Florida Gators
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Walker Wins 110m Title; T & F 2nd Entering Final Day At NCAAs
Saturday, June 11, 2005 | Men's Track and Field
Senior Josh Walker (Stone Mountain, Ga.) won his second straight title in the 110m hurdles to lead the No. 3 University of Florida men's track and field team to second on the third day of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Friday evening at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
The Gators enter the final day of competition in second place with athletes in four events and one relay remaining. Arkansas leads the meet with 32 points, while the Gators are next in line with 23 followed by Virginia Tech with 18.
The Gator men's 4x100m relay of freshman Richard Adu-Bobie (Orleans, Canada), sophomore Mike Morrison (Willingboro, N.J.), senior Kyle Farmer (Columbia, Md.) and sophomore Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) posted the second-fastest time in school history to take second, while Longfors gave the women their first points of the meet. In addition, sophomore Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) advanced to the finals in the 400m hurdles.
"We had another great day - the guys competed hard and did an outstanding job," Florida men's coach Mike Holloway said. "We've done about what we could do scoring wise so far. We've got five finals to compete in tomorrow and we'll take it and see what happens."
Walker became just the ninth individual in the 85-year history of the event to win the NCAA 110m hurdle title in back-to-back seasons. Walker took control of the race after the third hurdle before cruising to the win in 13.39 - three hundredths faster than Antwon Hicks of Mississippi. The win was the 23rd for Walker in his career as he ends his Gator run with six All-America honors.
"Am I surprised I won again - I'd be lying if I said no," Walker said. "Today, I was just better than the other guys. It was a little harder last year because I came in with a lot to prove. I'm never the first person to the first hurdle, but I try to be patient and I came on after the third and just tried to hold on. Coach Holloway and I came into the meet focused and prepared and accomplished what we set out to do."
Said Holloway," I couldn't be prouder of Josh. After not winning SECs this year, he came up to me and said that he'd rather be an NCAA champion than an SEC champion and he came out and proved that today."
With the win in the 110m hurdles, the Gators moved into second place with 22 points after eight events were scored. Arkansas maintained its lead with 32 points.
Following the hurdles, Farmer picked up a point for the Gators in the 100m as he finished seventh in earning his eighth career All-America honor and first in the 100m. Farmer clocked a time of 10.45 in the race with Florida State's Walter Dix winning in 10.21. After the event, the Gators narrowed Arkansas' lead to 32-23 with 10 events scored.
Earlier in the day, the 4x100m relay clocked a time of 38.54 seconds - the third-fastest in the world in 2005 and the second best in school history. Arkansas won the event in 38.49 as the race came down to the final legs with the Razorbacks' Omar Brown fending off Florida's Clement. The second-place finish marks the third straight season the Gators have finished in the top four after winning in 2004 and finishing fourth in 2003. After the event the Gators moved to fifth place with Arkansas leading the meet with 24.
Clement, the defending NCAA champion in the 400m hurdles, advanced to the finals at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday after winning his semifinal heat in a time of 48.66, which was the second best of the day.
Sophomore Reggie Witherspoon (Marietta, Ga.) missed qualifying to the finals of the 400m after taking fifth in his heat with a career-best time of 45.42, which also ranks as the sixth fastest in school history. The eighth and final qualifier advanced with a time of 45.22 as Witherspoon took ninth overall. Junior Sekou Clarke (Kingston, Jamaica) was seventh in the same heat with a time of 46.61 and was 14th overall.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships continue through Saturday. Live results can be found at www.ncaasports.com.
Top 10 Men's Standings (11 events scored)
1. Arkansas 32; 2. Florida 23; 3. Virginia Tech 21; 4. Boise State 18; 4. Florida State 18; 6. Oregon 16; 7. Texas 15; 7. Arizona 15; 7. Auburn 15; 7. USC 15.
Men NCAA Champions
110m hurdles - Josh Walker
Men All-Americans
100m - Kyle Farmer
110m hurdles - Josh Walker
Long Jump - Mike Morrison
4x100m - Richard Adu-Bobie, Mike Morrison, Kyle Farmer, Kerron Clement
Men Advancing to Finals
200m - Kyle Farmer
400m hurdles - Kerron Clement
1,500m - Shane Stroup
High jump - Mike Morrison
4x400m relay - Sekou Clarke, Reggie Witherspoon, Stefan Pastor, Kerron Clement
* All times pacific
