The Gator track and field team led all teams with four first place finishes at the Gators’ own Johnny Mathis Track and Field Invitational April 12 with Kristen Para leading the way with two first place wins.

Para won the long jump event with a mark of 5.16 meters, leaving her 10 opponents behind. Her performance has improved since her showing at the 2006 Johnny Mathis Invitational, where her best jump was recorded at 4.89 meters.

“I feel great about my performance and I cannot wait for conference in a few weeks,” Para said. “I have been training really hard, so I knew a personal record would be around the corner.”

Para was not to be forgotten. While competing at the high jump event, she ranked first out of six with a mark of 1.56 meters, which highly satisfied and surprised coach Terry Burke—who said her jump was a good one for the last Cox Stadium meet of the semester.

The top long jump spots belonged to the Gators, with Anna Stetkevich jumping of 5.08 meters, placing her second. Kendra Rimbach followed in fifth place with a mark of 4.86 meters.

“Anna’s place is good, not her time,” Burke said. “But she did a solid 200 [meter dash].”

Stetkevich had a time of 25.48 seconds to rank sixth out of 35 runners.

At the throw events two Gators placed themselves in the top 10 competitors. Junior Sheila Cleland took 10th place while freshman Marisa Garza ranked fourth in the discus event.

At the javelin event, Shawna Gildea threw 39.82 meters, a performance that placed her first out of the 18 athletes. In seventh place ranked Stetkevich followed by Cleland, in ninth place, who was throwing the javelin for the first time at SF State.

“I didn’t do too well at the discus,” Cleland said about her 32.86-meter throw, explaining that 39 meters is her usual range. “I could not do the final flight because I was 10th, and only the first nine are allowed to do the final flight.”

The fate of the 4x400 relay was to be determined by Obiamaka Eke. Around 3:45 p.m., approaching the sixth hurdle of her 400-meter hurdles, Eke hit the hurdle and collapsed on the ground while holding her left leg. The Gators also didn’t compete in the 4x100 relay.

“It has been hurting since earlier in the day,” Eke said. She said that she did not hurt her hamstring because of the hurdle but was slightly injured earlier in the year.

“She was surprised by the hurdle and pushed it,” Burke said. “It aggravated what was a minor injury.”

Eke said this will not affect her training, as she will keep practicing as usual.

“I am not too happy about it,” she said. “But I’ll get through it. I’ll be fine.”

Prior to her injury, Eke did perform well, taking fourth place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.83 seconds.

Anna Bretan, who did not compete in the 1,500 meters, where she previously qualified for the Nationals, ranked first at the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:06.38, improving her previous time by 5.28 seconds.

Burke qualified the overall performances as decent but behind what they should be.

Burke already sees reasons to be satisfied with the arrival of new, motivated high school athletes who expressed an interest in joining the Gator Track and Field team in the fall semester.

“I am looking forward to it,” Burke said.