Tiger Track & Field Heads to Gainesville for Pepsi Florida Relays

April 1, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – In what could turn out to be Clemson’s final preparation for the upcoming ACC Outdoor Championships, the Tiger track & field teams have traveled to Gainesville, FL to compete in the Pepsi Florida Relays. The meet will be held at Florida’s Percy Beard Track on Friday and Saturday. All individual track events will be held Friday, with relays throughout Saturday.

Action gets underway Friday at 12:05 PM with the running of the women’s 100 hurdles, an event slated to feature five student-athletes from Clemson. Included in the group is Michaylin Golladay, who ran a lifetime best 13.66 last weekend at Georgia Tech. The men’s 110 hurdles follow at 12:45. Clemson will be without the services of indoor All-American Spencer Adams, who will be practicing with the football team this weekend.

Also on Friday, Clemson will debut its top performers in the 100m dash. Stormy Kendrick and Kristine Scott compete in the women’s heats at 2:25 PM, followed by Warren Fraser and Justin Murdock in the men’s heats at 2:40. All four competed in the 200m dash last weekend at Georgia Tech, where Kendrick was runner-up in the women’s event with a solid time of 23.63.

The distance carnival will be held late Friday, starting at 6:30 PM. All-American Kim Ruck leads the list of competitors. She will be making her outdoor debut in the 5K, competing against a strong field. Ruck’s most recent performance was a seventh-place NCAA finish in the event at the indoor nationals in Fayetteville, AR.

Field events will be ongoing Friday and Saturday. April Sinkler should return to action this weekend for the Tigers, after sitting out the first few weeks of outdoor season following an outstanding indoor campaign in which she earned two All-America honors. The high jump (5:00) and long jump (6:00) will be held Friday, and the triple jump is slated for Saturday at 4:00. National indoor runner-up Patricia Mamona will compete in that event as well.

Zach Berg, fresh off his school record-tying performance in the hammer throw last weekend at Georgia Tech, is entered in the event again this weekend. He hit on a toss of 204’1″ last weekend, one of the top marks in the East Region. Other throwers in action from the men’s team include Alex Padgett and Stephen White in the shot put and discus.

On Saturday, pole vaulter Xavier Tromp returns to action fresh off being named ACC Performer-of-the-Week. The senior from France broke the men’s vault record by clearing 17’11” last weekend in Atlanta. He and Chris Spear will compete at 1:00 PM. Other standouts in action Saturday in the field include Linda Buchholz and Bethanie Wachna in the women’s javelin (1:30).

Clemson will field a host of teams competing in the relays Saturday. The men’s and women’s 4x100m relays will begin at 2:20 PM, the 4x800m relays at 3:40, the 4x200m relays at 4:10, and then the mile relays at 6:40.