DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - North Florida track and field set many lifetime best marks in the 1500m and 5000m races at the Embry-Riddle Spikes Classic, while Robert Pedroza and Aiden Arnold also ran personal-best times in the 1500m race in the Florida Relays at the University of Florida on Friday evening.

Pedroza highlighted the meet day for the Ospreys with his 3:45.11 breakthrough time in the men's 1500m race that got him first in his heat and sixth-place overall at the Florida Relays. Arnold also ran well in Gainesville with a lifetime best race to give him a top-20 finish in the 1500m.

UNF had top 10 finishers in every race they competed in at the ERAU Spikes Classic, as Emma Jane Schlageter lead the group with her top overall finish in the women's 1500m race. Six more women finished in the top 10 for their respective races, while the men had three top-10 finishers at Spruce Creek HS.

IN THE FIELD

ERAU Spikes Classic
Women's High Jump

• Izabella Hays hit a mark of 1.57m (5-1.75) in her second attempt to match her outdoor best jump and place fourth overall.

ON THE TRACK

ERAU Spikes Classic
Men's Races

• Gavin O'Brien followed up his first-place finish in the 3000mS from last week to now finishing in second in the 1500m in the 1500m race with a lifetime best of 3:50.22.
• Thomas Weiler and Onix Ortiz Vazquez also had impressive times in the 1500m, as Weiler placed fourth at 3:53.11 and Ortiz placed eighth at 3:56.41.

Women's Races

• Schlageter and Mia McLain placed 1-2 in the 1500m race, as they both posted personal-best times at 4:38.76 and 4:39.38 respectively.
• Erica Fisher and Hannah Martin finished in the top 10 of the 1500m and with personal-best times as well, with Fisher grabbing sixth at 4:45.97 and Martin closing at ninth at 4:48.32.
• Shawna Woodall ran a time of 27.42 in the preliminaries of the 200m that placed seventh and qualified her for the finals race on Saturday afternoon.
• Camryn Cooney clocked the top time for the Ospreys in the 5000m race with a third-place finish at 18:07.55, while Raquel Lespasio ran a time of 18:28.34 that put her in the top six.

Florida Relays
Men's 1500m Race

• Pedroza turned in a sixth-place finish in the men's 1500m race while clocking in a personal-best time of 3:45.11.
• Arnold put together a top-20 finish, as he also made a lifetime best run of 3:51.88 in the 1500m.
• Both Pedroza and Arnold placed first in the their respective heats for the men's 1500m and ran solely against Power Five programs.

PIGG'S THOUGHTS

"Robert [Pedroza] ran three seconds better than his personal-best and hit a really good mark of 3:45. He won heat two and really beat out some good guys, so that was great for him. Aiden [Arnold] won heat three and set a personal-best as well in his second 1500m race of his career. So he's really made big improvements and did a great job today.

For the women, EJ [Schlageter], Mia [McLain], Erica [Fisher] and Hannah [Martin] all had personal-bests down at Embry-Riddle and they all did a really nice job. One of the goals for the girls has been to break the 4:40 mark in the 1500m and having two of them do it in the same race was pretty cool.

I think that the other big performance for us was Gavin [O'Brien] having a great race down to 3:50, which was 11 seconds faster than he's ever ran, so that was a huge breakthrough for him."
-- head coach Jeff Pigg

NEXT UP

The UNF track and field teams complete their weekend of competition on Saturday afternoon during the second days of the ERAU Spikes Classic and the Florida Relays. Events will include the 400m hurdles, the 800m race, and the high jump.