Gilreath Breaks American Record In Hammer; Clement Advances In 400m Hurdles
Sunday, June 26, 2005 | Track and Field
Former University of Florida NCAA champion Erin Gilreath broke her own American record in the hammer throw, while Kerron Clement advanced to the finals in the 400m hurdles to pace former Gators in action on the third day of the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Saturday at the Home Depot Center.
Gilreath broke her record to win the hammer throw with a mark of 73.87m/242-4 on her final throw, while Clement advanced to the finals of the 400m hurdles, as did former NCAA champion Rickey Harris. Two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Williams moved on to the semifinals in the 200m as did former All-American Jimmie Hackley.
Already leading by more than two meters with one throw remaining, Gilreath uncorked her toss of 73.87m/242-4 to break her previous record of 72.12 by more than three feet. Her toss was nearly 20 feet better than the runner up as she smashed her record that had stood for more than a year and qualified for the 2005 World Championships. Former All-American LaQuanda Cotton also fared well as she finished seventh with a mark of 64.50m/211-7.
"I was really tired, but I told myself to feel the throw and it would be there," Gilreath said. "I have been having great practices and I new a great throw was coming. I am pretty emotional right now because I had a hard indoor season and after I returned from Athens I didn't know if I wanted to do this anymore. My goal at worlds is to just have a better performance than Athens. Right now I am just excited about today and not thinking about worlds quite yet. I still have a while to prepare for that."
Clement finished second in his heat of the 400m hurdles with the third-fastest time of the day (48.82) to move on to Sunday's final. Harris finished right behind Clement in the same heat in 49.45 and also advanced with the sixth-best time.
Williams will run in the semifinals of the 200m on Sunday after clocking a time of 20.68 to take third in his heat with the day's 10th best time. Hackley was in the same heat and was fourth in 20.77 to advance with the 14th-fastest time. Nine-time All-American Kyle Farmer, who recently exhausted his eligibility, competed and was sixth in his heat with a time of 21.11 and didn't advance.
Former Gator Erik Newby finished 13th in the triple jump with a leap of 15.26m/50-0.75, which he achieved on his third and final attempt.
The event concludes on Sunday and can be seen live on ESPN2 from 5-7 p.m. (ET). Results can be found at www.usatf.org.
