Gators Well Represented In 2007 T&F End-Of-Year Rankings
Thursday, January 10, 2008 | Track and Field
Seventeen current and former members of the University of Florida track & field team and four UF relays are featured in the final world and United States rankings of the 2007 season, which were released in the January edition of Track & Field News.
Former Gator Kerron Clement posted world's fastest time in the 400mH, a mark of 47.61, for the third-straight year en route to capping 2007 as the world's top-ranked runner in the event. He headlined the year with his first world championship in his signature event, becoming just the second UF male to ever win an individual gold medal at the IAAF World Championships. Clement also clocked in at 44.48 in the 400m to finish the year with the seventh-fastest time in the world and the fourth-best in the U.S.
Former UF standout Novlene Williams led the contingent of Florida women in the year-end charts, finishing the campaign ranked fourth in the world in the 400m after turning the world's fifth-fastest time at 49.66. Williams earned a silver medal as a part of the Jamaican 4x400m relay team and captured a bronze in the 400m at the IAAF World Championships.
One of the most productive years in school history by a throws athlete landed senior Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) in a pair of 2007 rankings, as he concluded the year ranked ninth in the U.S. in the discus (201-5) and 22nd in the country in the shot put (63-9.50). Stockbarger's ninth-place mark in the discus, which came at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, also stands as a UF record.
A newcomer to the Florida program this season, junior Adam Montague (Townsville, Australia) recorded the 10th-best javelin toss in the U.S. in 2007, registering a mark of 242-4 that won the NCAA East Regional in Gainesville.
Senior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) capped the year ranked 18th in the U.S. in the 200m with a time of 22.85 that ranks second in school history outdoors, while classmate Natalie Moser (Tampa, Fla.) set a school indoor pole vault record at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a mark of 14-1.25 to tie for the nation's 18th-best vault in 2007. Senior Lindsay Sundell (Ft. Salonga, N.Y.) ranked 22nd in the U.S. in the 3,000m steeplechase in 2007 with a school-record time of 10:07.25, which also stands second in Southeastern Conference history.
Sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.), who last season became just the second freshman in school history to earn All-America honors in both the indoor and outdoor 400m, ranked 21st in the U.S. with a time of 45.52. Despite battling through injuries in 2007, junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) turned in the country's 25th-fastest time in the 200m, a mark of 20.57.
The current group of UF student-athletes also fared well in relays on both the global and national levels. The Florida men's 4x400m relay quartet of junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), Smith, senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) and senior Eric Alberter (Belleville, Ill.) led the way with a No. 32 world ranking after clocking in at 3:04.92, while the men's squad of sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.), departed senior Mike Morrison (Middleboro, N.J.), Perry and Smith tied for 14th in the U.S. with a time of 39.49.
On the women's side, the unit of senior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago), Knight, senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) and senior Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.) finished the year ranked 15th in the U.S. in the 4x100m relay with a time of 44.03. The Gators' 4x400m relay squad of senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.), Joseph, Ealey and David turned in a mark of 3:35.00 to rank 26th in the country in 2007.
The women's 800m saw former Florida star Hazel Clark rank 19th in the world with a time of 1:59.07, which also ranked second in the U.S, while former Gator Rickey Harris cracked the world rankings with a 22nd-place time of 48.98 in the 400mH.
A pair of former Gators earned their way into the world shot put rankings in 2007, led by a 19th-place showing (61-5.75) from Kristin Heaston. She was joined on the list by Liz Wanless, who threw 60-10.50 to take the No. 22 spot on the world chart. Erin Gilreath also earned a spot in the world rankings last year with a toss of 230-0 in the hammer throw that rated 27th.
Former Gator Bernard Williams capped the year ranked 19th in the U.S. in the 200m with a time of 20.47, while also tying for 30th in nation in the 100m (10.22). Rachel Longfors ranked 21st in the U.S. in the discus with a toss of 179-2), while Morrison tied for 36th in the high jump (7-1.75) and 38th in the long jump (25-4.50), and Josh Walker tied for 32nd in the 110mH (13.68).
Florida will kick off the 2008 indoor season on Saturday, Jan. 19, at the Big Ten/SEC Challenge in Bloomington, Ind. Both field and running events are slated to commence at 11 a.m. ET.
- UF -
