Florida Gators
NCAA Championships
Track and Field Advances 10 As NCAA Outdoor Championships Open
Thursday, June 12, 2008 | Track and Field
The University of Florida track and field men's and women's had an impressive opener on day one on the NCAA Championships at windy Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, as 10 of 13 athletes that could have advanced in competition did.
“When you send 13 athletes out and get 10 of them advance, that's an unbelievable day,” said University of Florida head coach Mike Holloway. “Today was about qualifying and advancing. If you don't take care of business today, there's not tomorrow. We're going to try and do the same thing tomorrow.”
No finals were contested on Wednesday, but the Gators set the stage for later in the week with a strong showing on the track, and with a small number of field events.
The women's 4x100-meter relay squad of Abigail David, Lakecia Ealey, Dominique McLeggan and Natalie Knight used clean exchanges to coast to an easy victory in their heat and advance to Friday's final with a season-best time of 43.65 seconds. The seized control after the first exchange, going unchallenged, while clocking the third fastest time overall in qualifying behind Texas A&M and LSU.
The men's short relay foursome of Chris Rainey, Terrell Wilks, Jeremy Hall and Calvin Smith looked sharp, finishing second in their heat behind Tennessee, but easily advancing to Friday's final with the fifth fastest time of the day, 39.49.
While the 4x100 times were predictably fast, the straightaway sprints were run into strong headwinds, reducing most of the times. Despite a headwind of -3.2 meters per second, Ealey led all women's 100-meter dash qualifiers in the preliminary rounds with a time of 11.53, winning her heat comfortably.
She returned to the track 90 minutes later for her third and final race of the day, and finished second in the 100-meter semifinals with a time of 11.31, easily advancing to Friday evening's final. Ealey is looking to become UF's first women's All-American in the 100-meter dash since Kisha Jett in 1998.
In the men's 100-meter prelims, Wilks posted the fastest time of qualifying, running a time of 10.49 into a headwind of -2.7. Hall finished third in his preliminary heat, gaining an automatic qualifier to the semis with his time of 10.62 into a -3.7 headwind.
Hall finished third in his semifinal section to advance to Friday's final, running a time of 10.40. Wilks, however, finished eighth in his semifinal, running a time of 10.67 into another strong headwind (-3.6) and did not advance to the final.
After anchoring the men's 4x100-meter relay earlier in the day, Smith capped a strong opening day by advancing to Friday's 400-meter dash semifinal, finishing second in his heat and grabbing an automatic qualifying spot with a time of 46.21.
Carlos Phillips advanced to the semifinals of the men's 800-meter run, finishing third in his heat with a time of 1:50.05. The top three finishers in each heat automatically advanced to Thursday's 16-man semifinal.
Rebecca Lowe looked strong in the women's 5,000-meter run advancing with the third fastest qualifying time on the evening, running 16:47.90. Lowe hung with the lead pack of eight runners that broke away from the group mid-way through the race. She advanced to Friday night's final.
Lindsay Sundell finished 18th in qualifying for the 3,000-meter steeplechase and did not advance to the final.
In the field, Adam Montague opened the championships in fine form, easily advancing to Friday's javelin final with a throw of 229 feet 7 inches, tied for the second best mark overall. Montague hit the mark on his first attempt and passed on his remaining two attempts with a comfortable qualifying mark on his opening toss.
Wes Stockbarger advanced easily in the preliminary rounds of the discus, coming up with a throw of 182-11 on his final attempt. Stockbarger finished third in the event a year ago.
Shara Proctor advanced in a loaded field in the long jump, coming up with a wind-aided mark of 21-8 ? to advance to Thursday's final. Proctor's mark was the third best jump of the day setting up a final in which the top 11 qualifiers jumped better than 21 feet and within eight inches of one another.
Stefan Hommel opened competition in the decathlon and finds himself in 10th place with a first-day total of 3,801. He sits only 123 points out of scoring position. Hommel will try and become UF's first All-American ever in the decathlon on Thursday with five events remaining – the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500-meter run.
In the pole vault, Eric Foran cleared 16-2 ? in preliminary action, but did not advance to the finals.
Qualifying continues on Thursday with several key events. Knight will take part in the women's 200-meter prelims, while Kallinka Pitt opens up competition in the 110-meter hurdles. In the field, key events include shot put qualifying for both the men and women, as Stockbarger and Mariam Kevkhisvili will both be in action, while Evelien Dekkers will compete in the javelin and Shelia Proctor in the long jump.
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