LSU Alumni Gold Meet: Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets | Live Stats
Tom Jones Memorial Classic: Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets | Live Stats
USF Interactive Guide | Media Center | History and Records
TAMPA – With BIG EAST Outdoors right around the corner, the University of South Florida track and field teams will try to shore up more BIG EAST qualifiers and build some momentum at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet Saturday at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
The Bulls will also send their distance runners up to Florida to compete in the Tom Jones Memorial Classic Saturday in Gainesville at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
For the complete schedule of events for the LSU Alumni Gold Meet, click here. The meet will actually get started Friday with the men's and women's discus, but the rest of the field events and all the running events will take place Saturday. The schedule of events for the Tom Jones Classic can be found here as well.
LSU's official website, LSUSports.net, will carry live stats of the meet with results posted as soon as they become available. Click here for LSU's live stats page for the link to the meet results when it becomes available. In addition, live stats for the Florida meet can be found here at HalfMileTiming.com.
The heat sheets for the LSU Alumni Gold Meet can be accessed here, while the heat sheets for the Tom Jones Classic can be viewed here.
Check back at GoUSFBulls.com for the complete recap and meet results when they become available each day. As always, results from every meet throughout the year can be found on the Media Center page, while fans can keep track of USF's performances through the history and records section.
Move Over 1996
That's how long ago the USF men's 4x400 school record was set, on the legs of the foursome of Teddy Moreland, Cleveland Shuler, Gary Bradley and Kemel Thompson. For 14 years no one could reach that time of 3:10.38, that is until last week at the Sea Ray Relays when sophomore David Aristil, freshman Pascal Orelus, senior Greg Fontus and sophomore Reshaw Exilien, in that order, ran 3:09.70 to bump those previous guys out of the top spot.
| BullsVision Exclusive: USF's School Record 4x400 Relay |
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Click play on the video on the right to watch the record-breaking performance, including the highlight of the race when Exilien held off a pair of competitors, including Cincinnati, at the end to win the heat. The Bulls finished third overall at the meet.
With three of those athletes around for at least two more seasons, Thompson and Co. could find themselves completely out of the top 3 all-time by the time USF's current athletes are done.
Both Relay Records Gone to the WastesideUSF has now set both relay records on the men's side after the 4x100 mark was set at the Bulls Invitational March 19. Senior
Greg Fontus has been a part of both of them, running with senior
Armante Marshall and freshmen
Kayvon Webster and
Derrick Hopkins in the 4x100 at the Bulls Invitational March 19 along with the 4x400 at the Sea Ray Relays.
Rozario Continues to Make WavesUSF's 4x400 relay overshadowed sophomore
Nicole Rozario, who also bested her school record in the 3,000 steeplechase the same day the relay made headlines. Rozario had run 10:28.89 earlier this year, but bumped that time up to 10:23.01 at the Sea Ray Relays as she continues to rank in the top 10 in the nation.
Still One of the Best in the NationRozario now stands seventh in all of Division I in the steeplechase while Thomas comes in at No. 6 in the discus with his throw of 193-6 at the FSU Relays. Thomas is one of nine collegiate athletes this year to hit 190 feet or better.
His time of 51.13 in the 400 hurdles put sophomore
David Aristil in the 14th spot. Other Top 25 performances include seniors
Michael Kursteiner and
Sean Young in the high jump (6-11) and pole vault (16-10.75), where they both rank 21st, while sophomore
Casey Wagner comes in at 23rd in the javelin at 154-6.
Young Takes OffHe hadn't even attempted a jump in a month in a meet or in practice, but senior
Sean Young wasted little time getting back into the groove at the Sea Ray Relays, jumping 16-10.75 in the pole vault for the top mark in the BIG EAST this season. His only previous jump during the outdoor season occurred March 5 at the USF Open in which he went 15-7.
