Alabama Track heads South to Compete in the Florida Relays this Weekend
4/1/2021 6:13:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
The Florida Relays will be the Crimson Tide’s fifth outdoor meet of the 2021 season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The men's and women's track and field teams continue their outdoor season this weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. The teams will compete against 12 other Power Five schools this Friday and Saturday at the James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
Meet Schedule
- Alabama opens the Florida Relays with Taylor Gorum in the women's discus at 1:00 p.m. CT on Friday
- The running events for the first day of the meet will start at 5:00 p.m. CT with the women's 1,500-meter run
- Friday's events will conclude after the women's 5k, which is set to begin at 7:45 p.m. CT; the Tide will have runners Megan Patton and Alex Cruz competing in the event
- The second day of competition will begin with the men's discus at 9 a.m. CT for the field events and Kayla Tolbert competing in the preliminary race for the women's 100-meter hurdles at 11:00 a.m. CT for the running events
- The meet will finish after the men's 4x400-meter relay set to start at 3:10 p.m. CT on Saturday
Scouting the Field
- On the men's side, No. 5 Southern California, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 18 Clemson, No. 21 Florida and No. 22 Auburn will be competing against the Tide
- The Alabama women will go up against No. 4 Southern California, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 13 Kentucky, No. 18 Florida State, No. 19 Florida and No. 22 Miami
- Other Power Five teams competing this weekend include Georgia Tech, Iowa State and Virginia Tech
National Ranks
- The Alabama women are ranked 11th in the nation according to the USTFCCCA National TFRI: Track and Field Rating Index as of March 29
- Mercy Chelangat holds the best time in the nation in the women's 10,000-meter run (32:31.43) after her appearance at the Raleigh Relays last weekend
- Robert Dunning ranks second in the men's 110-meter hurdles (13.45)
Last Time Out
- The Alabama squad split last weekend, sending three distance runners to the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C., and a larger group to the Al Schmidt Bulldog Relays in Starkville, Miss.
- In the first collegiate outdoor meet of her career, Mercy Chelangat posted a school record during her gold-medal performance in the women's 10k (32:31.43) at the Raleigh Relays, posting the nation's season-best time in the process
- Vincent Kiprop took second in the men's 10k with a time of 28:23.60 at the Raleigh Relays
- The Crimson Tide had a strong showing at the Bulldog Relays with the women bringing home five gold medals and the men also packing up hardware to bring back across the state line to Tuscaloosa
- Natassha McDonald took first place in both the women's 200-meter dash (23.05) and the 400-meter dash (52.31)
- The women throwers also came to compete, taking gold in shot put (Taylor Gorum, 15.64m), discus (Gorum, 15.01m) and hammer throw (Samantha Kunza, 61.13m)
- For the men at the Bulldog Relays, Robert Dunning won the 110-meter hurdles (13.45) and Ryan Lipe took top honors in pole vault (5.25m)
Venue attendance for the Florida Relays will be limited to essential personnel to allow coaches, support staff and student-athletes to achieve physical distancing. Spectators will be limited. Due to SEC requirements, no unattached or post-collegiate competitors will be permitted into the competition.
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Players Mentioned
