Florida Gators
Gator Invitational
Ponteen Breaks O'Connell Center Record To Lead T & F At Gator Invitational
Sunday, February 6, 2005 | Women's Track and Field
The No.4 University of Florida women's track and field team recorded six NCAA automatic or provisional qualifying marks Sunday at the Gator Invitational. Highlighting the day was sophomore All-American Tiandra Ponteen (St. Kitts), who claimed her second title of the season while breaking the Stephen C. O'Connell Center record in the 400-meter as she darted to an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 52.31.
"I thought we had a good meet today, " Florida Head Coach Tom Jones said. "We had some automatic marks, which is nice because it takes some pressure off. Tiandra had the best 400-meter race that any Gator has ever had on this track. It was a nice effort but we have some work to do before the conference meet."
As always, the throws group was strong as senior All-American Candice Scott (Port of Spain, Trinidad) recorded another NCAA automatic qualifying toss in the weight throw with a heave of 23.44m/76-11 to place second. Junior All-American Rachel Longfors (Erhard, Minn.) posted the first automatic qualifying mark of her career in the weight throw and set a personal-best mark of 20.83m/68-04.25 to take fourth in the event. Sophomore Jennifer Wynn (Douglasville, Ga.) added a provisional qualifying mark of 18.50m/60-08.50 to place sixth in an event that featured the world and collegiate record holder as well as three current or former All-Americans.
Senior Liz Wanless (Belleville, Ill.) continued a stellar campaign as she posted another NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the shot put (17.20m/56-05.25) to take second place while Scott improved on her previous provisional mark of 16.60m/54-05.50 by taking third and setting a season best mark of 16.86m/55-03.75 in the event.
The women's distance medley relay team of sophomore Kecia Johnson (Gainesville, Fla.), junior Amanda Schommer (Vero Beach, Fla.), freshman Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) and senior Carling Cookerly (Sarasota, Fla.) added a win with a time of 12:28.63.
The Gators return to action Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
