2009 Men's Track and Field Preview
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 | Track and Field
For years, the Florida men's track and field team has been one of the top squads in the Southeastern Conference. Looking back on the team's past success, it would be easy to pick a specific athlete or event area that really provided the spark that fueled the Gators.
If one were to ask head coach Mike Holloway, who enters his seventh season directing the men's track and field program and his 14th year overall with the Gators, to name the person he expects to lead the 2009 edition of the squad, he wouldn't have a hard time coming up with an answer. Everyone.
“I really believe that in my 14 years here, this may be the most balanced men's team that we've ever had at the University of Florida,” Holloway said. “I'm very, very excited about this year's team. We had a bit of a breakthrough last year getting back into the top 10 indoors. All of our young men are back this year and we have a great recruiting class coming in.”
To say that Florida has a great recruiting class coming in may be a strong understatement. After all, the Gators' incoming freshmen were named the nation's No. 1 recruiting class, as judged by Track & Field News in the publication's January 2009 issue.
“I think our new crew may possibly be the best recruiting class we've ever had top to bottom. Adding them to the group we already have may make this overall the best team we've had here in a long time.”
SPRINTS, HURDLES AND RELAYS
Perhaps the biggest strength of the 2009 Florida men's track and field team will be the squad's sprints, hurdles and relays, corps. In 2008, the Gators in that event area captured a combined 25 All-America honors, including a combined eight top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships last season.
Junior Calvin Smith leads Florida in the sprints after qualifying to be part of the 4x400m relay pool at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Smith captured five All-America honors during the course of the 2008 campaign, including running legs on UF's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
Jeremy Hall, as a sophomore last season, picked up nine event wins during the season and earned All-America honors in both the 100m and the 4x100m relay team during the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Campaign. He also was an All-America selection in the 60m at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Sophomore Terrell Wilks captured the first All-America honors of his career at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships, running the second-leg of the third-place 4x100m relay. He also captured All-East Region honors in both the 100m and the 4x100m.
“Jeremy Hall, Calvin Smith and Terrell Wilks are all guys coming off of great seasons where they all had breakthrough years,” Holloway said. “We have all of our members back from the 4x100 relay that was third in the NCAA last year and we're very excited about what our sprinters are going to do.”
A pair of standouts from the Florida football team also will look to aid the track squad with speed. Freshman Jeff Demps, the fastest high-schooler ever (10.01), and sophomore Chris Rainey, who earned All-America honors last season will be an important part of the team's sprints and relays.
“We're obviously excited about having Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey from the football team this year to help us out in the sprints,” Holloway said.
Hurdlers Dennis Martin and Kalinka Pitt are both improved from a year ago and look to have breakthrough seasons in 2009.
“Kalinka Pitt and Dennis Martin both had great years last year,” Holloway said. “With both of those guys back this year, we should be in good shape in the hurdles.”
Florida welcomes freshman William Wynne, a two-time USA Today All-American and the 2007 USATF Track and Field Youth Athlete of the Year to the squad's hurdle corps. He set the world youth record in the 400m hurdles in 2007.
“William Wynne is a very talented long and short hurdler,” Holloway said. “We are very excited to have him on our team and are looking forward to what he will do for us this season.”
DISTANCE AND MIDDLE DISTANCE
When looking at his roster for the 2009 season, first-year Florida distance coach Todd Morgan needs to look no farther than senior Jeremy Criscione to find the leader for his corps.
Criscione is coming off his first career All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing the 10K race in a career-best time of 29:55.90 to place 20th overall. He became the first cross country athlete in Gator history to earn an All-America honor since the 1986 season.
Senior Enoch Nadler also will help provide leadership and stability for the Florida distance corps in 2009.
“When we talk long distance, we have to talk about Jeremy Criscione,” Holloway said. “He has really been the backbone of that distance group for the last few years. Enoch Nadler has always shown up big in the big races for us and we will count on him this season as well.”
The team's middle-distance runners will be anchored by senior Carlos Phillips, an indoor All-American in 2008, who has shown consistent improvement throughout his time in Gainesville. LaMarr Davis, who ran on Florida's 4x400m relay that earned All-America honors both indoors and outdoors last year, also will be expected to step up in 2009.
“Carlos Phillips is one of the top returning middle distance guys in the country,” Holloway said. “He was a 1:54 guy in high school who is now at 1:46 and we really expect him to do great things this year. We are also looking for great things from LaMarr Davis. He had somewhat of a transition year last year, but he's having a wonderful fall and we're looking for great things out of him.”
