Florida Gators
Florida Relays
Harris Leads Men's T&F On 3rd Day of Florida Relays
Saturday, March 26, 2005 | Men's Track and Field
Junior Alex Harris (Tampa, Fla.) posted an NCAA regional qualifying mark, while the 4x200m relay and 4x1,500m relay claimed wins to lead the University of Florida on the third day of competition Friday at the 62nd annual Coca-Cola Florida Relays at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Track Field.
Due to inclement weather, the collegiate 200m, 800m and 400m hurdles, the men's 400m and a majority of the women's 400m were cancelled as heavy rains battered the track throughout the morning and early afternoon.
Harris took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 7.46m/24-5.75 in posting a regional qualifying mark. The 4x200m relay team of freshman Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.), senior Kyle Farmer (Columbia, Md.), sophomore Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) and sophomore Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) easily took home first with a time of 1:22.08 in winning by more than three seconds over Illinois, which finished second in 1:25.34. The Gators' 4x1,500m group of junior Shane Stroup (Highland, Md.), senior Steve Zieminski (Sarasota, Fla.), junior Daniel Parker (Orlando, Fla.) and sophomore Jose Garcia (Miami, Fla.) captured first in 16:14.76.
"We saw a great effort from Alex Harris tonight - probably the best long jump series of his life," Florida men's coach Mike Holloway said. "I was happy for our 4x200m relay. Anytime you have four All-Americans on a relay good things are going to happen. We also got a great effort from the 4x1,500m relay. The weather made it tough today, but it's one of those things that you have to overcome and deal with and we did."
The Florida Relays conclude on Saturday with field events and running events scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Live results of the meet can be found at www.GatorZone.com
Florida Relays Records Broken (2):
Collegiate/Open
Women's Sprint Medley Relay, Speed Elite, Moore, Evans, Demus, Sinclair, 3:40.91
High School
Girls Pole Vault, Lori Bowen, Megan Miller, 12-0
Florida Wins (2):
4x200m relay, Middleton, Farmer, Witherspoon, Clement, 1:25.34
4x1,500m relay, Stroup, Zieminski, Parker, Garcia, 16:14.76
