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The Florida Gators track and field teams began their 2014 outdoor season in solid fashion at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee over the weekend, despite sending only hurdlers and distance runners to the meet. With the first rankings to be released in a couple of days, the Gators' hopes of winning a national championship are going to largely depend on their continued success in the events run in Tallahassee.
The Gators had solid performances all around, but the 100m and 110m hurdles were where they really shined. Led by freshman Skylar Ross-Ransom, who finished second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.09s, the women's team placed all four entrants in the event into the top eight.
Tyjah Eady, Ashley Favors and Ryann McEnany finished fourth, fifth and eighth with times of 14.37s, 14.39s and 14.69s respectively. In the 110m hurdles, men's hurdler Yanick Hart finished third, with a time of 14.15s, while Moriel Pitt received a DNF after a fall; he took to Twitter to explain that he'll be just fine over the long haul.
In the men's 400m sprints, Gabriel Aird and Tyler Osorio finished 11th and 12th, with times of 48.00s and 48.10s respectively. They both finished about a second and a half behind event winner Troy Pollard, who ran unattached.
The women's distance contingent in the 1,500m race was led by Macy Huskey, who finished sixth overall with a time of 4:37.78s, as the remaining Gators in the event placed 15th, 16th, 19th and 25th overall to round out the competition. On the men's side of the 1,500m, the Gators had four finishers in the top 10, led by Eddie Garcia, who finished fourth with a time of 3:57.78s. The rest of Gators secured solid performances, finishing 7th, 8th and 10th respectively.
The Gators will next participate in what the schedule shows as a split weekend of competition. Track and field schedules change all the time, but as of now, the Gators are scheduled to appear next weekend at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on March 26-29, the UNF Invite on March 28-29 and the Raleigh Relays on March 28-29.