Senior
sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) claimed the men’s 100 meters
university crown at the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on a breezy
Saturday afternoon. The fourth and final day of competition at Mike A. Myers
Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas, Austin proved to be a windy
one, with nearly every race marked as wind-aided.
“With
Jeff, we’re seeing the results of his early training,” Florida head coach Mike
Holloway said. “I think we’d both say that this wasn’t his most technical
race. We’re pleased that he won in such a great field but we’re looking forward
to his growth throughout the season.”
Demps
ran the third-fastest all-conditions time of his career, racing to a
first-place finish with a performance of 10.01 (+2.9). Demps has twice turned
in 9.96 wind-aided performances in his Gator tenure and his 10.01 is the
fastest all-conditions time in the nation this season.
His win
marked the fourth Gator victory at the Texas Relays, as senior jumper Daniela
Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.), junior thrower Jeremy Postin (Auburndale, Fla.) and sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia) took home titles
in the “B” section of the women’s long jump, the “A” section of the men’s
hammer throw and the “A” section of the men’s javelin throw, respectively.
Another
impressive performance for the Gators was junior thrower Kaitlin Davis (Niceville,
Fla.), who finished second in the “B” section of the women’s discus, throwing
the furthest of any Florida female in the discus this weekend with a toss of
49.26m/161-7.
“Kaitlin
is a very steady athlete,” Holloway said. “She listens well to Coach (Steve)
Lemke and she did incredibly well this weekend.”
Senior
thrower Keely Medeiros (Blumenau-SC, Brazil) matched her season’s best
shot put performance with a throw of 16.52m/54-2.50 in the “A” section of the
women’s shot put. Teammate Fidela James (Jacksonville, Fla.) threw a
season-best 14.73m/48-4 in the event, finishing 11th.
Florida’s
relay squads also put forth solid performances on Saturday. Florida’s men’s
4x400 meter relay, comprised of Hugh Graham, Jr. (Miami, Fla.), Dedric
Dukes (Miami, Fla.), Leonardo Seymore (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and
Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.), finished third overall with a time of
3:05.22, with less than a second separating the top three teams (LSU – 3:04.54;
Baylor – 3:04.67).
The
women’s 4x400 meter relay, featuring Ebony Eutsey (Miami, Fla.), Alishea
Usery (St. Louis, Mo.), Ugonna Ndu (Newark, N.J.) and Lanie
Whittaker (Miami, Fla.), placed fourth in 3:33.13, improving on their preliminary
time by over two seconds (3:35.41).
The
Gators’ men’s 4x100 meter relay, composed by Demps, Graham, Jr., Seymore and
Dukes, finished fifth overall with a time of 39.26.
“I think
all of our performances, including our relays and throws, show we’re training
hard,” Holloway said. “We’ve learned a lot being here. I said yesterday that we
came here to be a factor and I think we were. We competed against the better
teams and better athletes in the nation and I think we got better. Now we’re
ready to focus on Florida Relays and the rest of our outdoor season.”
