Full Results | Friday's Recap
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The men's 4x400 relay eclipsed the school record that had stood since 1996 and took third overall at the meet to highlight the final day of competition at the 44th annual Sea Ray Relays at Tennessee's Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.
In addition to that performance in the relay, sophomore Nicole Rozario shaved off a few more seconds on her 3,000 steeplechase school record and senior Sean Young bounced back in a big way in the pole vault after being sidelined the past month.
Starting off with sophomore David Aristil in the first leg, freshman Pascal Orelus, senior Greg Fontus and sophomore Reshaw Exilien ran the second, third and fourth legs of the race, respectively, finishing their heat in 3:09.70. Teddy Moreland, Cleveland Shuler, Gary Bradley and former Olympian Kemel Thompson had owned the school record up to Saturday with a time of 3:10.38 set back in 1996.
In addition, the current time for the Bulls now ranks the foursome second in the BIG EAST. The Bulls finished behind Norfolk State and Seton Hall at the Relays, with the Pirates owning the top mark in the conference this year.
The Bulls have now set both relay records this year, with Fontus a key member of both of them after he, senior Armante Marshall and freshmen Kayvon Webster and Derrick Hopkins set the school record in the 4x100 at the Bulls Invitational March 19.
Struggling with injury the first half of the outdoor season and not even attempting a vault in practice in a month, Young came back with a vengeance at the Relays when he cleared 16-10.75 in the pole vault invitational. Going over that height gave Young the best jump of the season in the BIG EAST so far and was just a few inches off his all-time PR of 17-2.75.
Young finished seventh overall in a highly-competitive field, but with three of the six competitors ahead of him also clearing the 16-10.75 mark.
Running at the same time Young was jumping, Rozario placed second in the steeplechase but first among collegiate athletes after posting a time of 10:23.01 at the meet, which was more than five seconds ahead of her previous school record of 10:28.89 set at the Bulls Invitational March 19.
Already owning the eighth-best time in Division I heading into the weekend, Rozario's time moves her up to fourth in the nation as of the moment depending on this weekend's results around the country. Rozario was also less than two seconds off the meet and track record set in 2003.
Freshman Monique Williams qualified for the finals and placed seventh overall in the long jump after she posted a new personal best with a leap of 19-2.75, which moved her into third all-time at USF and into sixth in the BIG EAST this season.
On her sixth and final throw in the javelin, sophomore Casey Wagner ultimately placed second in the event when she launched it 150-3, finishing a little more than a foot shorter than the first place finisher, Emma Crowcroft of UConn.
Also competing in the long jump was senior Samantha Shade, who leapt 18-2.25, while junior Kevin Kelly competed in the javelin and finished with a top throw on the day of 182-1.
Putting together the 4x100 relay with the top runners for the first time in the outdoor season, the USF foursome of freshmen Dariel Jackson, Tralanda Todd, Ena Johnson and Monique Williams ran 47.35.
Also Saturday, several USF runners also competed in the UT Distance Carnival at the University of Tampa. Sophomore Shambrey Oliver qualified for the BIG EAST Championships in the 100 meters after running a PR of 12.21.
USF will travel to another SEC school next weekend with the BIG EAST Conference Championships right around the corner when the Bulls compete at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet Saturday.