Morrison, Moser, Stockbarger Win SEC Titles To Lead T&F Teams At SEC Championships
Sunday, February 25, 2007 | General
University of Florida senior Mike Morrison (Willingboro, N.J.) fought through injuries to win his third consecutive long jump title and sophomore Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) broke the school record to win the shot put to lead the No. 19 Florida men's track and field team, while junior Natalie Moser (Tampa, Fla.) claimed her first crown in the pole vault on the second day of competition at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships Saturday at Nutter Field House.
The men's team enters the final day of the meet in second place after totaling 34 points through four events. Arkansas is in first (46) with Georgia (26) in third. On the women's side, Arkansas leads the meet with 45 points with Georgia (36) second, Tennessee (25) third and the Gators in fifth (18).
For the men, Morrison posted the nation's sixth-best mark (7.73m/25-4.50) to win the long jump with Stockbarger notching the UF record and fifth-best toss in the country in the shot put (19.44m/63-9.50) and freshman Mike Morrison (Chesapeake, Va.) took third in the heptathlon with a school record 5,652 points to pace Florida.
On the women's side, Moser claimed the pole vault title with a career-best tying mark of 4.17m/13-8.25 to match her own school record to lead UF, which also had three athletes advance to finals on Sunday.
On the men's side, UF qualified eight athletes in nine events to Sunday's finals with freshman Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) leading the way by tying for the world's fourth-fastest time this year in the 400m (46.05) and adding the nation's seventh-best time in the 200m (20.98), while Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) tied for the nation's ninth-best 60m time (6.67).
“We did about was well as I thought we could do today, though I was pleasantly surprised in some areas and disappointed in others,” Florida men's head coach Mike Holloway said. “What can you say about the older Mike Morrison? He competed in two events at the same time and won one and was second in the other. Wes Stockbarger came through in the biggest meet of his career with a school record in the shot put. And, I was really proud of the younger Mike Morrison. To be so close to a couple of All-American decathletes in his first SEC meet is a great job by him.
“We've got an athlete in every final tomorrow and I'm very pleased about that,” Holloway said. “The key is that we can't go home tonight satisfied. We've got a huge fight tomorrow and we're looking forward to it.”
Other women's scorers included sophomore Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.), who finished in fifth place in the weight throw, while junior teammate Chinelo Ubaka (Tallahassee, Fla.) was eighth. Freshman Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) contributed two points for UF by finishing in seventh place in the long jump, while junior Lindsay Sundell (Fort Solonga, N.Y.) was the final point scorer for the Gators on the day finishing the 3,000m in eighth place.
“The win by Natalie was really big,” women's associate head coach Steve Lemke said. “For her to come in as a junior and tied with the second-best mark in the conference, I thought she did an excellent job competing. She didn't have a miss until the 4.17m height, and she took control of the event early on by putting pressure on the competitors from Arkansas. Coach Chris Leeuwenburgh has done a great job keeping Natalie healthy and confident, so both Chris and Natalie need to be congratulated for their hard work.”
For the men, Morrison came up shy in his bid to claim the high jump and long jump titles for the third consecutive SEC Championship meet. Competing in the events simultaneously, Morrison posted a mark of 7.73m/25-4.50 on his second attempt in the long jump, which turned out to be the winning mark by one centimeter over Arkansas' Alain Bailey. The title was Morrison's third straight in the long jump following crowns at the 2006 indoor and outdoor SEC meets and he became the seventh athlete in conference history to accomplish that feat.
“I felt like I competed well in the long jump, but I was a little disappointed with how I did in the high jump,” said Morrison, who won the ninth SEC title of his career – third most in UF history. “I wish I was healthy so that I could come out and compete against a guy of such a high caliber like Donald Thomas. But, I was fortunate to come out here and get a win in the long jump and fortunate to get a qualifying mark in the high jump. Hopefully, I'll be healthier for nationals in a few weeks.”
After his second attempt in the long jump, Morrison then sprinted over to the high jump competition where he missed on his first two attempts before clearing 2.12m/6-11.50. Morrison then surpassed 2.15m/7-0.50 on his second try to secure second place. Next, he jumped 2.18m/7-1.75 on his second attempt to match Thomas. With Arkansas' Bailey, who also competed in the high jump, having returned to the long jump for his final two attempts, Morrison withdrew from the high jump and returned to the long jump in case his mark was surpassed. That didn't occur and Morrison passed on his last long jump attempt having already won the title. The crown was the ninth indoor long jump title in school history – one shy of Auburn for the all-time most in the SEC.
Stockbarger improved on his previous career best by more than a foot to break the school record and win the first indoor SEC title in the shot put by a Gator since 1992. Dwight Johnson had set the previous UF record at 63-1.25, but Stockbarger shattered that mark on his second attempt (19.44m/63-9.25) to win the event by 13 centimeters. It was Stockbarger's second SEC title of his career after he won the discus at the 2006 outdoor meet.
“Daniel (Vanek) from Georgia had just thrown 19.31 before I threw, so I just got in there and tried to get it done,” Stockbarger said. “It feel's great to win the SEC title and break the school record and finally put some things together in a meet. Now, I'm just looking forward going out and competing at nationals.”
Following the shot put, the Gators overtook Arkansas for first by one point with 28 after three events.
Moser became the first Gator to become an SEC champion in the pole vault since 2002 when Megan Westfall earned the title. Both Moser and Arkansas' Jodi Unger cleared the height of 4.17m/13-8.25, but Moser was able to achieve the height on her second attempt while Unger made the height on her third attempt. Moser nearly overcome the bar at the next height of 4.25m/13-11.75, however both competitors missed all three attempts at the height to secure the SEC victory for Moser and 10 points for the Gators in the team standings. For the season, Moser has now recorded an NCAA provisional mark five times and earned a victory four times this season.
