Florida Gators
Tom Jones Memorial Classic
No. 4/13 T&F Piles Up Wins And Provisionals In Front Of Home Crowd
Sunday, January 27, 2008 | Track and Field
The University of Florida track & field team combined to win 11 events and post 10 NCAA provisional qualifying marks on Saturday, delivering a strong performance at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic, its lone home meet of the indoor season.
Six of the wins and five of the NCAA provisional marks came via the No. 13 Gator women, while the fourth-ranked UF men turned in five wins and five NCAA provisional cuts.
“We competed very well today, and had people step up in a lot of different areas,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “This team has really come together and built great chemistry, and it shows in they way they compete. There were some great individual performances out there today, but it was clear that the team was the top priority.”
A week after posting a pair of wins at the season-opening Big Ten/SEC Challenge, senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) posted a personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 6.80 in the 55m, as she finished second overall and first among collegians. The performance moved her into fourth place on the all-time UF chart.
Ealey later added a second-place finish in the 200m with a time of 24.27 as part of a 1-2 Gator sweep that saw senior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) take first with an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 24.02.
“Lakecia Ealey wants to be one of the best sprinters in the country, and she works very hard at that,” Holloway said. “She was great today, but she was one of many. There is a new work ethic around here that makes it fun to come out to the track every day.”
Sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) won the women's shot put for the second times in as many meets this season, while also establishing a new PR in the event for the second-straight outing with a heave of 16.82m/55-2.25. The performance moved her from seventh to fifth on Florida's all-time list. Freshman Keely Medeiros contributed a third-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 15.54m/51-0 that vaulted her into 10th on the UF indoor charts and stood as an NCAA provisional qualifying standard.
Senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) was victorious in the women's weight throw with a toss of 19.31m/63-4.25 to claim the first victory of her career and pick up her second NCAA provisional mark of the season. Indoor junior Lori Bowen (Tallahassee, Fla.) was also victorious on Saturday, capturing the women's pole vault with an indoor career-best effort of 3.70m/12-1.50.
Freshman Liene Karsuma took second in the women's high jump, posting a mark of 1.75m/5-8.75 for the second time in as many weeks. Junior Jenna Utecht (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) cleared the same height, establishing an indoor PR and moving into a tie for seventh on Florida's all-time indoor list, and finished fourth on the basis of previous misses.
UF got a third-place finish in the mile from senior Lindsay Sundell (Ft. Salonga, N.Y.), who posted a time of 4:52.76 to lead a trio of Florida runners in the top 10 of the race, and freshman Rebecca Lowe (Vancluse, Australia) made her collegiate debut on the indoor track with a time of 9:44.37 and a third-place finish in the 3,000m. Senior Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) also finished third in the women's weight throw with a mark of 16.68m/54-8.75.
The team of senior Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.), freshman Daniela Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.), indoor sophomore Shannon Leinert (Wildwood, Mo.) and freshman Kaitlin Shiver (Satellite Beach, Fla.) took a 24-second win in the women's distance medley relay, clocking in at 12:00.75. The Gators just missed a provisional mark in the 4x400m, finishing fourth in 3:41.45 with the squad of senior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago), senior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica), senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) and senior Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.).
The Gator men put forth a strong showing in the 800m, as indoor junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) clocked in at 1:50.55 to win the race by nearly a full second and earn an NCAA provisional mark. Senior Eric Alberter (Belleville, Ill.) crossed the line third in 1:53.01 to give UF two of the top three spots in the event.
Junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) was the collegiate winner of the men's 200m, placing second overall with a time of 21.54. Junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) also finished second overall in the men's shot put with an NCAA-provisional toss of 17.93m/58-10, but the performance ranked first among collegians at the meet.
Florida placed three runners in the top six of the men's mile, led by senior Steven Hassen (Ocala, Fla.), who earned runner-up honors with a career-best time of 4:11.13. Senior Enoch Nadler (Keystone Heights, Fla.) was close behind in fourth with a time of 4:11.64.
Junior Eugene Martin (Gainesville, Fla.) equaled his indoor PR in the high jump for the second week in a row, leaping 2.05m/6-8.75 to tie for third. Sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) was the Gators' top finisher in the men's 55m, placing fourth with a time of 6.25 that represented both a PR and an NCAA provisional time, while senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) took fourth in the 200m with a mark of 21.63. Indoor freshman Sean Blaney (Kissimmee, Fla.) registered a fourth-place finish in the 3,000m with a time of 8:25.80 in the first indoor meet of his career.
Junior Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) clocked in at 7.38 in the prelims of the men's 55m hurdles, collecting an NCAA provisional mark and setting a new PR in the event.
The Gators swept the top two spots in the men's distance medley relay, led the quartet of senior Jeremy Miller (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Davis, senior Ryder Leary (Ulee, Fla.) and Nadler, which placed first in a time of 10:05.82. UF also earned both win and a provisional berth in a men's 4x400m performance that saw Phillips, Davis, Middleton and junior R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.) stop the watches at 3:09.97.
Saturday's meet was named in honor of former Florida head women's coach Tom Jones, who passed away in March after a courageous battle with cancer. In December, Jones was awarded posthumous induction into the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Jones' wife, Sandy, made comments in honor of her late husband prior to the first running event of the afternoon.
The Gators will hit the road to different venues next weekend, as the majority of the squad will travel to Lexington, Ky., for the Rod McCravy Memorial, while Florida's multi-events specialists will make the trip to Boise, Idaho, for the United Heritage Invitational.
- UF -