Assistant Coach
Don Marsh called it one of the most remarkable performances he had ever seen considering that during the week, all Young did was run down the runway in practice, without a pole, to see if he could even make an attempt following an ankle injury earlier in the outdoor season. It not only was the best in the BIG EAST so far this year, but it was not far off his all-time PR of 17-2.75 from 2008.
School Records Dropping Like FliesRozario and the men's relay upped the count to nine in terms of the number of times a school record has been broken during the outdoor season. Rozario has done so twice in the steeplechase, while sophomore
Jared Thomas has done the same three times in the discus. Along with the men's 4x100 and 4x400 relay records set this year, sophomores
Casey Wagner and
Allie Prendergast have set school records in the javelin and the 3,000 meters, respectively.
Top 5 Continues to Change
In both locker rooms a plaque hangs on the wall with the top-5 all-time performances for the Bulls to remind the athletes of what they are shooting for, but after this season the coaching staff will have to completely scrap those to add the 2010 additions.
So far this year, 12 different performances for the men's team and 11 for the women's squad have landed USF athletes on the top-5 list or have improved their standing from before. The biggest highlight comes from the men's sprints, where both relays have been set and two performances have been added to the 100 and 400 meters each, with the possibility of more changes by the end of the season.
For the women, senior Samantha Shade has moved into third in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump, where she actually got bumped down from fourth after freshman Monique Williams landed in third. Three of the top six best long jumps ever at USF came this season with Williams, Shade and junior Rachel Etienne all hitting 19-0 or better. For the complete list, check the table to the right.
Updated BIG EAST Qualifying Marks
The women's team reached 30 BIG EAST qualifying marks last weekend and finished with 31 so far on the year along with both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The Bulls have already easily surpassed last year's total of 21 for the outdoor season which did not include either relay. USF has qualified 20 athletes this year after having 16 in 2009.
The men have posted exactly the same number of qualifiers and qualifying marks as in 2009, with 16 athletes boasting 24 BIG EAST marks along with both relays here in 2010. For the complete list of all the male qualifiers, click here, and for the list of women's qualifiers, click here.
Last Time Out For the Bulls
USF set the school record in the 4x400 relay and sophomore Nicole Rozario bested her record in the 3,000 steeplechase during the second day of competition at the Sea Ray Relays last Saturday. The day before, hurdlers David Aristil and Yvana Hepburn each posted PRs, with Aristil winning the 400 hurdles title in 51.13, while Hepburn ran 13.63 in the 100 hurdles to finish fifth, but second among collegiate athletes.
Rozario ran 10:23.01 as she came in second at the meet as well, but first among collegians, while the 4x400 relay went 3:09.70 to take third overall.
Senior Sean Young finished well, jumping 16-10.75 as he placed seventh in a highly-competitive field, although the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers also cleared 16-10.75. On the women's side, junior Stephanie Duffy tied her outdoor PR at 13-1.5 to take third overall.
Head to the Media Center page to find the links to the full recap and the results in PDF format from all of the outdoor meets, as well as the recap and results from every meet during the rest of the season as they happen. Don't forget to keep tabs on the team's progress throughout the year with the Track & Field Records and History Index page, which includes everyone's personal bests - indoor and outdoor - as well as a running tab of the best times and marks for the season and a complete performance list.
USF Unveils 2009-10 Online Interactive Guide
The USF athletics department will no longer print media guides and has now switched over to a new online, interactive format, which features vivid photography, videos of both the coaches and athletes, as well as everything else one would need in order to stay informed about the USF track and field program. Click here to head to the press release and then click on the image inside the story to open up the 2009-10 Track & Field Interactive Guide. Learn more about the athletes, watch them perform on the track, listen to what the coaches have to say about the program, and much, much more.
Up Next
The Bulls will get some northern exposure prior to the BIG EAST Championships with several athletes heading up to the Penn Relays Thursday and Friday at the University of Pennsylvania in the nation's longest uninterrupted collegiate track meet.
