Below is a running dialogue of all the great action going down at the University of Florida's Pepsi Relays in Gainesville, Florida.
1. Anthony Schwartz returns to the 100m and does some cool things. He wins the boys 100m in 10.16 seconds, just a hundredth of a second off his world youth record time from last year. No records, but the conditions were wet and slightly cold. His day isn't over, either. More cool things -- especially in the 4x100 -- are probably to come.
2. The Pepsi Florida Relays are known for their heavy hitters in the sprints (see Schwartz). But that also includes Gainesville (FL) High freshman Tamari Davis, who put together two days of very, very good running. Davis' main knock -- if you could give her one -- was that her best 100m times weren't necessarily wind-legal. That all changed this week. She won the final 100m section on Friday in 11.34 seconds, which came just a day after she went a US No. 2 mark of 11.29 (+0.5) seconds. It also was just five-hundredths of a second away from tying a freshman class record in the event. Plus, it also marked a huge wind-legal improvement overall. Until Friday, Davis' best all-conditions 100m was 11.34 (+6.1) and her top legal mark was 11.48 (+1.9). This was nearly a 0.2-second improvement, which validates Davis' ability to hold her own, with or without a wind gauge determining the race's status.
3. Matanza (FL) High's Jacob Miley finished third in the 800m at the FSU Relays in 1:52.95. And then on Friday, one week later, he took an impressive Florida Relays field, tracking East Lake (FL) High's Jame Hasell for much of the race to win in 1:52.54, an overall PR. Hasell was second in 1:52.85, while current US No. 1 Hugh Brittenham of Estero (FL) had to make a late kick in the final 100m to pass several runners and finish third in 1:53.30.
4. Northeast (FL) High's Wavell Hinds is making some dents in the national rankings of the 110mH. The Jamaican youth cemented a solid two days of work at the Florida Relays with a win in a US No. 5 mark of 14.04 seconds. The day before he had the top prelim time of 14.15 seconds.
5. The 800m saw two more girls break 2:10, including last year's runner-up. This time, however, Mater Academy (FL) freshman Jinah Mickens-Malik won the event in 2:09.40, narrowly escaping Miami Northwestern (FL) High's Ayoola Gbolade, who crossed in 2:09.78.
6. Wakefield (NC) High's Veronica Fraley, the US No. 1 leader in the discus, made the trip to Gainesville and the effort was worth it, as she went 166-11 to win the discus. The mark, below her career best of 171-10, still would have been Fraley above the second best thrower nationally.
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