Florida Gators
Spec Towns Invitational
No. 2/5 T&F Posts Six Wins, Seven Season Bests At Spec Towns Invitational
Sunday, April 13, 2008 | Track and Field
Members of the No. 2 (men)/5 (women) University of Florida track & field team had a successful day at the Spec Towns Invitational on Saturday, leaving Athens with a half dozen event victories and seven season bests in just one afternoon of work.
“Overall, I think we had a great day,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “We set goals for ourselves this weekend, and we met the majority of them. There were some outstanding individual performances on both the men's and women's sides, and it's nice to get some more of our athletes qualified for the regional meet.”
Sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) and junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) finished as the top collegian in the 100m (10.24) and 200m (20.76), respectively, to maintain the momentum that each has built for himself over the last few weeks. Hall's performance in the 100m stood at the forefront of Gator effort that saw Perry finish third (10.43) and freshman Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) take third (10.51). Wilks also registered a career best and NCAA regional mark in the 200m with a third-place time of 21.10.
Junior Kallinka Pitt (Largo, Fla.) also established a new personal record on Saturday, ripping off an NCAA regional time of 13.91 in the 110m hurdles to finish fourth and move into 10th on the school's all-time chart.
The Florida men took first in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays in Athens, stopping the watches at 39.82 in the former and 3:07.81 in the latter to earn a pair of NCAA regional marks. The Spec Towns Invitational was the first time this season that the Gators have run the 4x400m relay, and the squad of sophomore Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.), senior Eric Alberter (Belleville, Ill.) and freshman LaMarr Davis (Knightdale, N.C.) didn't disappoint, as their time ranks 12th in the NCAA this season.
Senior Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) also picked up a win in the men's discus, checking in with his first NCAA regional mark of the season with a first-place toss of 58.57m/192-2.
Senior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) led the way for the Gator women on the individual level, taking first in the 800m with a time of 2:09.26. Classmates Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) and Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) were also on top of their games on Saturday, as they turned in personal bests in the 100m (11.72) and 200m (24.02), respectively; Knight's effort earned her a trip to May's NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee.
“Lorain competed very hard today, and it was nice to see her get the win,” Holloway said. “Abigail David has been training extremely hard lately, and we've still got some work to do to get where we want to be at the end of the year, but she's progressing nicely as the season goes along.”
UF also added a season-best and NCAA regional-qualifying time of 44.31 in the 4x100m relay at the meet, as the quartet of David, senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.), senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) and Knight clocked in at 44.31 to contribute to Florida's haul of six victories on the day.
A select group of Gators will head to Azusa, Calif., this week for the Azusa Invitational and the Mt. SAC Relays.
- UF -
