Florida Gators
SEC Championships
Morrison Makes SEC History As Gators Take Third At SECs
Monday, May 15, 2006 | Men's Track and Field
Sophomore All-American Mike Morrison (Willingboro, N.J.) won his second title by winning the high jump, senior All-American Shane Stroup (Highland, Md.) claimed the 800m title and sophomore Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) won the title in the discus in leading the ninth-ranked University of Florida men's track and field team to third place at the 2006 Southeastern Conference Championships on Sunday at John McDonnell Field.
The men's team finished third with 110 points as Arkansas won the meet with 137.50 and Tennessee was second with 124.50. Individually, Morrison finished fourth in the SEC Commissioner's Trophy standings with 21.5 points, while Stockbarger tied for sixth with 18.
Senior All-American Sekou Clarke (Kingston, Jamaica) clocked a career-best time to take second in the 400m and was eighth in the 200m, Alex Harris (Tampa, Fla.) turned in a career-best performance to take second in the triple jump, freshman All-American Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) was third in the 100m and fourth in the 200m, the 4x100m relay of freshman All-American Richard Adu-Bobie (Orleans, Canada), Morrison, Perry and Clarke turned in a third-place finish, the 4x400m relay of sophomore All-American Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.), Clarke, junior Brandon Saltmarsh (Lake Mary, Fla.) and freshman All-American Chris Gilchrist (Broken Arrow, Fla.) finished fourth, freshman Justin Semeyn (Tampa, Fla.) captured fifth in the pole vault, senior Garrett Penton (Clermont, Fla.) was sixth in the pole vault and Stroup took seventh in the 1,500m.
“The guys did an awesome job,” Florida men's coach Mike Holloway said. “For as young as this team is and for us to be in a rebuilding year – finishing third in this conference is an achievement. I thought our field event guys did a great job in scoring more than 60 of our 110 points. Dan Pfaff is doing a great job coaching those guys. Overall, we scored about what we thought we could. We saw what some of our weaknesses are and we will use that to try and get better before the regional meet.”
Morrison became the first athlete since 1957 to win both the high jump and long jump at the SEC Outdoor Championships in the same meet. Making his feat even more impressive is that he hadn't competed in either event since the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships because of a wide array of injuries. Morrison cleared 2.19m/7-2.25 to win the event and he became the first athlete in SEC history to win three outdoor high jump titles outright.
“This one feels so good just because of all the trials and tribulations I've been through all year,” Morrison said. “It was a great competition out there – one of the most fun I've ever been a part of. I really had to work for this one. Like the long jump yesterday, I was nervous for the first couple of jumps, but after that I got in a groove. It's like riding a bike – you don't ever really forget how to do it. Coming into this meet, I considered myself a question mark since I hadn't even practiced jumping since indoors, but I want to thank God and thank my trainers for getting my body ready. It really made this one sweeter.”
Morrison became one of only fifth athletes in school history to win as many as six SEC individual titles. His win also gives the Gators 16 titles in the high jump all-time – the second-most titles for UF in any event.
Stockbarger became the first Gator to win the discus at the SEC meet since Eric Joseph accomplished the feat in 1980. Stockbarger, who already had finishes of fourth in the shot put and sixth in the hammer throw, posted the eighth-best throw in school history to win the discus with a mark of 57.50m/188-8 in windy conditions. The mark ranks third in the NCAA East Region and 15th in the nation. Stockbarger led the event virtually from start to finish after opening with a mark of 54.84m/179-11. That stood until Georgia's Martin Maric momentarily took the lead on his fifth throw at 54.96m/180-4. Throwing immediately after Maric, Stockbarger went back in front at 55.45m/181-11 before setting his PR on his sixth and final throw.
“Going into the last few throws you hope for other guys to do well, but you want to win too,” Stockbarger said. “When a guy comes back on his fifth throw and gets in front, you just have to try and come back. I wanted to take the pressure off myself with my fifth throw and I did. On that last throw, I knew I had it won so I just let it go.”
After finishing seventh in the 1,500m earlier in the evening, Stroup rebounded to claim Florida's first 800m title since Mark Everett won the event in 1990. In fifth place with 200m remaining, Stroup powered his way past the rest of the field and crossed the line in a regional time of 1:49.46.
“I was hoping to win both the 1,500m and 800m, but one out of two isn't too bad,” Stroup said. “After the 1,500m, rather than take myself out mentally, I put it behind me. I was a little ways back, but my plan was to sit back and make it a strength race and stay close enough to get around everyone with 600m left. I just went as fast as I could and came out first.”
In the second scored event of the day, Harris had the best series of his career in the triple jump as he finished second with a career-best leap of 15.75m/51-8.25. He achieved the mark on his first jump and was consistently within that mark on the remainder of his jumps. Following his leap, Harris is now ranked sixth in school history, seventh in the East Region and 15th in the nation. His finish gave him 12 points scored at the SEC meet after he took fifth in the long jump on Saturday.
The 4x100m relay of Adu-Bobie, Morrison, Perry and Clarke gave the Gators six points in the first running event of the evening after crossing the finish line in third with a regional time of 39.61. Following the event, the Gators narrowed the gap between themselves and first-place Arkansas with the Razorbacks having 67 points to Florida's 54 through nine events.
Stroup scored the first points of his career at the SEC outdoor meet when he finished seventh in the 1,500m with a time of 3:48.31. Arkansas finished 2, 5, 6, 8 in the event in expanding its lead over the Gators to 83-56 with Tennessee in third with 48.
Clarke was neck and neck with LSU's Xavier Carter in the 400m until the final 100m when Carter pulled away to win in 45.26. Clarke crossed the finish line in a career-best 45.82 – a time that ranks eighth in the nation and second in the East Region. Following the event, the Gators moved back into second place by one point over Tennessee with 64, while Arkansas maintained the lead with 83.
In the pole vault, Semeyn came out of nowhere to take fifth with a mark of 4.95m/16-2.75. Only two athletes cleared a mark higher, but Semeyn was fifth due to misses with Penton taking sixth after clearing the same height due to misses as well. Semeyn improved on his previous career best by more than a foot, while Penton's mark was also a career best. Tennessee overtook the Gators for second following the event with 84 points with Arkansas first (85) and the Gators third (71).
In the 100m, Perry tied for the seventh-fastest time in school history in finishing third in the 100m dash. Perry clocked a time of 10.27 – the 14th-best mark in the nation this season and the fourth fastest in the East Region. After 14 scored events, the Gators remained in third with 77 points with Tennessee taking over the top spot with 92 and Arkansas second with 85.
Junior Tim Skeper (Hamden, Conn.) battled through elbow injuries to give the Gators a point in the javelin by taking eighth. In just his second competition of the season and his first since late March, Skeper posted a top throw of 59.47m/195-1 on his second attempt. Following the event, Tennessee remained in first with 102 points with Arkansas second (100.50) and the Gators third (89) with only five events left.
Running their third races of the day, Perry took fourth in the 200m with Clarke coming in eighth. Perry clocked a time of 20.63 – just one hundredth behind third-place finisher Rubin Williams of Tennessee. Clarke crossed the line in 21.13 – a mark the ties for the second-best in his career. LSU finished 1-2 in the event and passed the Gators to move into third with 99 points with UF right behind in fourth with 95 as only three events remained.
The men's meet concluded when the team of Middleton, Clarke, Saltmarsh and Gilchrist took fourth in the 4x400m with a regional time of 3:09.58.
The Gators will return to action in two weeks when UF travels to the NCAA East Regional Championships in Greensboro, N.C. on May 26-27.
Men's Team Scores
1. Arkansas, 137.50; 2. Tennessee, 126.50; 3. Florida, 110; 4. LSU, 109; 5. South Carolina, 77; 6. Alabama, 67.50; 7. Kentucky, 58; 8. Georgia, 52.50; 9. Auburn, 31; 9. Mississippi, 31; 11. Mississippi State, 19.
Men's SEC Champions (4)
Mike Morrison – High Jump
Mike Morrison – Long Jump
Wes Stockbarger – Discus
Shane Stroup – 800m
