Women?s Sprinters Have Big Day to Close Spec Towns Invite

Saturday, April 8

Athens, GA

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

Spec Towns Invitational

Women?s Sprinters Have Big Day to Close Spec Towns Invite

Saturday, April 8, 2006 | Women's Track and Field

Senior All-American Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica) and junior Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) both turned in top-five finishes with NCAA East Regional qualifying times in the 400m at the second and final day of competition of the Spec Towns Team Invitational. As a whole, the University of Florida women's track and field team collected six regional qualifying standards on the afternoon at the Spec Towns Track.

In addition to the 400m duo, senior Dara Altman (Tampa, Fla.) notched her second-straight regional qualifying height in the pole vault, and freshman Shannon Leinert (Wildwood, Mo.) finished the 800m race under the NCAA East Region standard time of 2:09.80. Palmer teamed up with sophomore All-Americans Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.), Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) and Kia Raf (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) to earn UF's first East Regional qualifying time in the 4x100m on the season. The NCAA runner-up in the discus last year, senior All-American Rachel Longfors (Erhard, Minn.) picked up the team's final regional standard of the afternoon in the discus to push the squad total to six.

“We had a pretty good meet today. The weather was horrible with pouring rain the first hour and a half before it turned cold,” UF women's head coach Tom Jones said. “We had a qualifying mark in the 4x100m and the 400m runners ran well in the conditions. We got two wins in the steeple and the 5,000m. At the same time, we had a couple of tweaked hamstrings so I had a couple of athletes pulled out of events because we didn't want to hinder the rest of their seasons.”

Palmer's time of 54.24, good enough for second in her heat, is a personal-best outdoor mark for the Jamaican native. After narrowly missing the qualifying time in the event a week ago, McLeggan notched the first NCAA East Regional qualifying time of her Florida career after breaking the tape at the 54.49 mark.

Altman cleared the bar at 3.95m/12-11.50 en route to tying for first on the afternoon in the pole vault. Her mark also tied for the 11^th best in the nation this season. Leinert crossed the finish line in 2:09.06 for her first outdoor NCAA East Regional qualifying time in the 800m. Overall, Leinert placed fifth in the field.

“Dara Altman looked very good in the pole vault,” Jones added. “Shannon Leinert was in a very fast race in the 800m and she was able to get the regional mark. It was probably the highest quality and fastest race of the day.”

Ealey, Palmer, Raf and Knight ran together for the first time since the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the group did not seem to skip a beat as Knight capped the 4x100m relay by crossing the finish line at the 45.20 mark. The quartet finished second in the field and earned an NCAA East Regional qualifying time in the process.

“Lakecia ran a great leadoff leg,” Jones explained. “I thought these athletes ran extremely well for the conditions. They turned in a very good time.”

In meet's final event, Longfors, who owns the school record in the discus at 188-7, grabbed her second-straight regional qualifying mark with a throw of 56.09m/184-0. It marks the fourth time in her illustrious career that she has surpassed the 180-0 mark in the event.

Freshman Sara Petrick (Apollo Beach, Fla.) turned in a UF seasonal-best clocking in the 5,000m with a first-place time of 17:49.25 – the first victory of her career. Meanwhile, classmate Kathryn Kramer (Tampa, Fla.) had the Gators' second individual victory of the afternoon after placing first in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 11:06.01.

“Overall, we upped our numbers for the regional championships, so that's always the sign of a good meet,” Jones added. “We have to get ready for El Paso and the Mt. SAC Relays where we will look to improve on those regional numbers even more.”

The team splits up next weekend as it travels to two separate events. Members of the squad will compete in El Paso, Texas, at the UTEP Invitational and the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. Both meets are two-day affairs beginning Friday, April 14.

- UF -