Florida Gators
Iowa State Classic
No. 7/13 T&F Earns Four NCAA Automatic Bids At Iowa State Classic
Sunday, February 17, 2008 | Track and Field
The No. 7/13 University of Florida track & field team posted its first four NCAA automatic qualifying marks of the season and saw a school record fall on Saturday, the final day of competition at the Iowa State Classic.
In addition to the four NCAA automatic qualifying marks, the Gators recorded the world's fastest time in the men's 4x400m and four NCAA provisional standards on the day.
“This was an outstanding team effort, and I'm proud of the way everyone performed this weekend,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “We talk about getting better each time out, and about being a complete team, and I think we showed those things here this weekend.”
Senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) broke her own school record and punched her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the women's 60m during Saturday's final with a first-place time of 7.26, bettering her own UF standard by .01 and moved her into a tie for fifth place on the NCAA descending indoor list. The victory marked Ealey's third in a row over collegiate competition, and her second-straight overall title.
As Ealey did at the Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky., two weeks ago, sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) stepped to the line minutes later and delivered the second half of a Gator sweep in the 60m, crossing the line at 6.68 to defeat junior teammate Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) by .09. Perry's runner-up time of 6.77 marked a new career best.
“The biggest thing we've been seeing from both Lakecia and Jeremy this year is consistency,” Holloway said. “They have both worked extremely hard this year, it's great to see it paying off for them.”
The Gators closed the meet on a high note in the men's 4x400m relay, as the quartet of junior R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.), junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) put together a winning time of 3:06.48, the fastest in the world this year as of Saturday night. The mark, which automatically qualified the Orange and Blue for the NCAA Indoor Championships, is the third-best in school history.
“It's great to have run the fastest time in the world, but that's not what we're concerned with,” Holloway said. “Our goal is to win an NCAA Championship, and we took the first step towards that tonight. You can't win the title if you don't make the meet.”
Sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) became the first UF athlete of the season to automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, recording a personal-best toss of 17.44m/57-2.75 to secure a second-place finish. The mark, which ranks as the second-best in the country this season, moved her into fourth-place on the school's indoor list.
The Gator women also picked up their first NCAA provisional of the year in the 4x400m relay, as the team of senior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago), senior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.), senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) and senior Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.) put up a time of 3:39.58 to finish second.
Phillips came to the line for the men's 800m and proceeded to turn in the nation's third-fastest time to this point in the season, an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 1:47.89 that was good for third place. The showing, which eclipsed his previous PR by more than two seconds, moved him into fourth place on the Gators' all-time indoor chart and made him one of just four men in school history to break the 1:48 barrier indoors.
“Carlos Phillips was outstanding today,” Holloway said. “He was a 1:54 guy coming out of high school. It's amazing how far he has come, and I'm really proud of him right now.”
Seniors Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) and Steven Hassen (Ocala, Fla.) also bettered personal records en route to runner-up finishes on Saturday afternoon. McKenzie clocked in at an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 2:06.00 in the women's 800m to jump into seventh place on the program's all-time indoor list, while Hassen put up a career-best 8:14.29 in the men's 3,000m to finish as the top collegian in the event.
Freshman Liene Karsuma (Riga, Latvia) improved her career-best mark in the women's high jump on Saturday, placing third with an NCAA provisional leap of 1.80/5-10.75. The performance moved her into third place on UF's all-time indoor chart, and broke her own freshman school record.
Florida also got a third-place finish in the men's 60m hurdles from junior Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.), who posted a time of 7.96 in the final. Junior Kallinka Pitt (Largo, Fla.) took fourth in the same race, less than one-hundredth of a second behind Martin.
Sophomore Mike Morrison (Chesapeake, Va.) earned a fourth-place finish in the men's pole vault with a season-best leap of 5.15m/16-10.75, narrowly missing an NCAA provisional mark. Junior Justin Semeyn (Tampa, Fla.) cleared the same height to mark a new PR, and finished eighth due to previous misses.
Junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) was also a fourth-place finisher on Saturday with a heave of 17.93m/58-10 in the men's shot put.
David chipped in with a fifth-place showing in the women's 400m, lowering her PR for the second-straight meet with a time of 54.41. The effort left her just .01 shy of an NCAA provisional mark.
Florida will return to action on Feb. 29 when the three-day Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships commence in Fayetteville, Ark. The Gator men have posted a top-three finish at the SEC Indoors in each of the last five years, while the UF women will be seeking a return to the top three for the first time since winning the crown in 2004.
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