Florida's time in the 4x400 relay is the third-fastest in collegiate history prior to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Inside the Gators' Record-Breaking 4x400 Relay Run
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 | Track and Field
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"The true essence of team in track and field is the relays." -- Mike Holloway, Florida Track & Field Head Coach
By: Zach Dirlam
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 4x400-meter relay is traditionally the last event of a track meet, and Florida's women made it the most memorable race of the 2016 Pepsi Florida Relays. Running one of the fastest times in collegiate history tends to create such an effect.
Florida's senior ceremony, which included Francis, Jefferson, and Reynolds, sparked the fire. Three facility records stoked the flames. A thrilling boy's high school 4x400 race served as lighter fluid. And Gainesville Elite's world-leading time in the men's Olympic development 4x400 acted as gasoline, setting the one-thousand plus track and field diehards' excitements ablaze at James G. Pressly Stadium.
On the infield of Percy Beard Track, longtime Florida track and field head coach Mike Holloway sensed the momentum rolling along.
Waiting to enter the blocks in lane six, Reynolds felt the lively aura as well, especially after a rousing series of 'Go Gators!' chants raining down from the team's cheering section.
"It just took all the butterflies away," Reynolds said. "We had to make it a great one. The atmosphere was beautiful."
Then, by request from officials, the crowd fell silent. Eerily silent.
The runners addressed their marks, set their feet against the blocks, and awaited final instructions.
The Gators made sure the stadium's volume was turned up for the 4x400s.
"Set," the official announced.
Bang!
Reynolds, dissatisfied with her opening leg of this event the weekend prior at a meet in Los Angeles, stayed relaxed and patient before closing strong. She handed the baton to Jefferson, who opened up a sizeable lead after the first turn.
"I had to make sure we kept the lead," Jefferson said. "When I came to the backstretch, I just tried to maintain my momentum … once I got to the 150 (meter mark), it was a full-out sprint."
Barnett, the nation's top 400 meters recruit for the class of 2015, reached back and took the baton from Jefferson. Not a single runner was within 20 meters of her following the exchange.
The freshman knew how crucial her leg would be to this relay. All three seniors wanted to win their last Pepsi Florida Relays race. Barnett, in her own words, didn't want to mess it up for them. The fans, making their presence known once again, washed away her anxieties.
"The crowd really boosted my confidence," Barnett said. "It was home, so I wanted to show out in front of my former high school and my mom."
Kentucky narrowed the gap in the final 100 meters of Barnett's run. But once she made clean a handoff to Francis, the race was essentially over. That same stretch where UK pulled closer is exactly where Francis dropped the hammer, motoring to a two-second advantage following the final turn.
Francis, focused solely on her form the entire time, had no idea.
"I actually thought the girls were right behind me the whole time," she said. "I just thought, 'I have to carry it through for the team … I have to finish what we started.' Each leg put us in a great position. I just finished it."
Once Francis crossed the line and the clock stopped, the video board read: 3:26.28.
School record. Tenth-fastest time in collegiate history, and just the fourth time under three minutes, 27 seconds prior to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Only eight countries in the world ran faster than that during the last Olympic year (2012).
None of them knew it, not right away, at least. Not until Holloway and assistant coach Adrain Mann found them and broke the news.
The record and all-time performance obviously meant a great deal to all four sprinters.
For Reynolds and Francis, to run such a race on their home track, three hours after they were honored with their families, it couldn't get any sweeter. Barnett became a Gator to break records, and she'd been dreaming of a moment like this ever since she ran at the Pepsi Florida Relays with Oak Ridge High School three years ago.
It meant something entirely different to Jefferson, a fixture on UF's relay teams since her sophomore year. She would've been in line to run the 4x400 at the 2014 Pepsi Florida Relays, but an injury left her sidelined for the race. She could only watch as Reynolds, Lanie Whittaker, Destinee Gause, and Ebony Eutsey broke the program's 22-year-old record that day.
"It was kind of hard to watch some of my friends I came in with and some of my old teammates break a record and I couldn't be a part of it," Jefferson said. "It's special."
Moments like these are markedly important to Holloway, who believes the relays embody the true essence of team in track and field. That's also why the foundation of his teams, no matter the level, has always been the relays.
"When you can get people to buy in and really focus on being good teammates in the relays, when they go out to the individual events, they're doing it for the team," Holloway said. "Those are four very talented athletes, and I have to give them the credit for coming out here, working hard, and doing the things we ask them to do."
Jefferson (left) and Reynolds (right) couldn't have imagined a better Pepsi Florida Relays sendoff.
However, as Holloway was quick to tell the entire team at the meet's conclusion, it's only April.
SEC Championships are over a month away. The NCAA East Preliminary is nearly two months out. NCAA Outdoor Championships don't begin until June 8th.
"The biggest mistake we can make is thinking we've made it, thinking we're not going to have to run faster to be the national champions, because we will (have to)," Holloway said.
Indeed they will. As the Gators found out later that night, Texas clocked in at 3:26.54. How's that for motivation?
Good thing for Florida this is a senior-laden relay team, one that's willing to do the hard work necessary to not just keep their spot in the collegiate record books, but go even faster.
"We can only get better," Reynolds said. "Hopefully, when it's time for SECs and nationals, we'll be breaking that record again."
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