Florida Gators
Snowbird Invitational
T&F Qualifies Quartet For NCAA East Regional On Day One Of Snowbird Invitational
Saturday, March 22, 2008 | Track and Field
The University of Florida track & field team kicked off the outdoor season in style at the Snowbird Invitational on Friday, as the UF women collected five event wins and four NCAA regional-qualifying marks to lead the way at the Mike Long Track & Field complex on the campus of Florida State University. The Gators also made a dent on the school record books on Friday, as three athletes either moved onto the school's top-10 list or improved their standing over the course of the day.
“The most important part of the outdoor season is to get people qualified for regionals, and getting that out of the way for a group of our athletes today is a great start,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “It was also encouraging to see some of our other athletes come close to regional marks this early in the season. Overall, I think it was a solid day and a good start to the outdoor season.”
With her winning mark of 57.66m/189-2 in the women's hammer throw, senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) earned an NCAA regionals berth for the second year in a row. A 2008 indoor All-American in the weight throw, she moved into 10th place on Florida's all-time hammer throw chart with the career-best performance, while collecting the fourth event victory of her senior year. Fellow senior Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) added a third-place finish with a top mark of 51.29m/168-3 to open the outdoor campaign.
Sophomore Star Sansone (Boca Raton, Fla.) was also an event winner on Friday, taking top honors in the women's javelin with a heave of 42.95m/140-11 to outdistance the meet's runner-up by more than a meter. The effort marked the first victory of Sansone's career, and left her just 50 centimeters short of a bid to the NCAA East Regional. Senior Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) continued Florida's winning ways in the women's 3,000m, taking first with a time of 9:53.75 to collect the second individual-event victory of her career.
The Gator women were dominant in the 5,000m as the meet wound down on Friday evening, capturing three of the top four spots overall and the top three collegiate placings, with each member of the trio posting an NCAA regional-qualifying time. Freshman Rebecca Lowe (Vancluse, Australia) earned the initial victory of her collegiate career and moved into fifth place on UF's all-time list with a time of 16:19.97, while senior Lindsay Sundell (Ft. Salonga, N.Y.) finished third in 16:40.85 and junior Jacy Kruzel (Cooper City, Fla.) crossed the line fourth with a time of 16:42.99 that was a personal best by more than eight seconds and moved her ahead of Becki Wells into seventh in school history.
Senior Kia Raf (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led a pair of Gators in the top five of the women's long jump, kicking off the season with a mark of 5.64m/18-6 to finish third overall and first among collegians. She was joined in the top five by freshman Kayla Griffin (Orlando, Fla.), who posted a fifth-place mark of 5.63m/18-5.75, which was the second-best mark by a collegiate athlete.
A week after earning indoor All-America honors in the shot put, junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) was the catalyst of a 2-3 finish by the Gators in the men's discus, missing an NCAA regional mark by just four centimeters with a toss of 51.66m/169-6 en route to a second-place finish. Classmate Scott Clayman (Jacksonville, Fla.) wasn't far behind in third place, registering a mark of 50.03m/164-2, while senior Joe Taylor (West Palm Beach, Fla.) recorded a third-place finish of his own in the 400m hurdles with a time of 54.19.
“This meet is a great way for some of our athletes who didn't qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships to get their feet wet outdoors, and we'll go out tomorrow and try to get some more regional-qualifying marks,” Holloway said. “We were a little hit or miss in some spots today, so we'll look for consistency over the course of the day.”
The action in Tallahassee will resume on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET with the men's hammer throw. Live results will be available via www.GatorZone.com.
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