Notable performances by hurdler David Oliver and sprinter Xavier 'X-Man' Carter highlighted the first day of the 64th Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida, on Friday (04 Apr).

The 25-year-old Oliver, a semi-finalist at both the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and at the World Indoor Championships last month in Valencia, stormed to a 13.10 victory in the 110m Hurdles, pushed by a +2.4 m/s wind. Oliver, a prodigious racer, indicated that his legal PB of 13.14 set at the Doha Super Grand Prix meeting last year, is under threat. Indeed, many hurdlers consider tailwinds as more of a hindrance than assistance.

Eric Mitchum was a distant second in 13.34.

Carter, who blasted to the athletics forefront after his 19.63 200m performance in Lausanne in July 2006, opened his season with a comfortable 10.15 victory in the 100m (+2.0). It was the fastest the 22-year-old has run so early in a season. His 100m PB of 10.09 was set with his victory at the 2006 NCAA Championships, when he became the first man since Jesse Owens to collect four victories at the NCAA meet.

Injury in the 200m semi-finals at the US championships last June limited Carter's 2007 campaign, although he returned late in the season to win the 200m in Zurich (19.92) and finish second in Brussels.

Jamaican Steve Mullings, a 4x100m Relay silver medallist in Osaka last summer, was second in 10.19.

The leading performance on the field was produced by Brittney Reese in the Long Jump. The 21-year-old Osaka finalist leaped 6.89 with the help of a +2.4 m/s wind. Wind notwithstanding, her mark was just shy of the 6.83m she reached in the Osaka qualifying round last August. Reese, the NCAA indoor long jump champion, competed almost simultaneously in the High Jump which she also won with a 1.80m effort.

Elsewhere, former 400m Hurdles World champion Bershawn Jackson won the flat 400 in 45.55 over Calvin Smith Jr (46.11), the son of former 100m World record holder Calvin Smith; LeRon Bennett won the 400m Hurdles in 49.39, barely edging Andrian Findly (49.42); and 2005 World Championships 400m Hurdles silver medallist Lashinda Demus won the 400m sans hurdles in 52.05.

The leading performance in the massive high school division was turned in by 18-year-old Jeffery Demps, who won the 100m in 10.17.

The Florida Relays have been held every year since 1939 except during World War II (1942-46) and in 2006 when construction to facilities surrounding Percy Beard Track prevented the meet from being contested. The 1959 edition was a historic meet, as the University of Florida unveiled the first all-weather track surface in the world.

The meet concludes today with a full slate of relay and field events, as well as invitational men's and women's 200m races.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF