Senior thrower Kemal Mesic (Sarajevo, Bosnia) set a new Florida record in
the shot put to highlight the start of the 2012 season at the Alabama
Invitational in Birmingham, Ala. on Saturday.
The five-time All-American and reigning SEC Indoor Champion
in the shot put bested his own previous school record of 19.53m/64-1 with a
throw of 19.95m/65-05.50, an NCAA automatic qualifying mark, a Birmingham Crossplex record and the longest throw of the day by nearly
three meters.
“I think today was a typical opening meet,” Florida head
coach Mike Holloway said. “We saw
some good performances, saw some need for improvement and then saw some really
great performances out of guys like Kemal and Gray
(Horn).”
Senior multi-event athlete Gray Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio) had a stellar outing in Birmingham,
leaping to a first place finish in the long jump with a career-best 7.66m/25-01.75,
a Birmingham Crossplex record and good for 10th
all-time in Florida history.
“I was really impressed with Gray,” Holloway said. “He had
one of his best performances in the hurdles and I can’t say enough about what
he did in the long jump.”
The women’s 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of Alishea Usery (St.
Louis, Mo), Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Fla.), Ugonna Ndu (Newark,
N.J.) and Ebony Eutsey
(Miami, Fla.) took home the third Birmingham Crossplex
record of the day for the Gators, racing to a first place finish with a time of
3:39.76.
Junior thrower Jeremy
Postin (Auburndale, Fla.) had a career outing on
Saturday, recording a personal best 20.15m/66-01.50 mark in the men’s weight
throw, tallying another Crossplex record and
improving his standing in the Florida record book at third all-time at UF.
The newcomers had their chance to shine as well on Saturday.
Freshman distance runner Tyler Cardillo (Punta Gorda, Fla.)
earned his first victory of the 2012 indoor season, taking the 800 meter title with a time of 1:51.50, finishing just ahead
of teammate John Mitchell (Plant
City, Fla.) and his time of 1:51.54.
Freshman jumper Ciarra Brewer (Union
City, Calif.) took a second place finish in the women’s triple jump in her
first collegiate meet, leaping to a 12.74m/41-09.75 mark on Saturday.
