Florida Gators
USATF Championships Day 1
Gator Athletes Advance at USA Track Championships
Friday, June 22, 2001 | Track and Field
Three University of Florida track athletes advanced in their respective events at the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. The Championships serve as the selection event for Team USA at the 2001 IAAF World Outdoor Championships, August 3-12 in Edmonton, Alberta. The top three finishers in each event who have met IAAF qualifying standards will make the U.S. squad for Edmonton.
Geno White (Arlington, Texas/Wolfson HS), who just completed his senior season as a Gator, finished second in his heat to automatically advance to the semifinals of the 400m with a time of 46.19. Rickey Harris (Centreville, Va./Centreville HS) also finished second in his heat of the 400m to automatically advance to the semifinal. Harris finished in a time of 45.61 and has the second-fastest qualifying time of any collegiate athlete, and the eighth fastest time overall. Both White and Harris will run in separate semifinal heats on Friday evening with the top four athletes from each heat advancing to Saturday's final.
School record holder and former Gator Torrance Zellner advanced to the semifinals of the intermediate hurdles with a time of 49.82, placing him second in his heat. Mike King (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville HS) was the sixth place finisher in his heat of the 400m hurdles. King had a time of 52.23 and will not advance to the semifinals. Like White, King also recently completed his senior season for the Gators.
Earlier this week, Stephen Jones (Christ Church, Barbados/The Lodge School) won the national championship in his native Barbados. Jones won the 110m high hurdles with a time of 13.66 and will represent the Caribbean island at the World Championships in August.
Along with Harris, White and Zellner in the semifinals, there are other current and former University of Florida athletes that will be in action on Friday. School record holder in the hammer throw, Jukina Dickerson (Jacksonville/Ribault HS) will take to the ring along with former Gator national champion and 2000 Olympic finalist Hazel Clark and All-American Tamieka Grizzle in the 800m for the women. For the men, former All-American David Furman will compete in the high jump as will the eighth-place finisher in the long jump at this year's NCAA Championships, Maurice Lewis (Jacksonville/Raines HS) in the long jump. Gainesville resident Jearl Miles-Clark, the wife of UF assistant J.J. Clark will be in the preliminaries of the 400m dash.
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