Williams lifts spirits with his Penn Relays win

By JOANNE KORTH

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 3, 2000

When Olympic track hopeful John Capel withdrew from classes two weeks ago, many assumed Florida's sprinters would be devastated.

Well, not so fast.

Junior Bernard Williams won the 100-meter dash at the prestigious Penn Relays with a wind-aided time of 10.11 seconds on Saturday. Williams beat Texas' Lance Armstrong and Nebraska's Chris Chandler by five-hundredths of a second.

It marked the second time in three seasons a UF runner won the 100-meter race at the Penn Relays. In 1998, Daymon "Bo" Carroll won as a freshman with a time of 10.21.

"Penn Relays is the biggest track meet in the world," coach Doug Jones said. "The kids see it as a miniature national championship. If you win an event at Penn Relays, you're a contender to win a national championship because most of the best runners are there."

Capel, a product of Hernando High in Brooksville, cannot work out with the Gators but continues to train in Gainesville with UF coaches for the U.S. Olympic Trials in July. He remains the top qualifier in the 200-meters based on his 1999 NCAA championship time of 19.87.

Williams, a transfer from Barton Community College in Kansas, has credentials of his own. He won the Pan American Games 100-meters with a time of 10.08, won the 1998 and '99 national junior college 100 titles, and ran a personal-best 10.03 in the preliminaries of the 1999 USA Track & Field national championships.

"Bernard Williams is a major player in our program, no matter what," Jones said. "He's simply a world-class athlete. He's a humorous guy, a good student, a good team guy and has a good work ethic."

PENN RELAYS PART II: Junior Emily Carlsten won the Penn Relays javelin competition, beating six nationally ranked competitors on Friday with a throw of 163 feet, 11 inches. Carlsten, ranked sixth nationally, beat No. 2 Beth Oruba and No. 4 Kim Kreiner, both of Kent State.

GOLF: The women will compete in the NCAA East Region on May 11-13, marking a return to post-season play after a one-year absence. The Gators competed in six consecutive East Regions from 1993-98.

"I feel much better now that we're in," coach Jill Briles-Hinton said Monday when the field was announced. "Nothing's guaranteed until it's done."

The top 11 teams in the 24-team East Regional advance to the NCAA Championships May 24-27 at Sunriver Resort, Ore. Among the field are 10 other Southeastern Conference schools, South Florida and Central Florida. The 54-hole event will be played at Ohio State's Scarlet Course.

The Gators are coming off a strong performance at the SEC championship, where they tied for fifth with a three-round score of 938.

BASEBALL: After losing three of its top pitchers to early-season injuries and struggling to a 14-9 non-conference start, Florida is playing inspired baseball. The Gators are 19-5-1 in their past 25 games.

Florida (33-18-1, 14-9-1) is in sole possession of second place in the SEC's Eastern Division. It finishes the regular season with three games at Mississippi State this weekend, a game against USF at home May 9 and three games against Georgia at home May 12-14. South Carolina has clinched the East title.

Junior left-hander Mike Smalley was named SEC Pitcher of the Week after striking out eight in a complete-game victory Friday against Auburn, ranked No. 8 by Baseball America. Smalley retired 14 of the final 16 batters in the 5-3 win.

-- Contact Gators beat writer Joanne Korth at 800-333-7505, ext. 7306, or by e-mail at Korth@sptimes.com.

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