Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

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.

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.