Florida Gators
Gator Invitational
T&F Makes Mark on Record Book at Gator Invite
Monday, February 10, 2003 | Track and Field
In a precursor to the Southeastern Conference Championships, the University of Florida men's and women's track teams blazed through their final home competition before hosting the SEC meet, rewriting the school's top-ten list in the process. Eight Gators either broke into or improved their top ten marks.
"We told the guys coming in that we wanted to do was come in here and compete hard," said UF Men's Head Coach Mike Holloway. "We're still in some pretty heavy training, so we weren't going to go lights out, but if you look across the board, we had great effort from everybody."
Junior Joe Squittieri won his first event of the year, clearing 7-3.00 in the high jump, which was good enough for third in UF's history, missing the meet record by half an inch. Squittieri's mark was also a personal record, clearing his old PR by six inches. Cory Presnick also recorded a victory in the 5,000m race in a personal-best time of 14:48.05. The Gators also added provisional qualifying times in the 55m hurdles with Chris Carswell (7.29) and Rickey Harris (7.32), the shot put with Jeff Rubenstein's mark of 59-6.75 and in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:11.26.
Carswell's time of 7.29 in the 55m hurdles places him in a tie for seventh in UF's all-time history, while Stephen Zieminski's time of 8:09.70 is good for sixth place all time in Gator history and was just shy of an NCAA provisional time. Rubenstein's provisional mark of 59-6.75 in the shot put places him sixth in school history, while Alex Harris is eighth with his long jump of 24-7.25.
The story of 2003 so far on the women's side has been the tremendous success of the throws group, and that proved to be true again Sunday. Jukina Dickerson claimed her second victory of the season in the weight throw with a mark of 67-5.25, which is an automatic qualifying mark, while Erin Gilreath finished second in the weight throw with her automatic qualifying mark of 66-03.25.
"The throwers did an awesome job with miserable conditions out there," said UF women's head coach Tom Jones, "but they got the job done, which is not unusual for them."
In addition to Dickerson and Gilreath, three other Gators finished in the top five in the weight throw, as Merilyn Brown (62-1.25), Dore DeBartolo (61-8.50) and Rachel Longfors (61-3.00) rounded out the first five places. DeBartolo's mark moves her into eight all-time in the weight throw, while Longfors improved upon her ninth-place standard. Karen Freberg notched a win in the shot put with a provisional qualifying mark of 53-5.00, while Barrett finished third with a provisional mark of 51-5.75 and DeBartolo placed fifth with a provisional throw of 50-6.25.
Not to be outdone by the throws, Ana Salzano also added a provisional mark in the pole vault, clearing 12-9.50. Yolanda Thompson also provisionally qualified, with her mark of 42-1.25 in the triple jump. Niki Benjamin finished tied for sixth in the 55m dash preliminaries with a provisional time of 6.94, but did not compete in the finals. Kristina Bratton's time of 2:08.90 was also a provisional mark. Krystle Moss cleared 5-10.00 in the high jump, moving into fourth place all time in that event.
The Gators continue the indoor season with their first look at the site of the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships. UF travel to Fayetteville, Ark., next weekend for the Tyson Invitational beginning Friday.
UF WINS (3)
Men (1): Cory Presnick - 5,000m (14:48.05); Joe Squittieri - high jump (2.21m/7-3.00)
Women (2): Jukina Dickerson - weight throw (20.55m/67-5.25)
UF AUTO QUALIFIERS (2)
Women (2): Jukina Dickerson - weight throw (20.55m/67-5.25); Erin Gilreath - weight throw (20.20m/66-3.25)
UF PROVISIONAL QUALIFIERS (13)
Men (5): Joe Squittieri - high jump (2.21m/7-3.00); Chris Carswell - 55m hurdles (7.29); Rickey Harris - 55m hurdles (7.32p); Jeff Rubenstein – shot put (18.15m/59-6.75); 4x400m relay (3:11.26)
Women (11): Niki Benjamin - 55m dash (6.94p); Krystle Moss - high jump (1.78m/5-10.00); Merilyn Brown - weight throw (18.93m/62-1.25); Dore DeBartolo - weight throw (18.81m/61-8.50); Rachel Longfors - weight throw (18.67m/61-3.00); Kristina Bratton - 800m (2:08.90); Yolanda Thompson – triple jump (12.83m/42-1.25); Ana Salzano – pole vault (3.90m/12-9.50); Karen Freberg – shot put (16.28m/53-5.00); Kim Barrett – shot put (15.69m/51-5.75); Dore DeBartolo – shot put (15.40m/50-6.25)
