Florida Gators
SEC Outdoor Championships
Lechebo Takes 6th In 10K To Lead No. 2 Men's T&F At SECs
Saturday, May 14, 2005 | Men's Track and Field
Freshman Henok Lechebo (Toronto, Ontario) finished sixth in the 10,000m, while seniors Kyle Farmer (Columbia, Md.) and Dwight Ruff (Sicklerville, N.J.) and sophomore Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) each posted NCAA regional qualifying times and advanced to finals on the second day of competition at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships Friday evening at Vanderbilt Track.
Lechebo scored Florida's only points on the second day of action as the Gators are in seventh after two days with three points. Tennessee leads with 36 followed by Arkansas (26) and LSU (16). The bulk of Florida's squad has yet to compete.
"I thought we ran well and competed hard today," Florida men's coach Mike Holloway said. "Henok, Kyle, Kerron and Dwight all ran well and I was pleased. We thought we could sneak a few guys into the finals in the 800m, but other than that I thought we did well."
Lechebo entrenched himself solidly in seventh place at the midway point of the 10,000m. Trailing sixth by as much as 100m, Lechebo slowly caught up with Augustus Maiyo with 2,000m and followed until passing Maiyo with 75m remaining as the two sprinted the final 100m. Lechebo finished with a time of 30:28.45.
Clement recorded the fifth-fastest time in the country this season in advancing in the 400m hurdles, while Ruff also made Sunday's final in the same event. Farmer moved on in the 200m.
Clement and Ruff easily beat their field in the 400m hurdles heat as Clement clocked a regional and season-best time of 49.68 - the second-fastest time of the day. Ruff was right behind in the same heat and posted the fourth-best qualifying time with a mark of 50.59. Freshman Joe Taylor (West Palm Beach, Fla.) ran a regional time of 51.91 and missed advancing by 18 hundredths of a second.
Farmer advanced to Saturday's final in the 200m by clocking a season-best time of 20.77 to win his heat. His time was the eighth fastest of the day. Sophomore Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) barely missed out on advancing to finals after posting a career-best and regional time of 21.04.
The third day of competition, which lasts through Sunday, May 15, is slated to being at 1 p.m. (CST) with the men's discus. Live results of the meet can be found at www.vucommodores.com
Men's Team Scores
1. Tennessee 36; 2. Arkansas 26; 3. LSU 16; 4. Auburn 15; 5. Alabama 14; 6. Georgia 6; 7. Florida 3; 8. South Carolina 1
Advancing to finals (3):
200m: Kyle Farmer
400mH: Kerron Clement, Dwight Ruff
