KeAndre Bates had the crowd banging its hands together.
He hadn’t jumped yet. He still stood motionless on the green grass in front of the jump pit. But as he leaned forward, the crowd broke into a steady clap. The clapping gradually increased to a full applause as the senior dashed down the green and went tumbling into the sand.
That moment encapsulated the weekend’s atmosphere at the Pepsi Florida Relays as the last day came to an end at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville.
“I like (the Florida Relays) every year. It’s a lot of people here enjoying themselves,” Bates said. “Today felt good. I got a lot of people to clap for me.”
Bates posted a 16.14-meter mark to win the men’s triple jump, and he now holds the No. 2-ranked mark in the NCAA.
The top-ranked triple jump mark (16.40) still belongs to teammate Clayton Brown, who posted the NCAA-lead earlier this season at the FSU Relays. On Saturday, Brown recorded 2.23 meters in the men’s high jump invitational. It was an outdoor personal record and tied him for fifth on the Gators outdoor All-Time Top 10 List.
“It feels good to actually come back and start jumping high again,” Brown said.
And in another field event win for the Gators, senior Lloydricia Cameron threw for 17.02 meters in the women’s shot put. Her mark sits at the No. 2 spot in the NCAA.
“I didn’t throw as far as I wanted to in discus and shot,” she said. “But it’s still the beginning of the season… Just waiting until SECs, I should be ready by then.”
Junior Yanis David finished second in the women’s triple jump with her top mark of 13.57 meters. She also climbed to the No. 2 spot in the nation.
“I am a little bit disappointed because I got second. It’s still a good season opener for me,” David said. “I look forward to going back to practice and fix what went wrong today.”
The relay races were the highlight of the day for most of Florida’s men’s and women’s track and field athletes.
The Gators’ men competed in two different 4x400 relay races, in addition to a distance medley relay, a 4x800 relay, a 4x200 and a 4x100.
The men’s 4x100-meter race caused people in the stands to scream and bang their feet against the metal bleachers.
The first heat featured a leadoff by American olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin, whose team — USA Red — fell just behind the Dominican Republic.
In the second heat, Florida’s Michael Timpson Jr., Chantz Sawyers, Grant Holloway and Ryan Clark matched the intensity established by the first section. The group finished second in the heat (fifth overall), just one-hundredth of a second behind North Carolina A&T’s team.
UF’s women participated in the shuttle hurdle relay, 4x400 relay, the distance medley relay and the 4x200.
The team of Sharrika Barnett, Lauryn Ghee, Brandee' Johnson and Taylor Manson had some struggles with exchanges through parts of the 4x200 relay, but ended up finishing second in the race.
For the men, the 4x400 relay quartet of Kunle Fasasi, Holloway, Sawyers and Benjamin Lobo Vedel held the lead from the start of the race. The group clocked a time of 3:01.00 for the win as their teammates and fans cheered them on in the final event of the relays.
“The chants and everything was just a great atmosphere,” redshirt junior Jhonny Victor said.
Follow Alanis Thames on Twitter @alanisthames and contact her at athames@alligator.org.
Senior KeAndre Bates notched the second-longest triple jump in the nation Saturday at the Pepsi Florida Relays.
