Florida Gators
Pepsi Florida Relays
Well-Rounded Effort Leads To 17 NCAA Regional Marks On Day One Of Pepsi Florida Relays
Saturday, April 5, 2008 | Track and Field
The No. 4 (men)/15 (women) University of Florida track & field team captured six event victories and 17 NCAA regional-qualifying marks on a productive opening day of the Pepsi Florida Relays at Percy Beard Track.
“I'm very pleased with the amount of regional-qualifying marks we earned today, but I'm more pleased about the fact that we got better in almost every event,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “We're a very cohesive unit right now, meaning that the coaches, staff and athletes are all on the same page, and that leads to good things across the board.”
Outdoor junior Jeremy Criscione (Interlachen, Fla.) charged to the Gators' first win of the day on Friday in the men's 1,500m, posting a career-best time of 3:48.29, missing an NCAA regional cut by less than a second. Senior Steven Hassen (Ocala, Fla.) crossed the line second with a time of 3:51.35, and junior Scott Hans (Middlebury, Fla.) took fifth with a career-best mark of 3:55.24.
UF's second victory of the afternoon came courtesy of sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.), who ran the fastest collegiate time in the nation this year in the men's 400m, an NCAA regional-qualifying mark of 46.11, to finish second overall and tops among collegians in his first attempt at the event during the outdoor season. Senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) also earned his first NCAA regional mark of the year in the 400m, placing seventh with a time of 46.90.
Junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) kept the ball rolling for the UF men in the 100m, first among collegians and second overall with a time of 10.19, which ties for the world's fifth-fastest and ranks third in the NCAA this year. The performance was just .07 slower than his personal-best mark of 10.12, and was the fastest time he has put up since achieving that top mark at the 2006 U.S. Junior Championships. Sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) turned in a career-best time of 10.24 to finish sixth in the event and move up two spots to eighth on the all-time UF charts, while also springing up to third on the NCAA descending order list, and freshman Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) placed 11th with a personal-best mark of 10.36. All three times were NCAA regional-qualifying standards.
The Gators were impressive in the men's B pole vault, sweeping the first four spots on the table. Sophomore Mike Morrison (Chesapeake, Va.) established an outdoor PR of 5.15m/16-10.75 en route to winning the competition by four inches. The clearance was a regional-qualifying standard, and moved Morrison into the national top-10 in the event. Freshman Eric Foran (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) took runner-up honors with a personal-best 5.05m/16-6.75 to mark his first-career regional-qualifying performance, while junior Justin Semeyn (Tampa, Fla.) also punched his ticket to the NCAA East Regional by clearing the same height, though he finished third due to previous misses. Freshman Daniel Hamilton (Casselbury, Fla.) rounded out the quartet in fourth place with a personal-best clearance of 4.65m/15-3.
The UF men capped the day in fine fashion with a win in the 4x200m relay, as the quartet of Hall, Wilks, Perry and Smith clocked in at 1:22.06 to earn the victory by more than two seconds. The early-evening performance was the fourth-fastest in school history, less than two seconds off of the school record.
Junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) also got on the NCAA regional-qualifiers board on Friday, registering a career-best toss of 53.04m/174-0 in the discus.
Senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) ran the Florida women into the winners' circle on Friday, as she finished first among collegians with a career-best time of 11.35. The effort moved her into third on the NCAA descending order list, while also improving her standing on the UF all-time chart to fourth place. The win was her second in the 100m in as many weeks, adding on to her victory at the Hurricane Challenge last weekend.
The Gators got a PR in the women's long jump from sophomore Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) for the second week in a row, as the she claimed runner-up honors with a leap of 6.42m/21-0.75. The mark ranks second in the NCAA this year, and vaulted Proctor to seventh on UF's all-time list.
Senior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) captured her first regional-qualifying time of the season in the women's 400m with a mark of 54.51 to finish 11, while classmate Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) turned in a career-best time of 54.72 to place 15th and narrowly miss a bid to the NCAA East Regional.
Senior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) also collected her first regional mark of the year, posting a time of 2:08.90 in the women's 800m to finish fifth overall and third among collegians, while classmate Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) moved into a tie for ninth on Florida's all-time hammer throw chart with a regional-qualifying mark of 58.49m/191-11 to finish second among collegians.
Jeffery Demps of South Lake High School, who signed a National Letter of Intent to play football at Florida in 2008 and is expected compete for the Gators on the track next season, provided some mid-afternoon fireworks in the boys 100m, clocking in at a time of 10.17 that ranks fourth in the world this year and stands as the fifth-fastest ever run by a high school athlete. The effort also broke Walter Dix's meet record of 10.28, set in 2004.
“I'm extremely proud of our staff and the job they've done this year to make sure that we're a complete track & field program,” Holloway said. “Everyone lined up today and got it done. It's not always about getting PR's, it's about getting better. There are some places where we can continue to improve, but we had a great day today.”
Live results from the Pepsi Florida Relays will be available via www.GatorZone.com. More information on the meet, including schedule, history, records and directions, can be found at www.GatorZone.com/trackfield/floridarelays.
Percy Beard Track Records Broken
David Oliver – 110m hurdles, 13.10 (old record: 13.26, David Oliver, 2007)
Brittany Reese – Women's Long Jump, 6.89m/22-7.25 (old record: 6.60m/21-8, Marion Jones, 1997)
Pepsi Florida Relays Records Broken
Jeffery Demps – Men's 100m, 10.17 (old record: 10.28, Walter Dix, 2004)
David Oliver – 110m hurdles, 13.10 (old record: 13.26, David Oliver, 2007)
Brittany Reese – Women's Long Jump, 6.89m/22-7.25 (old record: 6.56m/21-6.50, Esmerelda Garcia, 1981)
* - tied records
- UF -
