UK Track & Field: Four Wildcats Advance at U.S. Olympic Trials

Four Kentucky Wildcats – two from the current team and two alumni — advanced to the next round of the United States Olympic Team Trials before 21,835 track and field fans at Hayward Field on Thursday.
Kentucky’s highly-touted short hurdlers Keni Harrison (Class of 2015) and freshman Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, along with 400-meter hurdles junior Kiah Seymour moved on to Friday’s semifinal round with automatic-qualifier performances on Thursday.
Harrison cruised to the win in the first 100m hurdles preliminary heat, running 12.57Q (+0.2). Camacho-Quinn placed second in the second prelim, running 12.82Q (+0.3).
Harrison had the second fastest time of the prelims, behind Brianna Rollins, while Camacho-Quinn was eighth fastest.
Seymour placed second in heat two of the 400m hurdles prelims with a time of 55.58Q to advance to the semifinal. She had the fourth fastest time of the prelims.
Class of 2014 alumnus and two-time Southeastern Conference Champion Andrew Evans moved into third place on his third attempt of discus qualifying, tossing a mark  of 199’/60.66m.
Chase Madison, the 2008 SEC Discus Champion while at UK, placed 22nd with a mark of 171’6”/52.28m.
Friday Preview
All four of the Wildcats’ who advanced on Thursday will be back in action Friday. Additionally, reigning NCAA 110m hurdles Silver Medalist Nick Anderson will get his Olympic Trials campaign under way with his preliminary heat.
NBC Sports Network will cover the meet from 6-8 p.m. ET. NBC will pick up coverage from 8-9 p.m.
Anderson is in lane seven of heat four, with the first prelim scheduled to go off at 6:02 p.m. ET.
Evans will begin the men’s discus final (field of 12 takes three throws, and the field is trimmed to the top eight after three rounds for three more attempts) beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The 100m hurdles semifinals – featuring Harrison and Camacho-Quinn – is scheduled to go off at 6:58 p.m. ET.
Eight will advance to the 100m hurdles final: the top two finishers in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest times of the semifinals. The 100m hurdles final is scheduled for 8:54 p.m. ET on Friday.
Kiah Seymour’s women’s 400m hurdles semifinal is scheduled to begin at 7:31 p.m. The top four finishers in each of the two semifinals will advance. There will be no advancement to the Sunday final based on time.
Wildcats already heading to Rio
Leah Nugent became the fifth Wildcat to qualify for 2016 Olympic Games in athletics so far this year, by placing second in the 400m hurdles at Jamaica Trials, last Saturday.
Alumni Rondel Sorrillo, a UK volunteer assistant coach who trains in Lexington, and Mikel Thomas both qualified for the Olympics at the Trinidad and Tobago trials.
Freshman Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico – 100m hurdles) and Luis Orta (Venezuela – marathon) are also already qualified for the Olympic Games. Camacho-Quinn has never competed internationally so she is still eligible to compete at U.S. Trials, as she is an American citizen.
Meet Schedule and Results (Times ET)

 
—
The most up-to-date coverage of the UK track and field program is available via @KentuckyTrack handles onTwitter, Instagram and Facebook.
 
‑ GO CATS –
Jake Most