Wanless Wins Shot Put; Lee Moves Up 10 Spots To Lead Men
Sunday, January 30, 2005 | General
University of Florida senior Liz Wanless (Belleville, Ill.) took home her fourth straight title in the shot put Saturday at the UNC Invitational to lead the No. 3 ranked Gators, while freshman Kurt Lee (Spring Hill, Fla.) took fifth in the heptathlon at the Clemson Heptathlon Championships to lead the No. 4 men's team on Saturday.
Wanless posted an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 17.29m/56-08.75 to win the shot put, while Lee moved up 10 spots from the first day and took fifth in the heptathlon with 4,698 points.
"It was a real good day," Florida Associate Head Coach Larry Judge said. "I was very pleased with the shot put. Liz Wanless had the second best throw of her life and five of her six throws were over 56 feet so we were happy about that. Overall, it was a good weekend for us. We had some good individual performances and we are certainly on track for where we want to be by the conference championships."
Senior Candice Scott (Port of Spain, Trinidad) finished second to Wanless and posted an NCAA provisional mark of 16.57m/54-04.50 in the shot put. Senior Scarlett Ekeroma (Orlando, Fla.) finished seventh with a mark of 13.73m/45-00.50 and freshman Angela Rose (Niceville, Fla.) placed 12th with a throw of 12.63m/41-05.25.
Also in action Saturday were the UF pole vaulters who swept places two through five. Senior Chandra Lacombe (Winter Haven, Fla.) posted the Gators' best mark on the day at 3.80m/12-05.50 to take second place. Senior Chelo Canino (Valrico, Fla.) placed third (3.70m/12-01.50), junior Amy Carr (Palm Coast, Fla.), placed fourth (3.60m/11-09.75) and freshman Natalie Moser (Tampa, Fla.) took home fifth place honors tying her best collegiate mark at 3.60m/11-09.75. Sophomore Dana Van Wagner (Sparr., Fla.) also competed and finished ninth with a mark of 3.50m/11-05.75.
For the men, Lee, who stood in 15th place after the first day of competition, moved up 10 spots by finishing in a tie for first in the pole vault with a mark of 4.75m/15-7. His vault earned him 834 points and he eventually finished in fifth with 4,698 points - just 40 behind the fourth-place finisher.
Freshman Blake Taylor (Lansdale, Pa.) finished in 12th place with 4,094 points after ending the first afternoon in fourth after taking second in the high jump (1.94m/6-4.25) to earn 749 points and third in the long jump (6.80m/22-3.75) to earn 767 points.
Both Gator squads return to action next weekend when Florida hosts the Gator Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 6. with the first event slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Live results can be found at www.GatorZone.com
Clemson Heptathlon Results
1. Maurice Smith, Auburn - 5749 points
2. Keith Baker, Alabama - 5265 points
3. Kayne DaKoski, Unattached - 4879 points
4. Greg McCormick, Georgia Tech - 4738 points
5. Kurt Lee, Florida - 4698 points
6. Kyle Shaw, Clemson - 4683 points
7. Javier Garcia-Tunon, Unattached - 4663 points
8. Ned Ashley, Auburn - 4604 points
9. Matt Frith, Florida State - 4604 points
10. Michael Feather, Unattached - 4376 points
11. Bobby Robinson, Western Carolina - 4186 points
12. Blake Taylor, Florida - 4094 points
13. Matt Harlfinger, Western Carolina - 4013 points
14. Matt Vogtner, Alabama - 3843 points
15. Dave Bowles, Western Carolina - 3121 points
