TAMPA, Florida (April 22, 2017) – The FIU men's and women's track and field teams closed out its 2017 regular season meet schedule on Saturday with the Panthers traveling up Interstate 75 to Tampa to take part in the South Florida Collegiate Invitational, hosted by the University of South Florida at the USF Track and Field Stadium. FIU takes an impressive regular season and banner afternoon and turns its sights to the Conference USA Championships.
The Panthers had 12 student-athletes finish in the top three during the day, including five first-place finishes on the afternoon.
On the men's side, in the first event of the day, senior
Chris Sullivan took first in the javelin with a throw of 53.12m, his best mark of the outdoor season and over five meters better than the second-place finisher.
Sophomore
Daniel Neptune of Miami, a Belen Jesuit product, joined Sullivan on top of the podium taking first in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.43.
Sophomore
Christian Williams rounded out the men's first-place finishers with a 2.02m performance in the high jump.
In the 100m dash, senior
Wilkenson Myrtil just missed setting a new personal record, posting a time of 10.66, and placing third.
In women's action, sophomore
Clarissa Cutliff was one of two female student-athletes for the Panthers to take first in their respective events. Cutliff took the top spot in the high jump with a height of 1.82m, tying the school record. Teammate and fellow sophomore,
Kenflore Atilus, joined Cutliff on the stand finishing third in the event with a mark of 1.67m.
Freshman
Gabrielle Rains continued her impressive rookie campaign taking first in the discus with a throw of 50.02m, and
Terrisa Russell took second with a mark of 46.15m.
In the women's long jump, freshman
Jovana Ilic recorded a personal best while also taking third with a leap of 5.50m. Ilic then came back later in the day and logged another third-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 11.84m.
Freshman
Terneka Gibson posted a time of 56.96 in the 400m which was good enough for third-place, and in the 800m, junior
Shanika Dessein placed third with a time of 2:14.22.
FIU will now have two weeks off to prepare for the Conference USA Championships in El Paso, Texas (hosted by UTEP), at Kidd Field, May 11-14.
Fans are encouraged to follow the team on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUTrackXC) for all the latest FIU Track and Cross Country news.
Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 56,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
