Many of track and field’s outstanding collegiate and high school athletes will be on hand Friday and Saturday for the 66th Pepsi Florida Relays on the Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Gates open at 9 a.m. each day with action beginning at 10 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
“This has always been kind of the premier relay meet of the south,” said Florida coach Mike Holloway, who was recently named the men’s indoor coach of the year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. “We really feel it’s a privilege to be able to put on this meet. We’ve got one of the best fields we’ve had come in here in a long time. A lot of great post-collegians will be coming, plus all of the Gators will be competing this weekend. With us being the hosts, obviously we want to put on a good show for our home fans and we’ve got the kind of team where we can be competitive in a lot of areas.”
The Gators enter the meet after a very successful indoor season. The men captured the NCAA Indoor Championship while the women finished fourth. That’s where both teams are ranked in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association polls.
The Gators competed in the UCF Invitational last weekend and won 13 events. Redshirt freshman Jeremy Postin set a Florida record in the hammer throw (196 feet, 6 inches) and freshman TonyMcQuay won the 100, 200 and ran a leg on Florida’s 4×400-meter relay.
Senior Marian Kevkhishvili hopes to break Florida’s outdoor record in the shot put. Kevkhishvili recently won her third straight NCAA indoor shot put title and she is the defending NCAA outdoor champion.
Kevkhishvili also is one of four Gators under consideration for track and field’s highest individual honor, The Bowerman. The others are distance runner Charlotte Browning, jumper Shara Proctor and men’s jumper Christian Taylor.
In addition to Kevkhishvili, Browning (mile), Taylor (triple jump) and Jeff Demps (60 meters) won individual titles at the indoor championships. Browning leads a distance contingent that scored 47 of the 110 points the women’s team totaled in winning the SEC Indoor Championship title in February.
Sophomore distance runner Genevieve LaCaze, the defending SEC outdoor champion in the women’s steeplechase with a personal-record time of 10:26.92, holds the Florida Relays record in the women’s steeplechase, 10:30.79, which she ran last season.
Joining Florida in the field will be teams from Alabama, Bethune-Cookman, Buffalo, Clemson, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and UCF.
66th PEPSI FLORIDA RELAYS
When: Friday (10 a.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m.).
Where: Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Admission: $8 adults, $5 students and seniors.
Friday schedule: 10 a.m.: High school long jump, pole vault, discus, shot put and high jump; 11:45 a.m.: High school girls 100 hurdles; 12:05 p.m.: College women 100 hurdles; 12:25 p.m.: High school boys 110 hurdles; 12:45 p.m.: College men 110 hurdles; 1:05 p.m.: College women 400 meters; 1:25 p.m.: College men 400 meters; 1:45 p.m.: High school girls 100 meters; 2 p.m.: College men long jump; 2:05 p.m.: High school boys 100 meters; 2:25 p.m.: College women 100 meters; 2:40 p.m.: College men 100 meters; 2:55 p.m.: College women 800 meters; 3 p.m.: College women pole vault; 3:20 p.m.: College men 800 meters; 3:45 p.m. College women 400 hurdles; 4 p.m.: College women discus, college men hammer throw; 4:05 p.m.: College men 400 hurdles; 4:25 p.m.: Invitation women 200; 4:35 p.m.: Invitation men 200; 4:45 p.m.: High school girls 4×200 relay; 5 p.m.: College women high jump; 5:10 p.m.: High school boys 4×200 relay; 6 p.m.: College women long jump, college men discus, college women hammer; 6:30 p.m. Distance Carnival (high school girls and boys 800; high school girls and boys 1,600; high school girls and boys 3,200; college women and men steeplechase; college women and men 1,500 meters; college women and men 5,000 meters.
Saturday schedule: 9 a.m.: High school girls 4×1,600 relay; 9:30 a.m.: High school boys 4×1,600 relay; 10 a.m.: High school girls and boys triple jump, high school girls pole vault, high school boys discus, high school girls shot put, high school boys high jump.; 11:30 a.m.: College men javelin; 12 p.m.: College women sprint medley relay (200-200-400-800); 12:15 p.m.: College men sprint medley relay (200-200-400-800); 12:30 p.m.: College women shuttle hurdle relay; 12:45 p.m.: College men shuttle hurdle relay; 1 p.m.: College men pole vault; high school girls 4×800 relay; 1:30 p.m.: College women javelin, college men triple jump; 1:40 p.m.: High school boys 4×800 relay; 2:20 p.m.: College women 4×100 relay; 2:45 p.m.: College men 4×100 relay; 3:10 p.m.: High school girls 4×100 relay; 3:25 p.m.: High school boys 4×100 relay; 3:30 p.m.: College men shot put; 3:40 p.m.: College women 4×800 relay; 3:55 p.m.: College men 4×800 relay; 4 p.m.: College men high jump, college women triple jump; 4:10 p.m.: College women 4×200 relay; 4:30 p.m.: College men 4×200 relay; 4:40: College women distance medley relay (1,200-400-800-1,600); 5:10 p.m.: College men distance medley relay (1,200-400-800-1,600); 5:30 p.m.: High school girls 4×400 relay; 5:45 p.m.: College women shot put; 6:05 p.m.: High school boys 4×400 relay; 6:40 p.m.: College women 4×400 relay; 7:05 p.m.: College men 4×400 relay.