Florida’s 4x100m relay ran the eighth-fastest preliminary time to advance to finals and lead the Gators on the opening day of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex on Wednesday.

The 4x100m relay of junior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago), junior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.), junior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) and sophomore Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.) advanced to finals by running the eighth-fastest prelim time of 44.69. With eight teams advancing to the finals, the Gators’ 4x100m relay team is in solid position to earn All-America honors for the third consecutive year and for the seventh time in the last 11 years. Ealey and Knight were both a part of the relay in 2005 and 2006 and will look to garner their third honor in the event when the final is contested on Friday.

“Our 4x100m relay was projected eighth entering the NCAA Championships and they did what they needed to do today by being one of eight teams to advance to Friday’s finals,” Florida women’s interim head coach Steve Lemke said. “Florida has a tradition of getting the 4x100m to the national finals and our women know that and want to live up to that tradition. In our other events today, we unfortunately didn’t have everything go our way, but I’m really proud of all of our student-athletes for coming out and competing hard.” 

Ealey also ran in the first round of the 100m and clocked a time of 11.56, just one-hundredth of a second away from advancing to semifinals in the event. Ealey finished the 100m in 19th place.

Also competing for the Gators on Wednesday, freshman Lori Bowen (Tallahassee, Fla.) recorded the third-best height of her career at 3.90m/12-9.50 in the qualifying round of the pole vault, while junior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) ran the first round of 800m in 2:09.56. Bowen tied for 14th place and McKenzie finished 23rd, but neither athlete advanced.

Junior Lindsay Sundell (Fort Salonga, N.Y.) rounded out competition for the Gators on the opening day by running the 3,000m steeplechase in 10:26.32. Sundell finished 26th and did not advance to finals.

The NCAA Outdoor Championships will continue on Thursday, June 7 with the decathlon at 1 p.m. (ET). The first schedule event for the Florida women, the 200m, is scheduled to start at 6:50 p.m. (ET).

Women’s Athletes Advancing (4 athletes, 1 event):

Abigail David, Natalie Knight, Lakecia Ealey, Zan Joseph – 4x100m Final

-UF-