THROWS
Senior Beau Burroughs, the 2008 SEC Indoor Shot Put Champion and an All-American in that event last indoor season, returns to anchor Florida's throws corps in 2009. His mark at the 2008 SEC Indoor Championships (18.53m/60-9.50) was the
sixth-best indoor shot put toss in school history.
Additionally, the Gators welcome Kemal Mesic, a native of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and an experienced member of the Bosnian National Team to their 2009 throws roster with expectations for him to perform well this season.
“I'm excited about our throws this year,” Holloway said. “We have an SEC Indoor Champion back in Beau Burroughs in the shot put and we also have an incoming freshman Kemal Mesic, who we expect to do big things for us this year.”
Adam Montague, the NCAA third-place finisher in the javelin in 2008, will redshirt the 2009 campaign, but throws Coach Steve Lemke looks for strong performances out of sophomores freshman Mario Ariet and sophomore Doug Nelson.
“Coach Lemke is very excited about what Doug and Mario can do for us this year,” Holloway said. “Both of those guys can be conference scorers in the javelin.”
JUMPS
The future for the Florida men's jumps program is now, as Eugene Martin, the 2008 SEC Indoor high jump champion, returns for the Gators, who also welcome the nation's top high school triple-jumper Christian Taylor to their 2009 roster.
Martin won the SEC Indoor Championship in the high jump with the best leap of his career – 2.05m/6-8.75 – which moved him into a tie for ninth-place all-time on the school's indoor top-10 chart. He also finished 10th at the NCAA East Regional in the event.
Taylor, part of a gold-medal winning 4x400 relay team at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships, is the 2008 Gatorade State Athlete of the Year for Georgia. He is a 10-time state champion, winning titles in the long jump, triple jump, 400m and 4x100m and 4x400m relays in both his junior and senior seasons.
“Eugene Martin, the SEC Indoor Champion and the SEC Outdoor Runner-Up is coming back for us in the high jump this year,” Holloway said. “I'm also very excited about Christian Taylor, who was the best high school triple-jumper in the country last year. We are looking forward to what Christian can do.”
Football player Wondy-Pierre Louis, who was Florida's top indoor long-jump performer last season with a leap of 7.66m/25-1.75 at the SEC Indoor Championships, returns again this season in that event.
“We're excited to have Wondy back out from football,” Holloway said. “Coach [Rana] Reider really believes he can be a national scorer.”
SCHEDULE
Three home meets, including the 2009 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, highlight the 2009 University of Florida track and field schedule, the second year of the combined program.
“Our schedule, as always, is set up to prepare us for championship meets,” Holloway said. “We have our meets strategically placed to help our athletes get ready for the SEC and NCAA Championships. We are excited to host the SEC Outdoor Championships and always look forward to hosting the Florida Relays in April.”
Florida begins the 2009 indoor season in Lexington, Ky., Jan. 16-17 at the Kentucky Invitational before returning home to play host to the second-annual Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The Gators then travel to the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in College Station, Texas, before sending split squads to the Iowa State Classic (Ames, Iowa) and the Tyson Invitational (Fayetteville, Ark.) Feb. 13-14.
The SEC Indoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Kentucky for the second time in three years at its E.J. Nutter Field House Feb. 26-March 1. Florida will then send athletes to three different last-chance meets at Arkansas, Iowa State and Notre Dame before the NCAA Outdoor Championships take place in College Station, Texas, March 13-14.
The outdoor season starts on March 21 when the squad travels to the UCF Black and Gold Challenge in Orlando, Fla. The next weekend, athletes travel to the Florida State Relays and the UCF Invitational, before the Gators return home to host the 65th-annual Pepsi Florida Relays at Percy Beard Track.
The team's multi-event athletes head to Azusa, Calif., to participate in the Azusa Pacific Multi's April 15-16 and then the entire team travels to SEC foe Auburn to compete in the Auburn Invitational. Florida makes its annual trip to the Penn Relays at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia April 23-25 and closes its regular season at the Seminole Twilight Invitational in Tallahassee May 8-9.
The SEC Outdoor Championships take place in Gainesville May 14-17 before the NCAA East Regional is held May 29-30 in Greensboro, N.C. The NCAA Outdoor Championships are scheduled for June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
END OF REPORT
