The Florida State University relays provided an additional boost of confidence for the Florida A&M University track teams. The meet was held at the Mike Long track on FSU’s campus.
This is the last meet that the teams will have before heading to Gainesville for the University of Florida relays, widely regarded as the biggest meet for Florida colleges.
Although there were only four top three finishers from FAMU, there was still progress in another realm for the athletes.
“I was elated about the team’s performances,” said head coach, Darlene Moore. “We had several stellar performances that should produce high rankings in the in the Eastern Region.”
Latoya Wright continued on her quest to drop her times in the women’s 400-meter hurdles finishing second with a time of 1:00.30.
Damarius Carroll placed third in men’s 110-meter hurdles coming in at 14.52 seconds.
Brandon Hartley raced to a third place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.02 seconds.
Rounding out the top finishers for the rattlers was team captain Carl McKenzie. “The old man” as he is known to his teammates and coaches, came in third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.64, which continues a consistent drop in times since the FAMU relays. McKenzie edged out his opponent by only .01 seconds.
“The Florida Relays is a big meet across the nation and it has a lot of fierce competition that will be there,” McKenzie said. “Doing well at FSU is a definite confidence builder for the team. This will help us go out and compete to the best of our abilities.”
The teams will look to ride this momentum into and past the University of Florida relays.
“This meet should propel us in the upcoming Florida relays,” Moore said. “Hopefully, we can use these relays as motivation for the upcoming outdoor championships.”