Florida Gators
Florida State Relays
Dekkers Notches Second-Best Javelin Throw In School History At Florida State Relays
Saturday, March 31, 2007 | Women's Track and Field
Freshman Evelien Dekkers (Etten-Leur, The Netherlands) recorded the second-best javelin throw in school history and third-best in the nation to win the event in her first-ever collegiate competition to highlight an impressive showing for the University of Florida women's track and field program at the Florida State Relays on Friday at the Mike Long Track Complex. Including Dekkers, the Gators earned five regional qualifying marks while also attaining victory in six events.
Dekkers won the javelin with a regional qualifying throw of 52.40m/171-11. Junior Lindsay Sundell (Fort Salonga, N.Y.) ran the fastest time in the nation in the 3,000m steeplechase to win the event and regionally qualify, freshman Lori Bowen (Surfside, Fla.) earned victory in the pole vault with a regional qualifying mark and ninth-best mark in school history and junior Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) also regionally qualified with a victory in the hammer throw. Junior Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) earned victory in the 5,000m while sophomore Sara Petrick (Apollo Beach, Fla.) won the 10,000m.
“We had a great day today,” Florida women's interim head coach Steve Lemke said. “The team competed very hard and we had a lot of athletes who compete in outdoor events that did not compete indoors finally get into competition, so that was a plus for us. All of the girls did a great job today. I can't think of any performance that was disappointing. This is a great base for us to build off of for the rest of the outdoor season.”
Just prior to throwing the javelin, Dekkers also threw the discus along with fellow freshman Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia). Dekkers' mark of 47.06m/154-05 placed her in second but she was the top-collegiate finisher in the event and she was just nine inches away from the regional qualifying standard. Former Gator and school-record holder in the discus, All-American Rachel Longfors, took first with a mark of 54.63m/179.03. Kevkhishvili finished in third place with a toss of 44.11m/144-09.
“A big highlight for us was Evelien,” Lemke added. “She's been waiting all year to compete and to come out and throw the marks she did in both the javelin and the discus is just amazing. She's very special.”
Sundell earned victory in the 3,000m steeplechase by running the fastest time in the nation this season, a regional qualifying mark of 10:22.79, which was just 1.69 seconds off of the school record that she already holds. Sundell's win came in commanding fashion as she finished over half a minute ahead teammate Kathryn Kramer (Tampa, Fla.), who took second with a time of 10:55.32, the third-best mark in school history. Kramer set a PR by over six seconds while finishing over 45 seconds in front of the third-place finisher. For Sundell, it was the third 3,000m steeplechase victory in her career.
In the pole vault, Bowen notched her first career victory clearing the bar at regional qualifying height of 3.80m/12-5.50, tying the ninth-best mark in school history. The mark was a career personal-best for Bowen by nearly five inches and was just shy of a full foot better than her previous-best outdoor vault. She finished almost five inches better than the second place finisher. Freshman Lauren Menke (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) took third place in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 3.65m/11-11.75. Her mark was four inches better than previous-best and was just a fourth of an inch shy of breaking onto UF's top 10 list for the event.
Ubaka also earned her first-career win in the hammer throw with a regional qualifying mark of 55.54m/182-03. Her personal-best throw was nearly seven feet better than the second place finisher and was just 14 inches shy of breaking onto UF's top 10 list.
In the 5,000m, the Gators pulled off a 1-2-3 finish with Johnson also earning the first win of her career (17:09.77), Jacy Kruzel (Cooper City, Fla.) coming in second (17:19.54) and Jamie Geissler (Spokane, Wash.) finishing in third (17:30.32).
Petrick ran a time of 36:33.83 in the 10,000m to earn her first-ever victory in the event and her second-career victory.
Also competing in her first collegiate competition and in the javelin, freshman Star Sansone (Boca Raton, Fla.) recorded a mark of 43.69m/143-4, the sixth-best mark in school history.
The Gators will wrap up competition at the Florida State Relays on Saturday. Live results can be found at www.halfmiletiming.com.
-UF-
