Barnett’s Huge PR, Bates’ NCAA Lead Cap Gators’ Strong Showing

Saturday, January 27

Fayetteville, AR

2 PM

Florida Gators

Razorback Invitational

Barnett took third in a race that featured the three fastest times in the nation.

Barnett’s Huge PR, Bates’ NCAA Lead Cap Gators’ Strong Showing

Saturday, January 27, 2018 | Track and Field

Sharrika Barnett became the third-fastest quarter-miler in school history and ran the nation's third-fastest time Saturday

By: Zach Dirlam

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Florida posted eight times and marks that rank in the top 15 nationally—including an NCAA lead and another pair of top-fives—to close the Razorback Invitational on a strong note Saturday afternoon.

Senior horizontal jumper KeAndre Bates seized the national lead in the triple jump, winning with a top mark of 16.48 meters (54 feet, 1 inch). Sophomore Clayton Brown finished fourth in the same competition, posting the ninth-ranked mark in the nation and a 23-centimeter season best (15.95 meters / 52 feet, 4 inches).

Here's @ijump_524 throwing down that @NCAATrackField lead!

16.48 meters / 54 feet, 1 inch ???? pic.twitter.com/n8x6MJ0AGc
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) January 27, 2018

Junior Sharrika Barnett, who logged the No. 3 time on the Gators' All-Time Indoor Top 10, led Florida's quarter-milers. Barnett crossed in 51.64 seconds, finishing third in a 400 meters race that featured the three fastest times in the nation this season. Her previous personal record of 52.07 seconds ranked fifth on the program's All-Time Indoor Top 10 list.

In the heat prior to Barnett's, freshman Taylor Manson won in 53.20 seconds, giving her the sixth-fastest time in the nation and nearly a full-second personal record.

Another freshman? OKAY!@TaylorManson4 decimates her PR and runs 53.20--which is No. 6? in ????!

Tune in to SEC Network ??: https://t.co/DVkzZwCtBz pic.twitter.com/Zb7sBgxwrT
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) January 27, 2018

Also in the 400, freshman Benjamin Lobo Vedel nabbed his third Danish record and clocked the fourth-fastest time in the nation (46.14). Junior Kunle Fasasi ran the second heat, finishing in 46.24 seconds for the sixth-fastest time in the country.

Other notable performances included junior Yanis David's victory in the triple jump, which also featured a season best and the 11th-ranked mark nationally from senior Darrielle McQueen. Moreover, redshirt sophomore Jack Guyton ran the country's No. 15-ranked mile time, and freshman Cory Poole set a personal record in the hurdles to move into a tie for 16th nationally.

Florida will be back in action next Friday at the Bayou Bengal Classic in Baton Rouge, La. The Gators' throwers are the only group scheduled to travel to the meet.

Note: the top 16 student-athletes on the final national indoor descending order list (i.e. – following the nation's last conference championship meets) qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

HEARING OUT (COACH) HOLLOWAY
Head coach Mike Holloway on KeAndre Bates' national lead and the men's triple jump competition…
"KeAndre's been struggling a little bit with his approach, and he started to figure it out today after the first round. He actually had a couple big jumps he fell out of. Very pleased with his performance today. Also very pleased with Clayton and the fact he's just getting a little bit better and a little bit better. When we get to four weeks from now and he needs to be at his best, he'll be fine."

Holloway on the quarter-milers' performances Saturday…
"We think we can do pretty well in the 400 around here; we've got a good history there. All I talked to them about was just getting better. Very proud of Benjamin for his new Danish record. Equally as proud, if not more so, of Sharrika Barnett. The best is yet to come for her. She's just getting better and better. She felt like she left something out there. She didn't necessarily say she could have or would have won the race, she just felt like she could have run faster. I appreciate that. We both agreed the time to be at our best is four weeks from now, so we have to keep building towards that."

Holloway on the Gators' notable performances Saturday…
"I was very proud of the distance group as a whole today. We're going through a transition, different program, different training philosophy. They're starting to embrace it, starting to come around. Particularly proud and very happy for the 800 meters group. Justin Pacifico with another personal best, almost a second-and-a-half PR for Kyren Holls. Thought Ryan Clark had a great overall weekend. Michael Timpson (Jr.) had a great semifinal and just had a bit of a mishap in the final. But I'm the sprint coach here, I'm not going to blame him. I've got to step up and help him figure out what's going on in the final. Also want to say great job by Cory Poole. We made an adjustment to his hurdle pattern two days ago in practice, and he came out and PRed today."

