It was a senior day celebration inside James G. Pressly Stadium, and Anthaya Charlton made the most of it. In her first competition of the outdoor season, the senior from the Bahamas picked up a pair of event wins at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational.
Charlton got her weekend started on Friday afternoon with a decisive victory over a field that included both top collegiate competitors and strong professionals. After fouling her second and third attempts, she soared 6.82 meters in round four, gaining a lead she wouldn’t relinquish.
“It’s always great to PB (personal best) in the opener,” Charlton said. “It’s not my overall PB, but an outdoor PB so I’m feeling really good about it.”
Friday’s competition mirrored her indoor opener in January, where she recorded marks of 6.98 and 6.85 meters on back-to-back jumps. This time, she backed up her best jump with a 6.81-meter leap in the final round.
On Saturday, she came back to compete in the invitational section of the 100-meter dash. It was her first time racing the 100 since this meet last year, and she delivered. Running in the third heat, Charlton posted an 11.12 second clocking, with a tailwind of 2.1 meters-per-second barely over the legal limit. She came up .01 seconds shy of her personal best in the event from 2023, a year in which she qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“She’s finally getting some consistency,” Florida jumps coach Nic Petersen said. “Understanding how to be able to do that more consistently, and I think she kind [of] got a feel for finally knowing how to do that on the regular.”
Sprints
Freshman Jaden Wiley put together his best race at Florida thus far in the invitational section of the men’s 100-meter dash. He finished ninth across all heats with a 10.13-second clocking. The wind was over the allowable limit at +2.4 meters-per-second, but it’s a new all-conditions personal best for the Georgia native.
Justin Braun, a junior transfer from USC, made a statement in the first outdoor 400-meter race of his collegiate career. Running in heat two, he clocked the third-fastest time of the day among collegians, covering one lap in 45.37 seconds. Senior Ashton Schwartzman and sophomore Rios Prude Jr. both secured top-10 finishes as well, running 45.87 and 46.07, respectively.
“Coach Holloway wanted me to go out a little slower,” Braun said, explaining his race plan. “Going out in 21.6 [for the first 200 meters] was different, but made it real, real easy to get home.”
Hurdles
Freshman Habiba Harris couldn’t match the spectacle of her wind-aided 12.69-second performance from two weeks ago in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, but she still finished seventh against a strong collegiate field. She crossed the finish line in 13.83 seconds, running against a 3.1 meter-per-second headwind.
In the longer hurdles race, freshman Jarrell Jimenez shaved almost a half-second off his personal best, winning his 400-meter hurdles heat in 52.36.
Distance
The 1,500-meter heats were packed with hometown athletes. In the women’s races, freshman Ashley Fitzgerald and redshirt-senior Liina Winborn snuck into the top 10, finishing ninth and 10th with personal bests of 4:30.42 and 4:30.97, respectively. Senior Joe Wester hung tough in a quick men’s race, finishing fourth in 3:43.45. He came up just about a quarter-second shy of his personal best.
Redshirt-freshman Alec Miller made his debut in the steeplechase Friday night, finishing fourth in 10:01.26.
In Azusa, California, at the Bryan Clay Invitational, juniors Hilda Olemomoi and Tia Wilson entered the top 10 performers in program history in the outdoor 5,000-meters. Olemomoi finished fourth overall in 15:04.65. This time places her second in UF history behind only Parker Valby, the same position she occupies in the indoor 5,000-meters. Wilson’s time of 15:59.08 lands her at eighth.
Throws
Sophomore Gracelyn Leiseth put together the best weekend of her young career in the shot put and the discus.
She landed an impressive season’s best on Friday night in the invitational section of the women’s shot put. Her third-round mark of 17.42 meters is the second-best of her career and nearly half-a-meter better than her season’s best entering the meet. She’s now surpassed the 17-meter barrier in consecutive meets after failing to do so the entire indoor season, finishing fifth in a strong field.
On Saturday, she set a personal best in the discus by nearly two meters, landing a fourth-round mark of 56.30 meters. She vaults up to third in program history behind only Alida van Daalen and Rachel Longfors.
“There’s still definitely more to build on,” Leiseth said. “I’ve been working on my cues in practice and implementing them in competitions and learning how to keep myself calm but excited at the same time.”
For the third meet in a row, Leikel Cabrera Gay reset his personal best in the javelin. The sophomore transfer from Umpqua Community College threw 77.84 meters. He’s now improved by over seven meters since arriving in Gainesville.
Freshman Evelyn Vanzwieten had a breakout day in the women’s javelin, adding over three meters onto her personal best which she set at the Florida Relays two weeks ago. Her fifth-round 48.54-meter toss places her ninth in program history.
Jumps
In his first competition of the outdoor season, redshirt-senior Malcolm Clemons finished seventh in the invitational section of the men’s long jump. The Paris Olympian’s best mark was 7.30 meters, but fouls on his final two jumps overshadowedshowed promises of something bigger.
“Meet speed and running through the board with a lot of speed,” Petersen said. “If you haven’t done it in a long time, you don’t know what it feels like. We just gotta get him a few more opportunities, get him a little bit comfortable … and he’s gonna be fine.”
Freshman Asia Phillips finished fourth in the invitational section of the women’s triple jump with a best mark of 12.99 meters.
Relays
The Florida men’s 4x100-meter relay team finished sixth among collegiate teams. Braun, junior Garrett Fox, sophomore Malique Smith-Band and Wiley combined for a season’s best of 39.12.
The Gators’ 4x400m-relay squad that was already the second best in the nation got a rejuvenating boost in the form of Jenoah McKiver. The redshirt senior had a historic stretch to begin the indoor season, but injuries kept him out of the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships.
He was back on the track for the first time in over two months and anchored Florida to a victory in 3:01.52, overtaking Texas A&M as the NCAA leader. After receiving the baton in second, McKiver split 45.25 on the last leg.
“Having him back helps a ton because they know what he’s capable of,” coach Mike Holloway said. “He split 45.2 today, but that’s all he needed … It’s his first race back, now we can keep building off of this.”
Next on the schedule for the Gators is a weekend of split squad action at the East Coast Relays, hosted by UNF, and the LSU Invite on May 2 and 3.
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney
Paul is a junior sports journalism major who is covering the track and field beat in his first semester with the Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys watching commentary Youtube channels and consuming every medium of track and field content imaginable.
