Senior
jumper Daniela Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia) turned in
victories on Friday as the Gators completed the third day of the 85th Annual
Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, hosted by the University of Texas.
Griffin
earned her first career victory on Friday, leaping to a personal-best
6.25m/20-6.25 in section B of the women’s long jump. Teammate Lorraine
Graham (Springdale, Md.) finished ninth in the event, tallying a 5.69m/18-8
mark.
“For
Daniela, she had a great meet today,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said.
“Her training has been going really well and I think this bodes well for her as
we continue outdoors.”
Zunic,
who is coming off a javelin win at the UCF Invitational last weekend, threw a
career-best 77.89m/255-6 to dethrone two-time defending Texas Relays champion
Sam Humphreys from Texas A&M.
“For Stipe, I think it’s less about the victory and more about
the PR,” Holloway said. “We’re all really pleased with his effort and look
forward to seeing that continue.”
Freshman
Ciarra Brewer (Union City, Calif.), coming off a sixth-place performance
in the women’s triple jump at NCAA Indoors, turned in a career-best
13.07m/42-10.75 in the event to finish seventh.
“We knew
what we were getting from Ciarra when we recruited her out of high school,”
Holloway commented. “There’s a lot more there and today was
certainly a step in the right direction.”
In the
women’s discus, junior thrower Ashley Miller (Miami Beach, Fla.)
finished 11th with a throw of 45.80m/150-3 and senior thrower Keely Medeiros
(Blumenau-SC, Brazil) finished 14th overall with a toss of 40.10m/131-7.
In the
100 meter hurdles, Ndu and freshman Ashley Favors (Riverview, Fla.) both
put in solid performances. Ndu finished 18th overall with a time of 13.66, a
new personal best. Favors, in just her second 100 meter hurdles race of her
career, finished with a time of 15.24.
The
Orange and Blue had five qualifiers for Saturday’s finals, as the men’s 4x100
meter relay was the first group to qualify with a time of 39.73. The foursome
of Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.), Hugh Graham, Jr. (Miami,
Fla.), Leonardo Seymore (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Dedric Dukes (Miami,
Fla.) will compete on Saturday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. ET.
