GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In reviewing the 2016-17 athletic campaign, our first installment hit on 10 of the most memorable team performances of the athletic year.
You can't have great team performances without some great individual ones, but there are also those instances that just warrant mention because of their historical or record-book significance.
Here are 10 that stood out.
Feel free to debate.
1) FAEDO EN FUEGO
Big-name player. Big-time games. The biggest of stages.
What more could
Kevin O'Sullivan have asked for from his ace pitcher
Alex Faedo? And what more from his final UF season could Faedo have gotten? The Gators won a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title. The Detroit Tigers made Faedo their first-round draft pick the same day Florida defeated Wake Forest to win its Super Regional and clinch a third straight trip to the College World Series.
And then, once in Omaha, Faedo was basically unhittable.
He was, by definition, unscored upon.
(OK, so that's not really a word, but you get the point)
Faedo fired 14 1/3 scoreless innings in his two CWS games, running his NCAA Tournament totals to 27 1/3 innings, one earned run and 44 strikeouts. In the two games, Faedo struck out 11 batters each to become one of just five pitchers over the last 30 years (and the first since 2010) to fan more than 10 in two games at the CWS.
He wasn't on the mound for either of the Gators' wins in the championship series against LSU, but he was the reason they were in it the first place.
Now, it's on to bigger and better things, but what a way to go out.
2) JEFFERSON'S HISTORIC DASH
Kyra Jefferson rejoices after running into women's collegiate track and field history.
Twenty-eight years.
That's how long it had been since a collegiate woman had run the 200 meters as fast as
Kyra Jefferson did in winning the event at the NCAA Championships at Eugene, Ore.
Jefferson, the senior from Detroit, blistered the track in 22.02, breaking the NCAA mark of 22.04, set by LSU"s
Dawn Sowell in 1989. In doing so, Jefferson became just the fourth American woman in the event's history to run the 200 in 22.02 or better before their 23rd birthday. The previous three —
Evelyn Ashford,
Marion Jones and
Allyson Felix — went on to total 15 Olympic gold medals between them.
We very well could be hearing from Jefferson, the alum, at future World Championships and Olympics.
3) NEW AD ERA
Scott Stricklin, the 14th athletic director in UF history, meets the press at his introductory news conference.
On Sept. 27, UF president
Kent Fuchs introduced
Scott Stricklin as the 14th athletic director in Gators history.
Stricklin, by way of Mississippi State, replaced one of the best in the business,
Jeremy Foley, who announced three months earlier his plan to retire in the fall. A search committee did its diligence before locking in one of the true up-and-comers in the business. Stricklin, now 47, came with a reputation as one of the most respected and innovative minds in the business, armed as well with a flair and touch for fan engagement and the game-day experience. He officially came on board Nov. 1 and used his first several months to get the lay of the UAA land.
Worth noting: On May 23, Stricklin was in Athens, Ga., when the Florida women defeated Stanford to win the national championship. It was the program's seventh NCAA crown.
It was Stricklin's first in any sport as an AD. "Pretty cool," he said that night.
'Coach Cam' Newbauer
Bonus new-guy mention: Another introductory news conference certainly was worth mention and that was the arrival of
Cameron Newbauer, marking the first coaching change in the women's basketball program in 10 years. Stricklin's first hire stepped to the podium March 28, assuming the post occupied since 2007 by former UF alum
Amanda Butler. Newbauer (a.k.a. "Coach Cam") arrived by way of Belmont, a mid-major power that won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference regular-season
and tournament titles the last two seasons while playing an exciting, 3-point-bombing brand of basketball. The 10th women's basketball coach in Florida history also became the first male to take the reigns of the program.
Welcome.
Both of you.
4) ALEX McEVERYTHING
Hopefully, the McMurtry family's home in Midlothian, Va., has a trophy room.
It may even need two.
Alex McMurtry absolutely dominated the 2017 gymnastics season from an individual standpoint. No, the Gators did not win the national championship, instead finishing third. But McMurtry, the SEC Gymnast of the Year and SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, put on a spectacular show at the NCAA meet in winning the all-around title and sharing the individual crown on the uneven bars, nailing a perfect 10 on her final routine. And she also received the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest grade-point average at the national championship site.
Later that month, McMurtry was tabbed at the Honda awards ceremony as the nation's top collegiate athlete in her sport, the fourth UF gymnast to be so honored in the program's history, joining former teammates
Bridget Sloan (2013, '16) and
Kytra Hunter (2012, '15), as well as
Ann Woods (1982).
But they may want to keep clearing space in Midlothian. McMurtry will be a senior this fall.
5) SMOKE ON THE WATER
Junior Caeleb Dressel probably pulled a hamstring climbing to the top of the championship podiums during his rampage through the SEC and NCAA championship meets.
Six months after claiming a pair of Olympic gold medals and swimming alongside U.S. teammate and his sport's greatest legend,
Michael Phelps,
UF junior
Caeleb Dressel doubled down on his 2016 SEC Male Swimmer of the Year honors by winning it for a second straight.
That, along with the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as the sports' national swimmer of the year a few weeks later.
After winning the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 free and teaming up for first-place finishes in relays at the SEC championships (where the Gators captured a fifth straight team crown, by the way), Dressel sped to NCAA titles in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 free, along the way breaking the American, NCAA and U.S. Open marks in the 100 fly and free. He also pitched in to help the Gators garner All-America honors in four of the five relays at NCAAs, including top-three finishes in the 200 and 400 free relays.
