Gators Set for 115th Penn Relays
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | Track and Field
The University of Florida track and field teams look to build on the stellar performances of the past two meets when they travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to participate in the prestigious 115th Penn Relays Carnival, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at its historic Franklin Field.
Activities at the Penn Relays begin at 10 a.m. EST and at 9 a.m. EST on both Saturday and Sunday. Live results for the meet may be found online at www.thepennrelays.com.
ThePennRelays.com will provide live, streaming Web casts of the historic event's 24 high school and collegiate championship relay races, beginning with the college women's distance medley at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 23rd. Coverage will continue Friday, April 24th and Saturday, April 25th. Each of the races, following their conclusion, will be made available for archived viewing. ESPN2 will broadcast the final day of competition from 4-6 p.m. Saturday.
The Gators have athletes who rank among the top five in the nation in six different men's events. Junior Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) and freshman Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) rank second and fourth, respectively, in the nation in the men's 400-meter dash. The duo teams with R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.) and Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) to comprise the nation's second-fastest 4x400-meter relay team.
Junior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) leads the nation in the women's shot put with a toss of 59-2.25/18.04m.
Florida is coming off of an impressive weekend at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn, Ala., April 17-18. Freshmen Genevieve LaCaze (Queensland, Australia) and William Wynne (Marietta, Ga.) each were named SEC Freshmen of the Week for their performances at the War Eagle Invitational.
LaCaze captured the women's invitational 1,500-meter run on Friday at the War Eagle Invitational in an NCAA regional-qualifying and personal-best time of 4:20.90. That broke her own freshman school record of 4:22.18, set two weeks prior at the Pepsi Florida Relays on April 3. Prior to LaCaze's record-breaking times this season, the previous freshman school record was 4:30.67.
LaCaze now ranks third in the SEC in the women's 1,500-meter run and has the top time of any freshman in the conference this season. Her time in that event at the War Eagle Invitational marked the seventh-fastest women's outdoor 1,500-meter time in school history.
Wynne finished second and was the top collegian in the men's 110-meter hurdles, running a personal-best and NCAA regional-qualifying time of 13.73 (+1.7) in the prelims and following that up with a time of 13.75 (+0.0) in the event's finals. That time goes down as the fastest in the SEC so far this season and currently ranks eighth in the nation in the men's 110-meter hurdles.
Wynne's time in the 110-meter hurdles was the seventh best in outdoor school history and shattered his previous collegiate-best time of 13.92. He also ran the third leg of Florida's 4x400-meter relay team that finished in an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 3:05.92 on Saturday.
Franklin Field was originally opened in 1895 at a cost of $100,000 for the first running of the Penn Relays. The stadium was rebuilt in 1922 in its present form. Franklin Field, deemed by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football games, has been the site of the nation's first scoreboard, the nation's first two-tiered stadium, the first football radio broadcast, and the first football telecast.
The University of Florida is home of the 2009 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. For all of the latest information on Gator Track and Field, log on to www.GatorZone.com.
115TH PENN RELAYS (APRIL 23-25, 2009 – Philadelphia , Pa.)
THURSDAY, APRIL 23
Women's Long Jump Championship – 12 p.m. (RQS: 6.00m)
· Shara Proctor
Women's 4x100m Relay Prelims – 1 p.m. (RQS: 45.70)
· Madison McNary, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ije Iheoma
Women's Javelin Championship – 2 p.m. (RQS: 43.45m)
· Evelien Dekkers
· Star Sansone
Women's 4x400m Relay Prelims – 5:40 p.m. (RQS: 3:42.00)
· Ije Iheoma, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ashley Usery
Men's Steeplechase Championship – 7:30 p.m. (RQS: 9:07.00)
· Sean Blaney
Women's Steeplechase Championship – 7:50 p.m. (RQS: 10:50.25)
· Julie Northrup
Women's 5,000m Run Championship – 8:30 p.m. (RQS: 16:52.00)
· Genevieve LaCaze
· Jacy Kruzel
· Sara Petrick
Women's 5,000m Run Open Division – 8:50 p.m. (RQS: 16:52.00)
· Laura Garrow
Men's 5,000m Run Championship – 9:10 p.m. (RQS: 14:12.00)
· Justin Taylor
FRIDAY, APRIL 24
Men's 400m Hurdles – 9 a.m. (RQS: 52.51)
· William Wynne
Women's Triple Jump Championship – 10 a.m. (RQS: 12.32m)
· Shara Proctor
Men's 4x100m Relay Prelims – 12:30 p.m. (RQS: 40.66)
· Jeremy Hall, Calvin Smith, Terrell Wilks, Jeff Demps
Women's 4x100m Relay Final – 1:05 p.m. (RQS: 45.70)
· Madison McNary, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ije Iheoma
Women's 4x1500m Relay – 1:30 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· Genevieve LaCaze, Kaitlin Shiver, Charlotte Browning, Julie Northrup
Men's 4x200m Relay Prelims – 1:50 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· R.J. Anderson, Terrell Wilks, Jeremy Hall, Preston Wilson
Men's Long Jump Championship – 2 p.m. (RQS: 7.34m)
· Christian Taylor
Women's 4x200m Relay Prelims – 2:10 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· Madison McNary, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ije Iheoma
Men's Shuttle Hurdles – 2:55 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· Kallinka Pitt, Dennis Martin, William Wynne, Jarius Cooper
Men's 110m Hurdles – 3:30 p.m. (RQS: 14.30)
· Jarius Cooper
· Dennis Martin
· Kallinka Pitt
Men's 100m Dash Prelims – 3:25 p.m. (RQS: 10.55)
· Jeff Demps
· Jeremy Hall
· Terrell Wilks
Men's 4x400m Relay Prelims – 4:35 p.m. (RQS: 3:10.00)
· Preston Wilson, Calvin Smith, William Wynne, R.J. Anderson
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
Men's Javelin Championship – 11 a.m. (RQS: 61.60m)
· Mario Ariet
· Doug Nelson
Men's 4x100m Relay Final – 1:35 p.m. (RQS: 40.66)
· Jeremy Hall, Calvin Smith, Terrell Wilks, Jeff Demps
Men's Triple Jump Championship – 2 p.m. (RQS: 15.00m)
· Christian Taylor
Women's 4x200m Relay Final – 2:35 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· Madison McNary, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ije Iheoma
Men's 4x200m Relay Final – 2:40 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· R.J. Anderson, Terrell Wilks, Jeremy Hall, Calvin Smith
Men's 110m Hurdles Final – 3:15 p.m. (RQS: 14.30)
· Jarius Cooper
· Dennis Martin
· Kallinka Pitt
Men's 100m Dash Final – 3:40 p.m. (RQS: 10.55)
· Jeff Demps
· Jeremy Hall
· Terrell Wilks
Men's 4x800m Relay – 4:25 p.m. (Not an NCAA event)
· Carlos Phillips, Lamarr Davis, Ethan Philpot, Justin Taylor
Women's 4x400m Relay Final – 5:10 p.m. (RQS: 3:42.00)
· Ije Iheoma, Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Ashley Usery
Men's 4x400m Relay Final – 5:25 p.m. (RQS: 3:10.00)
· R.J. Anderson, Calvin Smith, William Wynne, Justin Taylor, Preston Wilson, Carlos Phillips
END OF REPORT
