Davila breaks 60m Hurdles record to lead Bulls in Final Day of Commodore Challenge
Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 15, 2022 – The University of South Florida track and field team finished its first indoor competition at Vanderbilt's Commodore Challenge with two student-athletes breaking or tying school records on the meet's final day.
Junior
Shaneylix Davila (Kissimmee, Fla.) broke USF's record in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.25 seconds in the preliminary round. Davila went on to win the event in 8.27 seconds.
Next up, junior
Johann Jeremiah (St. George's, Grenada) placed third in the shot put with a distance of 16.53 meters, tying the program record.
In the women's 60-meter final,
Hannah Connell (Bridgetown, Barbados) ran a 7.43, the second-best time in school history, to finish runner-up in the event while
Jadaja Baxter (Sandy Springs, Ga.) placed fourth overall with a time of 7.54, making her eighth on the program's all-time list in the event.
Freshmen
Kylie Clark (Tampa, Fla.) and
Audrey Wuerffel (Jacksonville, Fla.) earned seventh and eighth placements in the women's pole vault with each jumping a height of 3.55 meters.
Zahria Allers-Liburd (Miami, Fla.) finished second in the women's 400-meter with a time of 55.90 seconds, moving her to sixth on the team's all-time list in the event.
Alliay Boothe debuted the 2022 season with a shot put personal-best of 13.51 meters, also earning the seventh spot on the USF all-time list.
Both the men's and women's 4x400 meter relay won their respective events. The women's squad, including Shanyia Benjamin (Tampa, Fla.), Allers-Liburd, Connell and
Chakiya Plummer (Hoover, Ala.), ran the third-fastest time in school history at 3 minutes, 45.43 seconds. For the men,
Elijah Wright (Naples, Fla.),
Joshua St. Clair (Trinidad and Tobago),
Michael Bourne III (Midlothian, Va.) and
Dre'Shaun Sanders (Kansas City, Mo.) crossed the finish line at 3:19.91 to secure the win.
"We had several superlatives on the final day of competition in Nashville." said head coach
Erik Jenkins. "We want to utilize these opportunities to work on all facets of meet management and execution. Our student athletes were able to win a few events, set school records and achieved multiple personal best."
Up next, the Bulls will participate in the PNC Bank Lenny Lyles Invitational held in Louisville, Ky. on Saturday, January 29.
About USF Track and Field
The USF track and field team has earned 53 All-America selections and at least one All-American in 10 of the last 12 years, including a record eight athletes claiming 11 honors in 2021. Tampa native Shaniya Benjamin set a program record earning three All-American honors during the 2021 outdoor season, while triple jumper Matthew O'Neal, a 2016 graduate, became USF's first six-time NCAA All-American. Bulls have posted two NCAA runner-up finishes since 2013 - O'Neal (triple jump, 2016) and Courtney Anderson (high jump, 2013). Head coach Erik Jenkins took over the program in 2020 and in the 2021 outdoor season the Bulls posted seven program records and 40 top 10 all-time program marks. USF hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary and the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championship at the USF Track and Field Stadium located on the east end of campus.
– #GoBulls –
