Not a single mistake.
Junior Raymond Ekevwo shot out of the blocks and immediately passed the whole field other than Florida State in lane eight. Once Ekevwo handed the baton to sophomore Hakim Sani Brown, the Seminoles were well behind.
Only a mistake would keep the Florida men’s 4x100-meter relay team from placing first in the Florida track and field team’s final home meet of 2019. The quartet of juniors Raymond Ekevwo and Grant Holloway, sophomore Hakim Sani Brown and senior Ryan Clark transitioned the baton from person to person flawlessly, and Clark finished well before anybody else.
The relay team entered the meet ranked third in the nation behind LSU and Houston. It finished still in third, but continued to shave time as it has done in the past weeks. A month ago, the team was at 38.69 seconds. Last weekend at the LSU Alumni Gold meet, it beat No. 1-ranked LSU in a head-to-head, clocking in at 38.55 seconds.
On Saturday, it continued to close in on No. 2 ranked Houston (38.45), clocking a time of 38.52. The 4x1, as well as the rest of the Gators, appeared fully equipped on Saturday at the Tom Jones Invitational to step into postseason competition when SECs arrive on May 9 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Sharrika Barnett won the 400-meter dash for the Gators, and her 50.96 time she ran at the Florida Relays a month ago (50.96) is still the best time in the nation. Sophomore Taylor Manson also also ran herself into the nation’s No. 15 spot on Saturday with a time of 52.53.
Holloway tied the country’s best hurdle time (13.25). That time is also the second-fastest active time in the world.
In the field events, javelin thrower Jacob Stanko had the best performance perhaps of any Gator relative to expectation. The junior threw 3.65 meters better than his previous best (62.25 meters), when he hurled a 65.90-meter throw. That throw puts him in the top 25 in the East Region. The best 48 throwers in each region make nationals, so Stanko’s throw in all likelihood secured him a spot.
Sophomore Thomas Mardal posted the national No. 5 weight throw at 72.13, a season best for the Gloppen, Norway, native. Redshirt senior AJ McFarland contributed significantly in the weight throw for the first time this outdoor season, throwing his season best 70.02 meters, which was good enough to put him at No. 11 nationally.
Before Friday’s high jump in Gainesville, there was a five-way tie for the NCAA men’s seventh-best jump. Florida redshirt senior Jhonny Victor broke that tie and took sole possession of the No. 7 spot with a jump of 2.23 meters, an outdoor personal best for him.
After an underwhelming Florida Relays performance a month ago, and then three weeks to think about it, UF has improved in seemingly every area. This is the perfect time for that, as the postseason begin in 12 days.
You can follow Graham Marsh on Twitter @GrahamMarshUF. You can contact him at gmarsh@alligator.org.
