Florida Gators
Penn Relays
Women?s T&F 4x100m Relay Clocks One of School?s Fastest Times, Team Wraps Up Competition at Day Two
Friday, April 28, 2006 | Women's Track and Field
The University of Florida women's track and field relay team of sophomore All-American Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.), senior All-American Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica), junior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) and sophomore All-American Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) posted the eighth-fastest time in school history in leading the Gators at the second day of competition of the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.
The quartet improved on their NCAA East Regional qualifying time of 44.90 set two weeks ago in at the UTEP Invitational after Knight crossed the finish line at the 44.27 mark Friday out of lane two en route to their seventh-place finish in the field. It is the nation's ninth-best time and currently ranks third in the East Region.
“I'm very proud of our athletes on the 4x100m relay team. To earn that big of an improvement from 44.90 to 44.27 on lane two of this track with all the tight turns is impressive,” UF women's head coach Tom Jones said. “To start at lane two meant that we were starting off in third place and immediately running into a turn. If we could have run a little faster yesterday in the trials, we maybe could have gotten a better lane today and may have been able to run in under 44 seconds flat. At the same time, to get a time like we did today in this lane was phenomenal. I couldn't be prouder of this group.”
Meanwhile, the 4x200m relay tandem of Ealey, Knight, McLeggan and sophomore All-American Kia Raf (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) recorded the day's eighth-fastest time to qualify for Saturday's championship finals. In addition, junior Candace Cabey (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) recorded a qualifying mark in the triple jump for the third time this season.
Raf anchored the 4x200m relay team and crossed the finish line in 1:35.20 en route to qualifying the group for the finals Saturday. Their time was only nine tenths of a second off the pace of the 10th-fastest clocking in UF history. Cabey's wind-aided jump of 12.63m/41-5.25 placed her sixth in the collegiate triple jump field.
“Candace had a solid mark today, and we had a couple of athletes who are battling colds and are a bit under the weather,” Jones said. “We have had some solid improvement here at the Penn Relays, and we will look to keep up the momentum tomorrow.”
In the final event of the evening for the Gators, the sprint medley relay team of sophomore All-Americans Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.), Raf, classmate Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago) and senior Amanda Schommer (Vero Beach, Fla.) placed second in their heat with a time of 3:35.57.
The UF squad will wrap up action with a handful of athletes set to take part in the final day of the Penn Relays Saturday. Live results from the City of Brotherly Love can be found online at www.pennathletics.com.
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