Gators at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships on March 11. Photo courtesy of Mallory Peak.

2023 Pepsi Florida Relays Begin

The 2023 Pepsi Florida Relays begin Friday at Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.

The Relays

The Relays runs from Friday through Saturday and is one of the premier college-level meets. The event will host 32 teams from across the country.

The event has been hosted at Florida’s campus for nearly 85 years, and it still remains as one of the most anticipated collegiate meets for outdoor track and field.

On top of collegiate competition, there are high schools from all across Florida and Georgia coming to take part in the action.

Florida will have a total of 63 athletes competing in 36 events. The competition coming into Gainesville is no easy feat as the men’s side sees five Top 25 teams entering the event. On the women’s side, there are seven Top 25 teams taking part.

Friday

The Gators will compete in 18 events on Friday starting with women’s hammer throw. Imani Washington is the first Gator to kick off the two-day event.

The men’s 4×800 Relay is the first running event for Florida. It which will feature Sam Austin, Ryan Maseman, Deshay Fernandes and Hugh Brittenham.

At 4:00 p.m. Devin Willis and Zach Godbod compete in men’s javelin. At the FSU Relays just a week prior, Willis placed first in the event recording a 58.03m throw.

Later in the day, Kathryn Nohilly will participate in the women’s steeplechase. Nohilly crushed the women’s 1,500m title at the FSU Relays in the first outdoor meet of the season. Cavan Wilson, who also swept the 1,500m title for the men at the FSU Relays, runs the 5k at 8:45 p.m. in the last event of day one.

Saturday

Florida has 22 total events on day two, opening with men’s discus at 9:00 a.m. This will feature Calvin Bostic and Logan Montgomery.

Ashley Klingenberg runs the women’s 1,500m at 1:15 p.m. alongside Imogen Barret, Emily Culley, Vanessa Watson, Gabrielle Wilkinson and Kathryn Nohilly. Though Nohilly dominated this event previously, Klingenberg is looking sharp after taking home the 800m title in the FSU Relays.

The Relays end with the men’s Jimmy Carnes 4×400 invite at 5:35 p.m.

The Gators are set for an action-packed weekend as they host their first meet of the 2023 outdoor track season and Florida coach Mike Holloway sees a lot of promise in his team and is hopeful they will exceed expectations.

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