Florida Gators
Big Ten/SEC Challenge
T&F Wins Eight Events At Season-Opening Big Ten/SEC Challenge
Saturday, January 19, 2008 | Track and Field
Freshman Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) and senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) each won both the 60m and 200m to propel the No. 4/13 University of Florida track & field team to a strong season-opening performance at the Big Ten/SEC Challenge on Saturday.
The Gators won eight events on the day, including both the men's and women's shot put, and posted a half dozen provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Ealey led the way with provisional times in both the 60m (7.41) and 200m (23.90) on Saturday.
“This was a team effort, and we did a good job today,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “We weren't carried by any specific part of the team. We had people step up in each part of the meet, which is a goal we have heading into each competition.”
“We saw some good things today, but we also have a lot to work on, and we're going to leave these performances in Bloomington and go back to work when we get home.”
Wilks was impressive in his collegiate debut for the fourth-ranked Florida men, winning the 60m with a provisional-qualifying time of 6.73 and crossing the line first in the 200m with a time of 21.53. Junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) posted a career-best and provisional-qualifying toss of 18.04m/59-2.25 in the shot put, bettering his PR by more than three feet en route to claiming the first victory of his career, while senior Eric Alberter (Belleville, Ill.) clocked in at 1:19.19 to win the 600m.
Burroughs' mark in the shot put moved him into 10th place on the school's all-time indoor list.
Junior Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) picked up a runner-up finish in the 60m hurdles (8.03) for UF, and the 4x400m relay squad of junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), freshman LaMarr Davis (Knightdale, N.C.), Martin and freshman Kyle Teeter (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished second with a time of 3:16.19.
Davis also added a third-place finish in the 400m (48.57), and was followed closely by Phillips in fourth (48.60). Junior Eugene Martin (Gainesville, Fla.) tied his indoor career best in the high jump with a leap of 2.05m/6-8.75 to take third, while redshirt freshman Eric Foran (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) finished fourth in the pole vault in his collegiate debut with a mark of 4.70m/15-5.
The men's 200m saw the Gators claim three of the top five spots, as senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) placed third with a time of 21.66 and junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) finished fifth in 21.74 to complement Wilks' winning effort. Freshman Solomon Taylor (Ocala, Fla.) turned in a steady performance in the 600m, finishing fourth with a time of 1:20.59.
The No. 13 Florida women opened the day with a bang by qualifying four athletes for the final of the 60m, and followed that performance up by taking the top three spots, and four of the top five, in the final race. Ealey led the way with a time of 7.41 after posting a career-best 7.39 in prelims, while senior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) placed second (7.64) and senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) took third (7.68) in the first-career 60m race for both. Senior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) rounded out the UF quartet with a fifth-place showing in a time of 7.70.
Ealey was yet again the catalyst for another strong Florida showing in the 200m, winning with a career-best 23.90 to collect another NCAA provisional mark and leading the Gators to capture three of the top four spots in the event. Knight crossed the line second with a time of 24.16, and David was fourth in 24.73.
Ealey, who won twice on the afternoon, entered the meet with three victories to her credit over the course of her three-year collegiate career.
Sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) registered a career-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying toss of 16.65m/54-7.50 to win the women's shot put and strengthen her hold on seventh place in school history, while freshman Liene Karsuma won the high jump in her Gator debut with a mark of 1.75m/5-8.75. Karsuma's effort matched the seventh-best indoor leap in Florida history. Senior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) also chipped in with a win in the 600m, clocking in at 1:30.78.
The Gators also claimed two of the top four spots in the women's weight throw, as senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) took third with an NCAA provisional mark of 19.23m/63-1.25 and senior Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) placed fourth with a toss of 16.73m/54-10.75.
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