The Florida men's and women's track and field teams ended the first day of the Texas Relays on a high note Thursday, as senior thrower Kyle Strawn was victorious in the men's hammer throw — the Gators' final event of the day.
Strawn's winning throw came on his fifth attempt, a 67.79-meter toss.
This is Strawn's first event victory since setting his current personal record of 68.18 meters at last year's Tom Jones Memorial Invite in Gainesville.
Completing coach Mike Holloway’s squad for the day was junior thrower Jayla Bostic. In the women’s hammer throw, the Wellington, Florida, native finished in seventh place out of 24 competing athletes with a 55.89-meter throw.
While her performance was far from surpassing her career-best throw of 59.09 meters — set at the 2013 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships — Bostic’s toss was more than two meters better than her previous event attempt (53.35m) at last week’s UCF Black and Gold Challenge.
Sophomore hurdler Eric Futch qualified for the 400 meter hurdle finals, as he placed in fourth (50.75 seconds) in the preliminary trial.
Florida will resume its meet in Austin, Texas on Friday starting with the women’s javelin throw. The event will feature defending SEC and NCAA javelin champion Fawn Miller, who will make her 2015 debut at 10:30 a.m.
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
