On Tuesday, Alishea Usery talked about how excited she was to perform in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays with her teammates and how well she thought they were going to perform.
Friday at the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Usery, Ebony Eutsey, Ugonna Ndu and Darshay Davis started the day with the 4x100m relay, finishing second in the final heat before being disqualified for being out of zone.
Instead of letting the DQ get to them, all four women kept their heads high and went on to have strong performances the rest of the day. Davis qualified for the finals in the 100m by setting a personal record of 11.33, and Eutsey, Usery, Ndu went on to compete in the 4x400m relay with Lanie Whittaker, finishing in sixth place to also qualify for today’s finals.
In addition to the women’s 4x400m and 100m, Florida qualified for three other events with Eddie Lovett (110mH), Hugh Graham (4x100m), Leonardo Seymore (4x100m), Dedric Dukes (4x100m) and Jeff Demps (4x100m and 100m).
“We’re looking for effort,” coach Mike Holloway said. “We didn’t come all the way to Texas to just participate in the Texas Relays. We came here to be a factor."
Two Gators who were already a factor for Florida were senior jumper Daniela Griffin and sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic.
Griffin set a personal record in the long jump (6.25m/20-6.25) to notch her first career win.
“For Daniela, she had a great meet,” Holloway said. “Her training has been going really well and I think this bodes well for her as we continue outdoors.”
Adding to the day’s trend of setting personal records was Zunic in the javelin throw. This is Zunic’s second javelin win this season.
“For Stipe, I think it’s less about the victory and more about the [record],” Holloway said. “We’re all really pleased with his effort and look forward to seeing that continue.”
The Texas Relays will wrap up today with shot put, pole vault, high jump, hurdles finals, relay finals and sprinting finals.
"This is a great meet that Texas puts on," Holloway continued. "We’re pleased we came here and we’re excited about tomorrow.”
