ORLANDO – Florida’s Madison McNary and Natalie Moser each captured their respective events as the Gators had four NCAA regional-qualifying marks at the UCF Black and Gold Challenge as the outdoor track and field season opened Saturday.
The event was a low-key competition for four women’s teams from Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Texas and UCF.
“We had four regional qualifiers, a lot of PRs and it was kind of a good way to get the kinks out transitioning from indoors to outdoors,” Florida coach Mike Holloway said. “I think the big thing about today was that it was a relaxed setting and gave our women a good chance to compete and get the outdoor season off to a good start.”
Moser placed first in the women’s pole vault with a 13-1.50 effort. She led a group of five Gators who placed in the top six in the event, as sophomore Daisy Glasser was second at 12-3.50 and senior Alex Black was third at 11-11.75. Lauren Menke was fourth in the event and Claire Spurling was sixth.
McNary won the women’s 100 meters in a time of 11.81 seconds to notch her first collegiate victory. McNary also had a regional-qualifying time in the women’s 200 meters, finishing second in a personal-best time of 23.96.
Sophomore Keely Medeiros and freshman Fidela James each had NCAA regional-qualifying marks in the women’s shot put. Medeiros placed second in the event with a toss of 50-11.50, while James was third with a 48-2.50 effort. James also was second in the hammer throw with a toss of 145-9, and Medeiros was fourth in the discus with a throw of 138-1.
Freshman Ije Iheoma, competing in her first collegiate outdoor meet, was second in the women’s 400 meters in a time of 55.33 and also participated on the 4×100-meter relay (with McNary, Danielle Williams and Daniela Griffin) that finished in a time of 45.82. Freshman Paige Morton was second in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:01.09.
Florida returns to action next weekend at the Florida State Relays.