{"id":218281,"date":"2026-04-04T03:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218281\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T03:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:26:08","slug":"personal-best-marks-surpassed-4x400m-relay-program-record-shattered-for-track-and-field-to-open-florida-relays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218281\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal-Best Marks Surpassed, 4x400m Relay Program Record Shattered For Track And Field To Open Florida Relays"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013\u00a0North Florida Track and Field opened action with multiple personal bests and a program-record performance at the Pepsi Florida Relays at Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium on Friday.
\n\u00a0
\n“The personal bests just kept coming throughout the meet. Our group is doing exactly what we need to be doing this time of the year, which is continuing to improve and get better,” Director of Cross Country\/Track and Field Jeff Pigg<\/a> said. “The Men’s 400m Hurdles was a great event for our group and I’m very proud of the way that Troy Williams<\/a> and Tayeshawn Ecklund-Rochelle<\/a> competed. Aiden Arnold<\/a> competed and had confidence in a great run to clock a time that has always advanced to NCAA Regionals in the Men’s 1500m. Ryan Douihech<\/a> also ran a personal best and looked great in the event. Annika Buser<\/a> ran a focused, great race with a huge personal best in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase. Cole Perry<\/a> put together another great run with a personal best time in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase. Laci Watford<\/a> finished off the first day of competition with a nice personal best to finish top three in the Women’s 5000m. I’m really proud of the way we competed.”
\n\u00a0
\nGraduate student Tyrell Pierce<\/a>, junior Rey Hernandez<\/a>, sophomore Matthew Groves<\/a> and junior Avaunt Ortiz<\/a> eclipsed the Men’s 4x400m Relay program record for the second time this season with a time of 3:07.27, which is over three seconds faster than the previous record mark set earlier this season at the River City Relays.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nGraduate student Christian Ruocco<\/a> clocked a third-place time of 3:52.47 in the Men’s 1500m. Redshirt senior Troy Williams<\/a> ran 52.24 and freshman Tayeshawn Ecklund-Rochelle<\/a> posted a 52.38 to each record personal-best times in the Men’s 400m Hurdles.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nGraduate student Aiden Arnold<\/a> clocked a time of 3:40.80, which was only 0:00.11 seconds off the program record, to finish fifth in the Men’s 1500m Invite. The time was also nearly two seconds better than his previous personal best. Senior Ryan Douihech<\/a> also posted a personal-best time in the event at 3:46.06.
\n\u00a0
\nJunior Annika Buser<\/a> crushed her previous personal-best time in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase with a second-place time of 10:38.04. Redshirt junior Cole Perry<\/a> placed second with a personal-best time of 8:58.23 in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nSenior Laci Watford<\/a> turned in a personal-best time of 17:09.86 to finish third in the Women’s 5000m.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nNorth Florida closes out the Pepsi Florida Relays at Florida’s James G. Pressly Stadium on Saturday, April 4.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nNORTH FLORIDA RESULTS
\nWomen’s 1500m
\nAva Wyant<\/a> \u2013 9th\u00a0\u2013 4:38.91
\n\u00a0
\nMen’s 1500m
\nChristian Ruocco<\/a> \u2013 3rd \u2013 3:52.47
\n\u00a0
\nWomen’s 400m Hurdles
\nKaterina Natsiopoulou<\/a> \u2013 30th \u2013 1:00.70
\n\u00a0
\nMen’s 400m Hurdles
\nTroy Williams<\/a> \u2013 18th \u2013 52.24
\nTayeshawn Ecklund-Rochelle<\/a> \u2013 21st\u00a0\u2013 52.38
\n\u00a0
\nMen’s 4x400m Relay
\nTyrell Pierce<\/a>, Rey Hernandez<\/a>, Matthew Groves<\/a>, Avaunt Ortiz<\/a> \u2013 6th \u2013\u00a03:07.27 (PROGRAM RECORD)
\n\u00a0
\nMen’s 1500m Invite
\nAiden Arnold<\/a> \u2013 5th\u00a0\u2013 3:40.80
\nRyan Douihech<\/a> \u2013 18th\u00a0\u2013 3:46.06
\n\u00a0
\nWomen’s 3000m Steeplechase
\nAnnika Buser<\/a> \u2013 2nd\u00a0\u2013 10:38.04
\n\u00a0
\nMen’s 3000m Steeplechase
\nCole Perry<\/a> \u2013 2nd\u00a0\u2013 8:58.23
\n\u00a0
\nWomen’s 5000m
\nLaci Watford<\/a> \u2013 3rd\u00a0\u2013 17:09.86\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013\u00a0North Florida Track and Field opened action with multiple personal bests and a program-record performance at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-218281","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\/218281","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=218281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}