

Chelsea Oswald

Western got a 1-2 finish from Janet Jesang and Marion Kandie to run away with its fourth consecutive Sun Belt Conference title.

UK, led by freshman Chelsea Oswald in 14th place, took eighth in the SEC meet.

Sixth-place individual Tarah McKay helped U of L’s team take seventh at the Big East meet.

Astros add pair of former Legends to 40-man roster

The Houston Astros announced Thursday that they have purchased the contracts of left-handed pitcher Fernando Abad and infielder Wladimir Sutil, and added the pair to the 40-man roster.

Fernando Abad

Wladimir Sutil

Both former Lexington Legends were eligible to become minor-league free agents if they had not been added to the 40-man roster by Monday.

Abad, 23, has been in the Astros system for seven seasons. The Dominican spent most of the 2009 campaign with High-A Lancaster, where he was 4-6 with a 4.14 ERA over 41 relief appearances. He struck out 79 and walked only eight. He also made three starts for Double-A Corpus Christi, where he was 0-1 with a 3.21 ERA, 13 strikeouts and three walks.

With the 2008 Legends, Abad was 2-7 with a 3.30 ERA over 45 relief outings. He struck out 94 and walked 13 over 76 1/3 innings. Over his seven seasons in the minors, spanning 410 2/3 innings, Abad has struck out 437 and walked only 59.

Sutil, a Venezuelan who played 66 games over parts of two seasons with the Legends, earned Texas League post-season all-star honors with Corpus Christi in 2009. The shortstop hit .273 over 125 games, with a homer, 37 RBI, 77 runs scored and a club-best 19 stolen bases. He had more walks (44) than strikeouts (42).

Sutil played six games for Lexington in 2005, going 6-for-23 (.261) and driving in three runs. In 2006, he played 60 games with the team before being promoted to High-A. He hit .272 for the Legends, with 12 RBI, 31 runs and 20 stolen bases. Over seven seasons in the Astros system, Sutil has 161 stolen bases.

Rondel Sorrillo was Kentucky’s top performer Friday, the rain-delayed third day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Fayetteville, Ark.

Sorrillo ran the third-fastest 100 meters in UK history to place fifth in the country, timed in 10.22 seconds. LSU’s Trindon Holliday won in 10.00.

Sorrillo, a junior who competed for Trinidad and Tobago in the 200-meter dash at last summer’s Beijing Olympics, also anchored the Wildcats’ 4-by-100 relay Friday.

Rondel Sorrillo

The foursome of Gordon McKenzie, Jose Acevedo, Kwasi Obeng and Sorrillo clocked 39.27, good for sixth place. The time ranks fourth-best in school history.

Sorrillo is set to run the 200-meter finals Saturday, to be televised live by CBS. Also in the finals is Gavin Smellie of Western Kentucky.

The Southeastern Conference dominated the relay, placing 1-2-4-5-6-7. Clemson, from the Atlantic Coast Conference, broke up the pack by finishing third.

Florida won in 38.58. Holliday anchored LSU to second place in 38.67. After Clemson came Mississippi State, South Carolina, UK and Auburn.

Corey Thorne

Tone Belt

Louisville had two finalists Friday, both placing seventh.

Tone Belt cleared 7-1 1/2 in the high jump. Scott Sellers of Kansas State won at 7-5.

Cardinals steeplechaser Corey Thorne finished the 3,000-meter event in 8:45.86. Kyle Perry of Brigham Young took top honors in 8:29.24.

Janet Jesang

In women’s action, Western Kentucky’s Janet Jesang, a junior from Uganda, placed fifth in 16:32.59. Illinois junior Angela Bizzarri snared first place in 16:17.94. Runner-up Nicole Blood of Oregon was more than 8 1/2 seconds back in 16:26.58.

UK heptathlete Ashley Trimble began Friday in 19th place. She rallied to finish 14th with 5,459 points. Oregon’s Brianne Theisen was the only competitor to break 6,000 points, scoring 6,086.

Ashley Trimble

Trimble scored 680 points in the long jump (17-9 3/4), then finished with career bests in the final two events. Her javelin throw of 118-8 was worth 594 points, and her 800-meter time of 2:11.32 scored 945 more.

U of L’s Seidre Forde fell 8 1/4 inches shy of qualifying for finals of the women’s triple jump. Needing a top-12 finish, she finished 21st at 41-10.