Sophomore Jacy Kruzel (Cooper City, Fla.) finished third in the 10,000m scoring six points and leading the University of Florida women’s track and field team on Friday at the 2007 Southeastern Conference Championships at Sam Bailey Stadium.

After three scored events, the Gators stand in second-place with a total of 20 points. Georgia leads the competition with 28 points. Also scoring points for the Gators on Friday were sophomore Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) and junior Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) in the hammer throw and sophomore Sara Petrick (Apollo Beach, Fla.) and senior Jamie Geissler (Spokane, Wash.) in the 10,000m.

“We saw several outstanding performances from our athletes today,” Florida interim head coach Steve Lemke said. “Jacy, Sara and Jamie capped off a great day by doing a terrific job in the 10,000m. Earlier, Shawneise and Chinelo got us off to the start that we wanted and needed. It is always great when you can have a PR in a championship meet and Shawneise did that today. Both hammer throw competitors put us in good position after our first event of the competition.”

Running in the 10,000m for the first time this season and second time in her career, Kruzel posted a time of 36:08.70 to earn the third place finish and six points for the Gators.  Also running the event, Petrick ran 37:08.34 to take fifth and earn four points, while Geissler crossed the finish line in eighth place with a time of 37:34.19 to pick up one point. Florida’s three 10,000m competitors combined to score 11 points. 

Williams recorded a personal-best mark of 57.13m/187-05 on her second throw en route to finishing fourth and scoring five points. The mark was a PR for Williams by nearly six feet. Ubaka took fifth and scored four points with a toss of 56.11m/184-01 on her third attempt. Both competitors’ throws were regional qualifying marks. Ubaka has now achieved the regional standard six times, while Williams has now done so three times.

Junior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) in the 800m and junior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) in the 200m each advanced to finals in their respective events.

McKenzie advanced to the 800m finals by winning the second of three heats with a time of 2:06.36, the fastest preliminary time and fourth regional qualifying mark of the season for McKenzie. Knight advanced to the 200m finals by running the ninth-fastest preliminary time of 23.28, a season-best and regional qualifying mark. Both the 200m and 800m finals will be contested on Sunday evening.

“We also had two competitors, Lorain and Natalie, advance to the finals in their events by running well in the preliminaries today,” Lemke added. “Lorain ran the best 800m time and Natalie ran a season best. How well a team performs on day one sets up how well they do in day two and how well a team does on day two will determine how well a team does on the final day of the meet. You have to have people in the finals on day three for it to be fun, so having Lorain and Natalie advance for the Gators today was great.”

The SEC Championships continue on Saturday with the first events, the men’s discus and men’s long jump, schedule to begin at 2 p.m. (ET). Live results are available via www.rolltide.com.

Women’s Team Standings (After Three Events Completed):

1. Georgia, 28; 2. Florida, 20; 3. Tennessee, 16; 4. Arkansas, 14; 5. Kentucky, 13; 6. Miss. State, 10; 7. LSU, 6; 7. Vanderbilt, 6; 9. Ole Miss, 3; 10. Auburn, 1

Gators Advancing to Finals (2):

Natalie Knight – 200m

Lorain McKenzie – 800m

-UF-