COLLEGE STATION, Texas. – The Florida women’s distance medley relay team had its fastest time since 2002 and sophomore athlete Gray Horn put himself in contention for the heptathlon title Friday on the opening day of the Texas A&M Challenge at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. The meet continues today with a full schedule of events for the nine Big 12, Pacific-10 and SEC conference teams.
Horn used a personal-record mark in the high jump to cap a successful first day of the heptathlon event, totaling a score of 3,084 – his best first-day score in a collegiate regular-season competition, bettering his score of 3,050 at the SEC/Big 12 Showdown last January in College Station, Texas. He is 361 points out of the heptathlon lead heading into the final three events Saturday.
Horn matched his personal-record time of 7.06 to finish third in the 60-meter dash before following that up with a second-place finish in the long jump (23 feet, ¾ inches). Horn placed fifth in the shot put before recording a personal best in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 7 inches.
The women’s distance medley relay turned in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 11:19.67 to place fourth in the event. The quartet of Stacey Johnson, Lanie Whittaker, Charlotte Browning and Kaitlin Shiver clocked the eighth-fastest time in that event in school history and the school’s best since 2002.