Dedric Dukes was approaching the end of his 4x400-meter relay leg to hand off the baton to the teams anchor leg Arman Hall.
Hall grabbed the baton and started his 400m in third place with two elite runners ahead of him on the final lap of the race.
On the final turn, Hall made his move and sped ahead passing second place, and with 100 meters to go striding for first.
Crossing the finish line in just .03 of a second ahead of Gainesville’s Elite Kerron Clement, Hall clocked a time of 2:59.73, which is a world leading record, UF school record and Florida Relays record.
“All I said was that I’m close and just go for it,” Hall said. “So as soon as I had another gear, God blessed me to stay healthy, stay composed and just go ahead and try and win it.”
The sophomore sprinter couldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for his teammates Najee Glass, Hugh Graham Jr., and Dukes to assist Hall and delivering a competitive contest against the world’s elite.
“My teammates are dependable,” Hall said. I can really trust them on getting me close, to get me ahead, and it doesn’t matter. I know that as long as we’re in the race they’re going to try their best and their going to run hard. They’re truly dependable and I love them to the bottom of my heart.”
Glass, Graham Jr., Dukes and Hall now hold the second all-time record in collegiate history.
In addition to the men’s blazing run, the women’s ended the night with a 4x4 victory of their own.
Snapping the school record in a time of 3:27.38, Robin Reynolds, Lannie Whittaker, Destinee Gause and Ebony Eutsey ended with a title in cruising fashion.
“I’m real big on the relays because it’s the true team essence of track and field,” coach Mike Holloway said. “You start with the 4x1, it’s the first thing people see, and end with the 4x4, it’s the last thing you see. We want to make sure we open the show and close it and we did that tonight.”
Florida also had a 4x100-meter victory on the men’s side earlier in the day with Hall, Graham Jr., Antwan Wright and Dukes crossing the finish line over Pure Athletics in a time of 38.55 seconds to add to their record-setting day.
Also in pure dominance, the women’s distance medley relay was Florida’s to take.
Clocking in a time of 11:18.51 for first place, Rebekah Greene, Lannie Whittaker, Cory McGee and Agata Strausa defeated runner up UTSA (11:31.79) by 13.28 seconds in the final day at Florida Relays.
“Becky (Rebekah) started us off really well, and once Lannie got the baton it was all over there,” McGee said. “I wanted to do my part. I don’t get to run the 800 that often, but when I do I just put everything out there. Agata just finished it off for us.”
The senior distance runner from Pass Christian, Miss., raced in her last Florida Relays as a Gator, and ended the relays with a DMR title and third place in the women’s 800-meter run.
A few other events showcased at Florida Relays to cap off the evening for UF.
Andres Arroyo, Nick Uruburu, Donnie Lee Jones and Sean Obinwa recorded a time of 7:17.88 in the men’s 4x800-meter run coming just behind winner Georgia Tech (7:16.89)
Uruburu was able to pull his 800m group back into contention and felt like they could’ve won.
“I got the baton from Andres, I knew I’d get it first, he’s a great runner,” Uruburu said. “He gave me a nice lead to work with. When the Georgia Tech kid went around me, I just stayed composed and was going to wait until the last 200 (meters) to make a move and open up space for this guy (Donnie Lee.)”
Uruburu also said the team knew GT was going to be good, but they weren’t intimidated and still thinks the Gators are the best 800m group in the country.
Capping off a successful outing at Florida Relays, Holloway commends his team on the overall effort, but is never satisfied, as he wants his team to remain hungry.
“We talked about not getting complacent. We have special group of young men and women here,” Holloway said. “What we can’t do is rest on our laurels and think that because we had a great Florida Relays that we made it. We got to get back to work on Monday and start trying to be the best team in the country in June.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence
