Florida Gators
Texas Relays
T&F's 4x100m Relay Posts World's Top Time At Texas Relays
Saturday, April 9, 2005 | Men's Track and Field
Florida's 4x100-meter relay team posted the fastest time in the world in 2005, while six other Gators hit NCAA regional qualifying marks on the third day of competition Friday at the Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Gator 4x100m relay team of freshman Richard Adu-Bobie (Orleans, Canada), sophomore Mike Morrison (Willingboro, N.J.), senior Kyle Farmer (Columbia, Md.) and sophomore Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) posted a time of 39.10 during Friday's prelim round – the world's top time in 2005 by four hundredths of a second. The time also stands as the sixth-best in Florida history. In addition, senior Josh Walker (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Farmer, senior Steve Zieminski (Sarasota,Fla.), junior Alex Harris (Tampa, Fla.), Morrison and freshman Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) hit regional qualifying marks.
"It was a very good day for us and we did a lot of good things with guys hitting regional marks," Florida men's track & field coach Mike Holloway said. "The best thing is that we got better. We talked about that with the guys going into the meet and they stepped up. Tomorrow, we just want to go out and finish up strong."
Zieminski won the 1,500m by a full second with a time of 3:47.00 – the second-best time in the Southeastern Conference in 2005.
"This was a great experience," Zieminski said. "I have not won at the relays yet. I have not faced these guys before, so I was used to east coast competition. It is my first outdoor race this year because of bad weather. This is a pretty good start, but I had a pretty good indoor season, which is a better indicator of how I will do this season."
Morrison finished second in the long jump with a regional mark of 7.83m/25-8.25 – the top mark in the SEC. Harris competed in both the A flight and the B flight on Friday and finished fourth in the B flight with a career-best leap of 7.64m/25-0.75 – the fourth-best mark in the SEC. He took second earlier in the day in the B flight by jumping 7.23m/23-8.75.
Walker finished with the second-fastest time of the day in the 110m hurdles and will advance to Saturday's final. His time of 13.75 is a regional mark, the second best in the SEC and the 10th best in the world in 2005.
Farmer advanced to Saturday's final in the 100m by clocking 10.39 – the fourth-best time in the SEC and the third-fastest of the day.
Florida's spring medley relay team of Farmer, Clement, freshman Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) and junior Shane Stroup (Highland, Md.) finished third in 3:16.43.
Stockbarger posted the first regional qualifying time of his career in the discus as he finished fifth with a throw of 53.40m/175-2.
Sophomore Tim Skeper (Hamden, Conn.) finished eighth and posted a mark of 61.44m/201-7 in the javelin, which was a career-best and the fifth-best mark in school history. The throw was just shy of a regional qualifying mark and stands as the second-best in the SEC this season.
The Texas Relays conclude on Saturday. Live results can be found at www.texassports.com
