Florida Gators
Mississippi Invitational
Women's Track and Field Takes First Place at Mississippi Invitational
Sunday, April 10, 2005 | Women's Track and Field
The third ranked University of Florida women's track and field team won top honors at the Mississippi Invitational Saturday in Oxford, Miss. with 168 points as 10 Gators posted 14 NCAA regional qualifying marks. Southeastern Conference rival Alabama took second with 120 points.
"It was a great team effort for us," Florida Head Coach Tom Jones said. "We had some things we wanted to accomplish today and we did. We just need to use this as a building block as we head toward regionals."
The Gators were led by senior All-American Candice Scott (Port of Spain, Trinidad) and sophomore All-American Tiandra Ponteen (St. Kitts) as the duo combined for 36 of Florida's 168 points on Saturday.
Ponteen cruised to a time of 52.51 in the 400-meter eclipsing the field by nearly a second while posting a regional qualifying mark. Ponteen's time is also the best in the country by a collegian this year and is the eighth best mark in the world entering Saturday.
Ponteen rebounded from the 400m quickly as she also led a Gator sweep of the first three positions in the 200m with a career-best regional qualifying time of 23.41. Freshman All-Americans Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) and Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica) finished second and third in the event with regional qualifying times of 23.59 and 23.71 respectively. Palmer also blazed to a career-best and regional qualifying time of 11.60 in the 100m finishing second in the event.
"That was three PR's in the 200," Jones added. "I was really pleased with the way we ran there especially Nadine (Palmer). I have been training her hard and I was a little surprised she ran as well as she did. Tiandra just cruised to pull off her first double of the season."
Scott placed first in the hammer throw to earn the Gators 10 points with a NCAA regional qualifying toss of 67.86m/222-08, the top collegiate mark in the country this season. Scott added a third place finish in the shot put with a throw of 16.66m/54-08 worth six points.
Senior All-Americans Liz Wanless (Belleville, Ill.) and Krystle Moss (Alexandria, Va.) each claimed individual victories of their own as Wanless took top honors in the shot put with a regional qualifying heave of 17.30m/56-09.25 and Moss won the high jump competition with a regional qualifying leap of 1.75m/5-08.75.
Making their first appearance of the season was the 4x100m relay team of freshman Traci Ann Henry (Evanston, Ill.), Palmer, freshman Kia Raf (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), and Knight whom took home the top spot with a regional qualifying time of 44.14, the fifth fastest time in school history.
"I was very pleased with our 4x100 team," Jones said. "We hit our marks and the handoffs were crisp. I thought we ran well especially considering there was a stiff head wind coming down the home stretch."
Sophomore Jennifer Wynn (Douglasville, Ga.) added the first regional mark of her season in the hammer throw with a toss of 54.66m/179-04 while freshman Lindsay Sundell (Fort Salonga, N.Y.) claimed her first victory as a Gator via a win in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 11:24.22. Junior Amanda Schommer (Vero Beach, Fla.) added her first regional qualifying time of 2:09.47 in the 800m while freshman pole vaulter Natalie Moser (Tampa, Fla.) and junior vaulter Dara Altman (Tampa, Fla.) each posted regional and season-best marks of 3.80m/12-05.50.
The women's track and field team returns to action April 15. Distance runners will be traveling to Walnut, Calif. for the Mt. Sac Relays while other team members will be traveling to Mesa, Ariz. for the Mesa Invitational.