Still with a year to go, Dressel now ranks second in program history with six national titles, behind only
Ryan Lochte (7).
6) TOAST TOSTI OF THE SEC
Alejandro Tosti
His first two seasons as a Gator were mostly about potential, but
Alejandro Tosti's third season was about achievement.
Tosti, the junior from Argentina, fired a bogey-free round of 67 on the final day to finish the SEC Championship stroke-play format with a three-day score of 10-under par, thanks to rounds of 64 and 69 to start the tourney off. That was good enough to put him in a playoff against Vanderbilt's
Patrick Martin. The two halved the first hole, but Tosti carded a par to Martin's bogey on the second hole, giving the Gator the SEC medalist title.
It was the 21st time a UF player had captured the league's individual crown.
After elevating his game, both on and off the course, UF coach
J.C. Deacon believes Tosti's best golf is very much ahead of him. Tosti, who ended the season as Florida's leader in stroke average (70.04), opted to return to the Gators for his senior year, rather than turn pro.
7) WOOLCOCK WON UNTIL TANK WAS EMPTY
So about that Honda Award that goes to the best in her respective sport? McMurtry wasn't the only Gator who won it. So did softball's
Kelly Barnhill, who led the nation in ERA and strikeouts per nine innings. And so did
Belinda Woolcock, who led the Gators' team to a national championship … then played for the singles title after that.
Woolcock, from Melbourne, Australia, played No. 1 singles the entire season for the Gators, going 23-11 overall (including 7-2 in SEC play) — as well as 29-7 in doubles — and 16-8 against ranked opponents. Woolcock did not lose a match in the NCAA Tournament, including straight-set wins in UF's semifinal defeat of Vanderbilt (which beat the Gators in both the regular season and SEC Tournament) and in the finals against defending national champion Stanford.
The day after the Gators upended the Cardinal, Woolcock was back on the court for the singles draw and rolled to five wins over the next five days before running out of gas in the finals against Michigan's
Brienne Minor.
In becoming the first UF player to reach the singles final since 2002, Woolcock had to play 11 matches in as many days, not to mention her doubles matches during the team competition alongside partner
Josie Kuhlman, showing tremendous stamina. And heart.
8) TRIPLE CHEEZ
About six weeks before
Chris Chiozza treated Florida fans to four of the most scintillating seconds in UF sports history (anyone remember the Wisconsin game?), the junior point guard put himself in the history books in a completely different way.
With the fourth triple-double ever amassed by a Florida player.
Chris Chiozza did a lot of everything in UF's trouncing of Missouri on the way to just the fourth triple-double ever amassed by a Gator.
The Gators destroyed Missouri 93-54 on Feb. 2 at Exactech Arena, winning a third straight game by at least 30 points, something no UF team had ever done. Against the outmanned Tigers, the 6-foot Chiozza scored 12 points, grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and — thanks to a late
Devin Robinson 3-pointer — dished out 10 assists to join
Corey Brewer (once in 2005) and
Nick Calathes (one in '08, another in '09) as the only Gators to put a triple-double in a Florida box score.
That game was played on a Thursday night. It's worth noting that just over 48 hours later, Chiozza had nine points and nine rebounds in a 22-point blowout of No. 8 Kentucky.
9) RONNI STRIKES CHORD IN MUSIC CITY
Her senior season did not play out the way
Ronni Williams wanted, but the Florida forward certainly made her mark en route to first-team All-SEC honors as the league's scoring leader. Along the way, she left quite an impression on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
On Jan. 29, Williams poured in a career-high 43 points in a 93-73 victory at Memorial Coliseum, marking the third-highest individual output by a Florida women's player. Williams fell just two points shy of
Quientella Bonner's school-record mark of 45, set in 1977 against Tennessee-Chattanooga, and one point short of runner-up
Merlakia Jones, who went for 44 in 1995 against Texas.
Williams finished 14-for-23 from the floor, plus 15-for-17 from the free-throw line, while also stuffing the box score with 14 rebounds, four steals and three assists.
When her fabulous career was done, Williams left UF as the No. 12 all-time scorer (1,492 points) and No. 12 all-time rebounder (818). In April, she was selected by the Indiana Fever in the second round of the WNBA draft.
10) FRESHMAN STEALS OUTBACK SPOTLIGHT
Chauncey Gardner Jr., a freshman safety from Cocoa Beach, Fla., was forced to grow up in a hurry when starter and NFL-bound senior
Marcus Maye broke his arm against South Carolina. Gardner's next three games came at LSU, at Florida State, against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and in the Outback Bowl against Iowa.
Though Gardner acquitted himself nicely in the first three, it was in Tampa against the Hawkeyes that the rookie truly opened some eyes, intercepting a pair of fourth-quarter passes and returning one for a 58-yard touchdown to help Florida put away a 30-3 victory.
For his performance, Gardner was named the game's MVP, becoming just the fourth Gators defensive back to be so honored in a bowl game, joining
Dave Hudson (1958 Gator Bowl),
Tony Lily ('83 Gator Bowl) and
Ahmad Black (2011 Outback).
Gardner also became just the second UF true freshman to win a bowl MVP.
The other was
Emmitt Smith.