“I really wanted to get that last height, but I'm glad I tied my personal-best. That's awesome,” Moser said. “It has been a little crazy using these new longer poles, since the only time we use them are in meets. I'm hoping I'll be able to clear an even better height soon, but to be an SEC champion is always a plus, and it's a lot of fun too.”
In the heptathlon, Morrison broke his own school record in finishing third with 5,652 points – the seventh-highest total in the nation in 2007. He remained in third after five events after posting the third-best time in the 60m at 8.37 to record 891 points. With his total of 3,939, Morrison was only 23 out of second. He moved into second after winning the pole vault with a mark of 5.15m/16-10.75 to pick up 957 points. Entering the 1,000m, Morrison was in second with (4,896), but wound up in third by just four points after taking third in the event in 2:50.94 (756 points).
After the heptathlon, the Gators still were in first place with 34 points with Arkansas second with 29 through four events, but the Razorbacks scored 17 in the final event of the day, the 3,000m, to move ahead with 46.
For the women, in the opening meet of the day the Gators picked up five points in the weight throw. Williams took fifth place with a mark of 18.24m/59-10.25 to earn four points, while Ubaka finished eighth with a throw of 17.26m/56-7.57 to pick up one point.
In the long jump, Proctor contributed two points for UF by finishing in seventh place with a leap of 6.08m/19-11.50, which was just two inches shy of her personal best in the event.
Sundell was the final point scorer for the Gators on the day after finishing the 3,000m in eighth place to earn a point for UF. Her time of 9:30.66 was a personal-best and provisionally qualified her for the NCAA championship meet.
On the men's side, Smith led the way for men advancing to finals on Sunday after he blazed to a time of 46.05 in the 400m. The mark ties for the fourth-best time in the world in 2007 as well as tying for the No. 1 collegiate time in the country. It also ranked as the fourth-best mark in Florida history. In the 200m, he crossed the finish line in 20.98 – the nation's seventh-best time and the 10th-fastest mark in school history.
Hall won his 60m heat in 6.67 – an NCAA provisional mark, the ninth-fastest time in the country this season and the fifth best in Florida history.
Sophomore Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) and junior Eric Alberter (Benton, Ill.) moved on to Sunday's 800m final. Alberter clocked the third-fastest time of the prelims (1:51.33), while Phillips was right behind with the fourth-best mark (1:51.36).
Sophomores Kallinka Pitt (Largo, Fla.) and Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) advanced to Sunday's 60m hurdles final. Both clocked times of 8.00, but Pitt was slightly ahead to register the seventh-best prelim time, while Martin's mark was a career best and good enough for eighth.
Sophomore Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) moved on to Sunday's final in the 200m with the ninth and final qualifying spot after clocking a time of 21.31.
Junior Jose Garcia (Miami, Fla.) qualified for Sunday's mile final with the 10th and last spot after taking seventh in a fast heat with a time of 4:12.57 – the second-fastest indoor time of his career.
For the women, the three Gators that qualified for finals include senior Nadine Palmer (Manchester, Jamaica) in the 200m, junior Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) in the mile and junior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) in the 800m. Palmer ran the 200m in an NCAA provisional mark and personal-best 23.51 to finish preliminaries with the seventh-fastest time to advance to finals. Her mark was also the fourth-best in school history. Johnson qualified for finals in the mile by finishing third in the first heat of the event in 4:51.77. Johnson's mark was her fastest of the season and was the fifth fastest overall in the prelims. McKenzie ran the 800m in the seventh-fastest time of the day at 2:10.15 to reach finals.
Palmer also ran an NCAA provisional time of 7.44 in the 60m to finish the event in 10th place. Her time actually broke down to 7.4372, which was just 0.002 off of the last time that qualified for finals in the event.
Junior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) also just missed reaching finals in the 200m after finishing 10th with a time of 23.77, just 0.04 seconds off of the last qualifying time. It was Knight's first provisional qualifying mark of the season and third of her career in the event.
Competition will conclude on Sunday with the first event set to begin at 10 a.m. Live results can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
Men's Team Scoring (through five events):
1. Arkansas, 46; 2. Florida, 34; 3. Georgia, 26; 4. Tennessee, 21; 5. Auburn, 19; 6. Alabama, 15; 6. LSU, 15; 8. Kentucky, 8; 9. Mississippi, 7; 10. South Carolina, 4.
Women's Team Scoring (through five events):
1. Arkansas, 45; 2. Georgia, 36; 3. Tennessee, 25; 4. LSU, 19; 5. Florida, 18; 6. Mississippi, 15; 7. South Carolina, 9; 8. Vanderbilt, 8; 9. Kentucky, 7; 10. Alabama, 6; 11. Mississippi State, 4; 12. Auburn, 3.
Florida Men's SEC Champions (2):
Mike Morrison – Long Jump
Natalie Moser – Pole Vault
Wes Stockbarger – Shot Put
Florida Women's SEC Champions (1):
Natalie Moser – Pole Vault
Men's Athletes Advancing To Finals (8 athletes, 9 events):
Eric Alberter – 800m
Jose Garcia - Mile
Jeremy Hall – 60m
Dennis Martin – 60m Hurdles
Willie Perry – 200m
Kallinka Pitt – 60m Hurdles
Carlos Phillips – 800m
Calvin Smith – 200m, 400m
Women's Athletes Advancing To Finals (3 athletes, 3 events):
Kristen Johnson – Mile
Lorain McKenzie – 800m
Nadine Palmer – 200m
