Florida Gators
SEC Championships - Day 2
First Full Day Of SEC Track Championships Complete
Saturday, May 12, 2001 | Track and Field
With the first full day of the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the books, the Florida women's team has eight points and stands in sixth place. The men's team is yet to score in the meet. Georgia leads the men's competition with a total of 23 points, followed by Arkansas with 22 points. In the women's team race, Arkansas leads with 47 points after three completed events followed by Alabama with 18 points
Jukina Dickerson started off the meet for the women's team with a second place effort in the hammer throw. Dickerson's throw of 197-3 gathered eight points for the Florida cause. Top seeded Katie McCoy from Georgia won the event with a mark of 203-10. Dickerson improved her finish from seventh at last year's SEC meet to second this year. Katie Townsend was 10th with a mark of 170-11.
There were preliminary races in three events for both men and women this evening (800m, 200m and 400m hurdles). The men's and women's 10,000m final was also run. The finals for the three preliminary events will be run on Sunday afternoon.
Florida will have five athletes in the finals of the women's 800m. Melissa DeLeon will be the top seed with a preliminary time of 2:07.35, provisionally qualifying her for the NCAA Championships and a new personal best by three seconds. Erin Merten also advanced to the finals of the women's 800m with a win in her heat of the 800m. She had a time of 2:09.28. Nona Allen also advanced by finishing second in the same heat only .01 second behind Merten, 2:09.29. The Bratton sisters were the final UF qualifiers. Kristina Bratton will be the second seed in the finals with a time of 2:07.85. Kamille Bratton had a time of 2:08.06 and finished second in DeLeon's heat.
Niki Benjamin was in a three way tie for the final qualifying spot of the 200m dash. As a result, the final will be run in two sections. Amber Robinson was the 10th overall finisher in the preliminaries and will not advance to the finals. Both Robinson and Benjamin ran their heats in a steady rain, lightning and thunder.
Moise Joseph advanced in the men's 800m with a time of 1:49.34. He will be seeded third in Sunday's final race. Ali Abiola also competed in the race, but did not advance. He ran his second fastest time of the season, 1:51.13.
Rickey Harris and Mike King finished one-two in their heat of the 400m hurdles and will advance to Sunday's finals as the top two seeds. Harris had a time of 50.70, while King's time had a time of 50.93. Harris is already an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships with a time of 49.83 while King has a provisional time of 50.80.
Aaron Armstrong advanced to the finals of the 200m with a win in his heat in 20.76. Geno White also advanced out of his heat and will be the final seed with a time of 20.95. Justin Gatlin and Leonard Scott, both from Tennessee, were the first two to advance to the finals with the two fastest times in the nation this year.
Carlos Hinojosa, competing in his first ever SEC track championship, finished 10th in the 10,000m with a personal best time of 31:49.78. Rob Evans concluded his Florida career with a time of 32:18.90 and an 11th place finish.
Will Mizell did not finish the decathlon after a no height in the pole vault. He was in good shape to score for the Gators until he had some trouble in the pole vault, achieving no height on his first three attempts. In the heptathlon, Erin Stern was in 10th place following the first day. However, she did not attempt to finish this afternoon after aggravating a stress fracture in her left foot yesterday.
The meet continues tomorrow with finals in the long jump (m&w), pole vault (m), high jump (w), discus (w), shot put (m) and 3,000m steeplechase (m&w). There will be preliminary heats of the 1,500m (m&w), 110m hurdles (m), 100m hurdles (w), 400m (m&w) and 100m (m&w).
Team Standings After Day Two:
Men:
1. Georgia, 23; 2. Arkansas, 22; 3. Tennessee, 21; 4. LSU, 18; 5. Alabama, 14; 6. Auburn, 9; 7. South Carolina, 5; 7. Mississippi State, 5.
Women:
1. Arkansas, 47; 2. Alabama, 18; Georgia, 10; 4. LSU, 9; 4. Auburn, 9; 6. Florida, 8; 7. South Carolina, 6; 8. Kentucky, 5; 9. Tennessee, 3; 10. Mississippi1; 10. Vanderbilt, 1
End of Report
