Florida Gators
Indiana Team Classic
WT&F Wins Six Events at Indiana Team Classic
Saturday, January 20, 2007 | Women's Track and Field
The University of Florida women's track and field team picked up six wins and two NCAA provisional marks at the Indiana Team Classic on Saturday at the Gladstein Fieldhouse.
Junior Natalie Moser (Tampa, Fla.) and freshman Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) both picked up wins and earned NCAA provisional marks with personal-bests in their respective events, the pole vault and the shot put. Sophomore Jenna Utecht (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) jumped a personal best in the high jump to earn the victory in the event. Senior three-time All-American Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica) led the way in the running events with wins in both the 60m and the 200m. Junior transfer Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) rounded out the six wins for Florida with her second win as a Gator by running a personal-best in the 800m.
“We moved up the national lists with the performances from Nadine and Mariam, and in a lot of events we are getting better meet-by-meet,” said Florida associate head coach Steve Lemke. “The team competed well at this meet, but the main thing for us is that we keep improving with each meet. That is what we have to keep doing throughout the indoor season.”
Moser earned the victory in the pole vault along with her third NCAA provisional mark by clearing a height of 4.05m/13-3.5. That mark set a personal best for Moser by two inches after accomplishing the same feat just a week earlier at the Florida Intercollegiate. She now moves out of a tie and holds sole possession of the third-best indoor pole vault in school history.
In the shot put, Kevkhishvili also threw a personal best and won for the second time this season as she improved her marks for the third consecutive meet. With a toss of 16.09m/52-9.5, she provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the second time this season and now holds the eighth-best indoor shot put in school history. She improved her distance in the event by more than 13 inches from last week, and since her first meet, Kevkhishvili's efforts in the event have improved more than three feet.
Utecht notched her first career victory with an indoor personal-best high jump of 1.73m/5-8, just clearing her previous indoor best of 1.72m/7-75. She now holds sole possession of the ninth-best high jump in school history.
Running for the first time this season, Palmer earned victories in the 60m and the 200m and nearly missed provisional marks in both events. She ran a time of 7.48 in the 60m finishing just 0.04 seconds away from the provisional standard, while running the 200m in 23.91, just 0.01 seconds from a provisional. Palmer now has eight victories in her career. Junior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.), who was also in competition for the first time this season, finished the 60m in second with a time of 7.50, just 0.02 seconds behind Palmer and 0.06 off a provisional.
In the 800m, McKenzie ran a personal-best 2:10.06 to win the event for the second time this season. Her time was good enough for a victory by nearly two and a half seconds.
The Gators return to Gainesville on Jan. 27 for the Diet Pepsi Invitational. The meet is scheduled to get under with the men's weight throw beginning at 11 a.m. ET with the women to follow. Running events are slated to begin at 2 p.m. ET with the women's 55m preliminaries. Live results of the Diet Pepsi Invitational can be found at www.GatorZone.com.
