Florida Gators
SEC Championships - Day 3
Rain Delays SEC Track Day Three, Gators Move Up
Sunday, May 13, 2001 | Track and Field
The third day of the SEC outdoor track and field championships were delayed three hours and 25 minutes because of thunderstorms. Before the rain delay, there were several events completed. The final races of the day were run in the early morning hours of Sunday. After the Steeplechases, Florida's men's team stands in seventh place and the women's team holds onto fifth place. Arkansas leads both the men's and women's team races.
The women's discus, which started prior to the rain, was suspended and will be completed tomorrow. The women's long jump was completing its warm-up round as the delay was called. The long jump will be competed tomorrow. Florida had athletes in both those events. The final races of the men's and women's steeplechase which were originally scheduled to be run at 9 p.m. were run at 12:00 a.m.
After Maurice Lewis got the men's team on the scoreboard with a seventh place performance in the long jump. Freshman Paul Condron helped Florida gain some ground on Tennessee with his third place finish in the pole vault. Riley Tomlinson snuck in with a tie for eighth place and scored a half point for the team. Tennessee, one of the favorites in the team race along with Florida, Arkansas and LSU, had two vaulters no-height in the event. Tennessee's two vaulters were predicted to finish second and third. Condron's height of 16-9.25 gained six points for Florida, Tomlinson cleared 15-9.25 and Tennessee scored nothing in the event.
Lewis, a senior from Jacksonville, jumped a wind-aided 24-8 to earn two points for the team. The event was won by Walter Davis of LSU. Davis beat Savante Stringfellow on the last jump of the competition. Jeff Rubenstein was the sixth place finisher in the shot put and scored six points for the team. Rubenstein, who was the fourth-place finisher in the indoor conference meet, had a mark of 53-8.5.
Chris Duncan picked up eight points for the team with a second place finish in the steeplechase. He finished in 8:51.65. Teammate Donnell Bowen was 10th in the race, finishing in a new personal best by four seconds, 9:28.80. Arkansas' Daniel Lincoln was first with a time of 8:44.94.
Florida's women's team took places six, seven and eight in the steeplechase. Hilary White was sixth with a time of 11:08.90, Mason Cathey was seventh with a time of 11:16.09 and Jessica Newton was the final scorer with a time of 11:17.83. All told, they scored six points for the team.
Moise Joseph (3:49.13) and Courtney Chambers (3:50.24) both advanced in the men's 1,500m preliminaries while Erin Merten qualified for the women's final tomorrow. Merten will be the second seed of the final race with a preliminary time of 4:30.51.
Stephen Jones was the only 110m high hurdler to advance to the finals. Chris Carswell, Paul Brown, Dan Butler and Rickey Harris did not qualify. Jones will advance as the third seed in the final race. Also in the sprints, Geno White was the automatic qualifier with a winning time of 46.03 in his heat of the 400m. White will be the second seed in the finals behind 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Avard Moncur from Auburn. White's roommate, Aaron Armstrong will advance to the finals of the 100m dash with a time of 10.36, seeding him fourth in the championship race.
Faith Rein will take part in the finals of the 400m after winning her heat in 53.28. Amber Robinson was 10th in the preliminaries and will miss out on the final race. Freshman Ebony Shotwell was the winner of her heat with a time of 11.52 and will automatically advance to Sunday's final. Joining her in the final will be Niki Benjamin who ran 11.57 in the preliminaries.
The meet continues tomorrow with finals in the women's long jump and the women's discus that were both scheduled to be completed today. Also tomorrow, there will be finals in all the remaining events. The champions of the triple jump (m&w), pole vault (w), javelin (m&w), high jump (m), discus (m), shot put (w), 100m (m&w), 200m (m&w), 400m (m&w), 1,500m (m&w), 110m hurdles (m), 100m hurdles (w), 400m hurdles (m&w) 800m (m&w) and 4x400m (m&w), 4x100m (m&w).
Team Standings After Day Three:
Men:
1. Arkansas, 49; 2. Georgia, 40; 3. Tennessee, 38.5; 4. LSU, 33.5; 5. South Carolina, 27; 6. Alabama, 24; 7. FLORIDA, 19.5; 8. Auburn, 15; 9. Kentucky, 9; 9. Mississippi, 9; 11. Mississippi State, 8.5
Women:
1. Arkansas, 70; 2. Georgia, 30; 3. Alabama, 20.5; 4. LSU, 17; 5. FLORIDA, 14; 6. Kentucky, 9; 6. Auburn, 9; 8. Mississippi, 8; 9. South Carolina, 6; 9. Vanderbilt, 6; 11. Tennessee, 3; 12. Mississippi State, 2.5
End of Report
