Florida Gators
NCAA East Regionals
Ealey, Leinert, 4x100m Qualify for Finals of NCAA East Regional
Saturday, May 27, 2006 | Women's Track and Field
Freshman Shannon Leinert (Wildwood, Mo.), sophomore All-American Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) and the 4x100m relay team paced the University of Florida women's track and field team by qualifying for the finals in their respective events on Friday's opening day of the 2006 NCAA East Regional, hosted by North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C.
In the 800m, Leinert earned an automatic berth in the finals (Saturday, 6 p.m.) by winning the second heat. The 4x100m relay team of Ealey, senior All-American Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica), junior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) and sophomore All-American Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) improved on its seasonal-best time with the eighth-best time in school history as the quartet qualified for the finals on Saturday at 5 p.m. Ealey qualified individually in the 100m (Saturday, 6:20 p.m.), turning in the day's seventh-fastest performance at 11.42.
Georgia leads the team competition with 15 points. The Gators have yet to score a point through five scored events.
“I thought the 4x100m relay team ran very well,” UF women's head coach Tom Jones said. “We were pretty conservative today, just wanting to qualify for tomorrow's final. Tomorrow, we will push the stick a little better and put a little more push in the zones. I'm very proud of Lakecia Ealey for her performance in the 100m. She has been banged up all year and was going up against some of the best sprinters in the country. For her to qualify for the finals in that race is a huge feat. Shannon Leinert had a big PR and winning her heat as a freshman is quite an accomplishment. She has been very consistent when it comes down to the big meets and has proven to be one of the best stories we have had on the team this year.”
In the anchor position, Knight crossed the finish line at the 44.21 mark, besting the previous seasonal-best time of 44.27 set at the Penn Relays. The Gators' 4x100m relay finished second in the third heat, just behind Georgia Tech's 44.02. UF's time was the fourth-fastest in the preliminary round, behind Georgia Tech (44.02), Miami (44.03) and South Carolina (44.07).
Leinert held a narrow lead on North Carolina's Georgia Kloss as the duo headed into the second lap but extended her advantage over the course of the final stretch, crossing the finish line in a PR time of 2:06.94. Her time bettered her previous personal-best by over a second (2:08.14). Ealey also notched a personal-record in the 100m, clocking the fifth-fastest time in school history at 11.42, moving up from her previous-best time of 11.46.
In other events, freshman Sarah Pastoriza (Miami, Fla.) opened the meet for Florida with a 20th-place showing in the javelin competition with a toss of 40.67m/133-5. Pastoriza had her first two attempts surpass the 40.00m barrier in the sequence, with her best mark coming on the second throw.
Classmate Nene Kamate (Jamaica, N.Y.) clocked a 15.32 in the 100m hurdles, which put the finishing touches on her freshman season at Florida. Senior Amanda Schommer (Vero Beach, Fla.) turned in a time of 2:09.26 in the 800m, the final race of her collegiate career. Palmer missed out on her PR time of 44.56 by one-hundredth of a second, placing third in her heat and 10th overall in the 100m prelims with a clocking of 44.57.
Knight finished second in her heat in the 200m, crossing the finish line in 23.96, the fourth time she has broken the 24-second barrier this season. McLeggan turned in a time of 54.93 in the 400m prelims.
UF will have athletes competing in nine final events on Saturday, including the hammer throw (two athletes), triple jump (one athlete), pole vault (two athletes), discus (one athlete), 4x100m, 800m (one athlete), 100m (one athlete), 3,000m steeplechase (one athlete) and the 4x400m relay.
“Overall, we had a pretty good first day,” Jones added. “We know that we have to come back tomorrow and get both of our relay teams to NCAAs. I'm not disappointed in the way the athletes competed today, and I know we can run faster tomorrow in the 4x100m tomorrow with a little more push from those four on each of their positions.”
Action from Irwin Belk Track concludes with a bevy of final events on Saturday. The top-five finishers in each event automatically qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, held June 7-10 in Sacramento, Calif. Live results can be found online at www.ncataggies.com.
Women's Team Scoring
1. Georgia, 29.5; 2. North Carolina, 16; 3. Maryland, 14; 3. Miami, 14; 5. UNC-Wilmington, 10; 6. Cornell, 8; 6. Appalachian State, 8; 6. Buffalo, 8; 6. Duke, 8; 10. Syracuse, 6.
Advancing to Finals (3)
Lakecia Ealey – 100m
Shannon Leinert – 800m
Lakecia Ealey, Nadine Palmer, Dominique McLeggan and Natalie Knight – 4x100m relay
- UF -