Holloway on the weekend as a whole, and his assessment of where the team is a month into the season…
"Overall, when you look at the performances this weekend, we did what we came here to do: get better. We definitely did. We're where we need to be. Pleased, but not satisfied. Obviously there are places we could be a little bit better, but if I were to give us a grade, we are a B-plus or so right now. But we've got to keep building, keep grinding and not rest on anything we did here this weekend. We've got great momentum. If we don't keep our foot on the pedal, we're going to find ourselves in big trouble."

RAZORBACK INVITATIONAL MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)

Results (Flash Results)
Day One Recap
Venue: Randal Tyson Track Center (University of Arkansas)
Nationally-Ranked Teams Competing: Arkansas (No. 2 women; No. 7 men), Florida State (No. 23 men), Georgia (No. 2 men; No. 3 women), Iowa State (No. 22 women), Kansas State (No. 24 women), LSU (No. 9 women), Ole Miss (No. 10 women), Southern California (No. 4 women; No. 13 men), Texas A&M (No. 3 men; No. 7 women)

*Saturday, January 27 (unless denoted by , all events are finals; ^ - denotes invitational)**
Event	Place, Gator – Time / Mark \| Notes
60m (M)	6. Michael Timpson Jr. – 6.79
60m (M)*	2. Timpson Jr. – 6.72
400m (M) ^	2. Benjamin Lobo Vedel – 46.14 \| No. 4-ranked time in Division I; Danish indoor record
	3. Kunle Fasasi – 46.24 \| No. 6-ranked time in Division I
400m (M)	4. Chantz Sawyers – 47.32 \| First collegiate 400m race
	10. Ryan Clark – 48.18 \| Topped personal record by 0.14 seconds
	20. Jabari Hill – 48.83
	22. Cole Johnson – 49.01
400m (W) ^	3. Sharrika Barnett – 51.64 \| No. 3-ranked time in Division I; No. 3-ranked time on UF's All-Time Indoor Top 10; topped personal record by 0.43 seconds
	5. Taylor Manson – 53.20 \| No. 6-ranked time in Division I; topped personal record by 0.97 seconds
400m (W)	6. Lauryn Ghee – 55.80 \| First collegiate 400m race
800m (M)	2. Justin Pacifico – 1:50.21 \| Topped personal record by 0.16 seconds
	4. Kyren Hollis – 1:50.76 \| Topped personal record by 1.13 seconds; topped indoor personal record by 1.56 seconds
800m (W)	20. Abbie Harrelson – 2:15.70 \| First collegiate 800m race
Mile (M) ^	2. Jack Guyton – 4:04.50 \| No. 15-ranked time in Division I
	10. Jack Beitter – 4:09.52
Mile (M)	9. Marshall Dillon – 4:10.54 \| Topped personal record by 5.04 seconds
	11. Sam Ahrenholz – 4:11.03
	16. Jack Rogers – 4:14.36 \| Topped personal record by 6.97 seconds
Mile (W) ^	10. Elisabeth Bergh – 5:01.57
Mile (W)	3. Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell – 4:58.19 \| Second-fastest time of career
	5. Lauren Perry – 4:59.52
3,000m (M)	2. Magnus Pettersen – 8:19.99 \| Topped personal record by 10.93 seconds
3,000m (W)	8. Morgan Hull – 10:11.60 \| First collegiate 3,000 meters race
60mH (M)	3. Cory Poole – 7.84 \| Tied No. 16-ranked time in Division I; topped season best by 0.02 seconds
60mH (M)*	3. Poole – 7.88 \| Advanced to final (automatic)
60mH (W)*	15. Nikki Stephens – 8.64
	17. Timetria Mitchell – 8.71
	20. Amanda Froeynes – 9.10
4x400 (M) ^	5. Hill-Clark-Poole-Johnson – 3:09.48
4x400 (M)	2. Chambers-Timpson Jr.-Hollis-Pacifico – 3:13.95
4x400 (W) ^	5. Stephens-Brandee' Johnson-Ghee-Destiny Ward – 3:36.66
TJ (M)	1. KeAndre Bates – 16.48 meters (54-1) \| Division I-leading mark
	4. Clayton Brown – 15.95 meters (52-4) \| No. 9-ranked mark in Division I; topped season best by 23 centimeters
TJ (W)	1. Yanis David – 13.48 meters (44-2.75)
	3. Darrielle McQueen – 13.03 meters (42-9) \| No. 11-ranked mark in Division I; topped season best by one centimeter