Florida Gators
Penn Relays Carnival
Track and Field Notches Historic Performances at Penn Relays
Friday, April 23, 2010 | Track and Field
Senior Florida thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) and senior jumper Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) combined for two of the top-10 performances in the storied history of the Penn Relays Carnival to put an exclamation point on the Gators' successes on Thursday at historic Franklin Field.
Kevkhishvili, the defending Southeastern Conference Female Field Athlete of the Week and a four-time NCAA Champion, claimed the women's shot put event with a winning throw of 18.17m/59-7.50. Kevkhishvili's throw was the third-best in the history of the Penn Relays Carnival and the best throw in the women's shot put at the meet since the 2003 campaign. It was the first Penn Relays women's shot put title in UF school history.
Proctor turned in the ninth-best women's long jump in the history of the Penn Relays with a leap of 6.46m/21-2.50. Proctor defended her title from the 2009 campaign becoming just the fifth multiple-champion in that event in its history with her second. Her long jump was the best mark in that event at Penn Relays since the 2003 campaign. With Thursday's title by Proctor, Florida ties George Mason for the most titles in the women's long jump in the history of the Penn Relays. The Gators also won women's long jump titles at the 1979, 1982 and 2009 edition of the Penn Relays.
Senior distance runner Julie Northrup (Vero Beach, Fla.) ran the second-fastest time in school history in the women's steeplechase, placing third overall in a personal-record time of 10:25.79. That broke Northrup's previous personal-best of 10:29.22, set earlier this month at the 66th Pepsi Florida Relays. Teammate Genevieve LaCaze (Queensland, Australia) placed sixth in the event in a time of 10:35.83.
Senior distance runner Justin Taylor (St. Augustine, Fla.) ran the third-fastest time in school history in the men's 5,000-meter run championship, clocking a 14:02.10 to place third. Taylor bested his previous personal-record time of 14:10.97, achieved at last season's Penn Relays.
The Florida women's 4x400-meter relay team finished 17th in a time of 3:41.22 and will advance to the women's college section finals to be contested Saturday at 5:35 p.m. ET. The quartet consisted of Alishea Usery (St. Louis, Mo.), Ugonna Ndu (Newark, N.J.), Ije Iheoma (Holland, Pa.) and Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Fla.).
The second day of the 116th Penn Relays Carnival begins at 9 a.m. ET Friday at Franklin Field. Complete results and a recap will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
117TH PENN RELAYS CARNIVAL (APRIL 22-24, 2010 – PHILADELPHIA, PA.)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Women's Long Jump Championship – 12 p.m. ET
1. Shara Proctor – 6.46m/21-2.50
Women's Shot Put Championship – 1 p.m. ET
1. Mariam Kevkhishvili – 18.17m/59-7.50
6. Keely Medeiros – 15.72m/51-7
Women's 4x100m Relay Prelims – 1 p.m. ET
32. Florida (M. McNary, Al. Usery, A. Bryant, L. Smith) - 46.59
Women's Shot Put College – 2:15 p.m. ET
2. Fidela James – 15.22m/49-11.25
Women's 4x400m Relay Prelims – 6:05 p.m. ET
17. Florida (Al. Usery, U. Ndu, I. Iheoma, L. Whittaker) – 3:41.22
Women's Steeplechase Championship – 8 p.m. ET
3. Julie Northrup – 10:25.79
6. Genevieve LaCaze – 10:35.83
Women's 5,000m Championship – 8:40 p.m. ET
14. Stacey Johnson – 16:44.02
Men's 5,000m Championship – 9:20 p.m. ET
3. Justin Taylor – 14:02.10
12. Jeremy Criscione – 14:16.82
23. Josh Izewski – 14:32.74
Men's 10,000m Championship – 10:55 p.m. ET
14. James Uthmeier – 30:29.39
END OF REPORT
