Florida travels to Texas & Raleigh Relays

Anthony Foster
By Anthony Foster 8 Min Read
Florida track and field teams will flip the switch to the outdoor season this weekend as athletes head to both the Texas and Raleigh Relays.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Following a successful indoor season, the Florida track and field teams will flip the switch to the outdoor season this weekend as athletes head to both the Texas and Raleigh Relays.

Florida will send its distance runners to NC State for the Raleigh Relays while the jumps, hurdles, sprints and relay teams head to Austin for the Texas Relays.

This weekend will be the first taste of outdoor competition for the Gators this year. With Pepsi Florida Relays coming up next weekend, Florida’s relay teams will take center stage featuring a number of individuals that ran at the NCAA Indoor Championships two weeks ago.

Florida will field entries in the 400-meter hurdles, Discus and 4×100 relay, three events that are outdoor specific.

Women:

The Florida women’s team is coming off a dominant indoor season which culminated in the NCAA Indoor Championship just two weeks ago in Birmingham.

Florida will only get stronger as the calendar switches to the outdoor season with the addition of a number of new events.

The NCAA Indoor Champion in the Long Jump and Triple Jump, Jasmine Moore, will make her debut outdoors for the Gators as she joins Claire Bryant in the Long Jump competition.

Natricia Hooper, the NCAA and SEC Indoor Runner-Up, will compete in the Triple Jump for the Gators while Thea Jensen will enter the Shot Put.

For the first time as a Gator, Vanessa Watson will run her primary event, the 400-meter hurdles. The Rochester, NY native was an NCAA Outdoor Qualifier last year while at Tennessee.

Anna Hall, Sterling Lester and Asia Smith will all compete in the heptathlon throughout the first two days of the meet. The trio competed in the pentathlon during the indoor season but will add the javelin and 200 meters in the outdoor campaign.

Hall won the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championship in the Pentathlon while Lester was a Second Team All-American.

The rest of Florida’s entries will be in the relays. Talitha Diggs, Semira Killebrew, Alexis Brown and Grace Stark are expected to make up the 4×100 team in the season debut.

Head Coach Mike Holloway will pick from a pool of Diggs, Taylor Manson, Doneisha Anderson, Caitlan Tate, Lester and Hall to run the 4×400 relay to close out the meet. 

Men:

The Florida men’s team comes off a 2nd place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships and is beginning to get healthy as the calendar turns over to the outdoor season.

Collin Sieffert and Miles Green will make their Florida debuts in the 400-meter hurdles, their main event, on Thursday afternoon.

After narrowly missing out on a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Kurt Powdar (110mH) and PJ Austin (100m) make their return to the track in a loaded field of sprints at the Texas Relays.

Caleb Foster will have double duty in both the 110-meter hurdles and the Long Jump.

Malcolm Clemons will make his Florida outdoor debut in the Long Jump. The Oakland, Calif. native has competed in two indoor seasons for the Gators but didn’t make any appearances outdoors in 2021.

Edward Shelikoff (Discus), Zach Godbold (Javelin) and Jonathan Miller (Triple Jump) round out Florida’s individual entries this weekend.

Florida will run entries in the 4×100, 4×200 and the 4×400 relays this weekend. Only the 4×100 and 4×400 are official events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The Gators ran the fastest 4×400 time of the season during the indoor campaign (3:02.09 at the Bob Pollock Meet) but were unable to field a full-strength squad at the NCAA Indoor Championships following an injury to Champion Allison in the 400 meters.

Relay Participants (the four selections will be made at the meet):

4×100: Patterson, P. Austin, Vanover, Fahnbulleh, T. Davis, Willie

4×200: Vanover, Patterson, Willie, Fahnbulleh, T. Davis

4×400: Patterson, Willie, Miley, Allison, Fahnbulleh, Brodie

Raleigh Relays:

The Gators will send 16 entries to the Raleigh Relays to make up four different distance events.

Both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000 meters will be added to the selection of events during the outdoor season. 

Texas Relays (all times Central)

 

Wednesday, March 23rd (all times CST)

Time

Gators: Event

10:00 a.m.

Women’s 60mH (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

Approx. 11:30

Women’s High Jump (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

Approx. 1:30

Women’s Shot Put (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

Approx. 3:00

Women’s 200 Meters (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

 

Thursday, March 24th (all times CST)

Time

Gators: Event

10:30 a.m.

Women’s Long Jump (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

Approx. 12:00

Women’s Javelin (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

Approx. 2:00

Women’s 800 Meters (Pentathlon): Anna Hall, Sterling Lester, Asia Smith

2:15 p.m.

Men’s Javelin (Section B): Zach Godbold

4:30 p.m.

Women’s 400 Hurdles: Vanessa Watson

5:00 p.m.

Men’s 400 Hurdles: Collin Sieffert, Miles Green

 

Friday, March 25th (all times CST)

Time

Gators: Event

9:00 a.m.

Men’s Discus (Section B): Edward Shelikoff

9:35 a.m.

Women’s 4×100 (Prelims): Florida “A”

9:35 a.m.

Men’s 4×100 (Prelims): Florida “A”

9:35 a.m.

Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles (Prelims): Caleb Foster, Kurt Powdar

9:35 a.m.

Men’s 100 Meters (Prelims): PJ Austin

3:00 p.m.

Men’s Triple Jump (Section A): Jonathan Miller

3:00 p.m.

Women’s Triple Jump (Section A): Natricia Hooper

5:35 p.m.

Women’s 400 Hurdles (Final): Vanessa Watson

5:40 p.m.

Men’s 400 Hurdles (Final): Collin Sieffert, Miles Green

  

Saturday, March 26th (all times CST)

Time

Gators – Event

12:00 p.m.

Men’s 4×200 (Invite): Florida “A”

1:30 p.m.

Men’s 4×100 (Final): Florida “A”

1:30 p.m.

Women’s 4×100 (Final): Florida “A”

2:10 p.m.

Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles (Final): Caleb Foster, Kurt Powdar

2:55 p.m.

Men’s 100 Meters (Final): PJ Austin

3:00 p.m.

Women’s Long Jump (Section A): Claire Bryant, Jasmine Moore

3:00 p.m.

Men’s Long Jump (Section A): Malcolm Clemons, Caleb Foster

4:00 p.m.

Women’s Shot Put (Section A): Thea Jensen

4:05 p.m.

Men’s 4×400 (Final): Florida “A”

4:05 p.m.

Women’s 4×400 (Final): Florida “A”

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