{"id":209237,"date":"2026-03-28T03:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209237\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:49:10","slug":"florida-distance-runners-throwers-star-in-fsu-and-raleigh-relays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209237\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida distance runners, throwers star in FSU and Raleigh Relays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind distance wins and a banner day for Gator throwers, Florida delivered on a successful two day stretch in Tallahassee and Raleigh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throws<\/p>\n

It was a spectacular weekend for Gators throwers. In the men\u2019s hammer throw, Florida started off hot behind Basel Abosina and his 66.20-meter first-place throw. The freshman moved to seventh all time with the toss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imani Washington was a worthy follow-up, adding a personal best and another first place finish. Her 62.08 meter toss would move her to sixth in program history in the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s men’s javelin throwers executed a clean sweep of the competition in the final, with Leikel Cabrera Gay, Ayden Campbell and Aiden Broussard taking the top three positions. Cabrera Gay dominated the contest, with his 75.50-meter toss traveling 10 meters beyond Campbell’s second place finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The women continued the momentum, with Pauline Bikembo notching a podium finish and a personal best throw of 45.74 meters.<\/p>\n

In the discus throw, Gator women dominated. Seniors Akari Isaac and Gracelyn Leiseth finished as the top two contenders, and they were the only two to break 50 meters, with both going over 55. Isaac\u2019s 56.23-meter toss placed her first, while Leiseth followed close behind with a 55.76 meter throw.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Distance<\/p>\n

The Gators didn\u2019t have distance runners working in Tallahassee, but a few hours north in Raleigh, North Carolina, Graham Myers churned out a personal best 8:42.63 time in the men\u2019s 3000-meter. The run would be good for 10th overall.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s weekend ended in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Gators shined in limited action.\u00a0 Freshman Josh Ruiz ran in Raleigh\u2019s men\u2019s 5000-meter, with his 14:07.19 placing him 43rd among over 200 competitors.<\/p>\n

The stars, however, were Florida senior Hilda Olemomoi and freshman Judy Chepkoech, who placed first and second in the women\u2019s 10000-meter invitational. Olemomoi\u2019s 32:03.59 and Chepkoech\u2019s 32:04.01 outpacing runners from across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sprints<\/p>\n

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In Friday’s men\u2019s 100-meter, the Gators got a pair of podium finishes from Jaden Wiley and Trenton Howard, who finished second and third respectively with runs of 10.25 and 10.30. Freshman Almond Small finished just behind in fourth with his 10.39 second sprint.<\/p>\n

On the women\u2019s side, freshman Payton Payne kept the 100-meter train rolling, clocking a blazing 11.54 first-place finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wiley and Howard would return to the track for the 200-meter final, where they once again placed second and third with runs of 20.68 and 20.86. Almond Small finished sixth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s 200-meter, Jade Brown ran in the first heat, a first place finish for the Gators with a 23.35 second run, edging out FSU\u2019s Lucy May Gleeman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s 400-meter runners Ja\u2019Neil Harris and Gavin Nelson provided Florida with two more podium finishes, with 47.76 and 48.17 second place finishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s 400-meter hurdles, Daniel Wright was able to add to a strong day for Gator sprinters, with his 50.76 second run placing him first overall.<\/p>\n

Pauline Bikembo and Aleesa Samuel also gave the women strong performances, with the pair finishing fourth and fifth in the 100-meter hurdle competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jumps<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s long jump final, freshman Luke Stradley continued his strong first year with a 7.69-meter first place leap, beating out jumpers from FSU, Troy and Virginia Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Relays<\/p>\n

The Florida women led the way in relay competition, with the women\u2019s 4×400 relay of Marianna Wright, Payton Payne, Pauline Bikembo and Abby Elmore propelling the Gators to a second place finish, just behind Troy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s 4×400 relay of Daneil Weight, Gavin Nelson, Alejandro de Bastos and Ja\u2019Neil Harris added a fourth place finish. The Gators finished behind runners from Florida State, South Alabama and Troy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact Logan McBride at lmcbride@alligator.org<\/a>. Follow him on X @LoganDMcBride.<\/p>\n

\n The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Logan McBride<\/p>\n

Logan McBride is a journalism junior and a Spring 2026 track and field reporter. In his free time, he enjoys watching TV shows or playing basketball at Southwest Rec. He is also a big football fan and will die for Dak Prescott.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Behind distance wins and a banner day for Gator throwers, Florida delivered on a successful two day stretch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-209237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}