2009 Women's Track and Field Preview
Friday, December 26, 2008 | Track and Field
The 2009 edition of the Florida women's track and field team will unquestionably have a different make-up than last year's team that finished tied for eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, but second-year head coach Mike Holloway expects the results to be the same.
Florida's top-10 national finishes came in large part to the success of its sprints, hurdles and relays. That senior-laden group compiled a total of eight All-America honors at the two championships with veterans Lakecia Ealey, Natalie Knight and Dominique McLeggan leading the way.
But, Holloway feels that with the success of the team's field event athletes, led by 2008 NCAA Indoor Shot Put Champion Mariam Kevkhishvili, and the distance running corps, led by two-time Southeastern Conference Champion Rebecca Lowe, the Gators can surpass their success from the previous year.
"We had a breakthrough year last year with the women finishing top 10 indoors and outdoors," Holloway said. "That's something we certainly want to continue. The women this year are going to be more reliant on our field events and our distance events than in past years. We are very young in our sprints and hurdles this year, but we have every expectation to again be a top-10 program this year."
SPRINTS, HURDLES AND RELAYS
The loss of a number of key athletes in the sprints, hurdles and relays leaves Florida with one of its youngest spring corps in recent years, as there are no upperclassmen on the team's 2009 sprint roster. Holloway's talented recruiting class, however, looks to fill the void created by the graduation of last year's standout seniors.
Alishea Usery, a two-time Gatorade Missouri Athlete of the Year, who claimed 15 state championships during her high school career, leads the group of phenomenal freshmen comprising the sprints. She is the Missouri high school state record holder in both the 200m and 400m, as well as the 2007 AAU champion in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m relays.
Ije Iheoma, a Philadelphia native, set six records at her high school and was a three time state champion her senior year, capturing the indoor 400m and the outdoor 200m and 400m titles. She was a member of the 2007 USATF Young Women's record-setting 4x800m relay.
Madison McNary is a freshman from Tampa, Fla., who captured the 2007 Florida Class 4A state championships in the 100m and 200m. She finished eighth in the 100m at the USA Junior Nationals and was part of a gold-medal winning 4x100m relay squad at the 2007 Pan Am Juniors.
A pair of athletes from the Atlanta area – Paige Morton and Michelle Stegall – will also bring talent to the Gators' sprint and hurdles group. Morton is a two-time Georgia Class 4A state champion in the 100m hurdles and a two-time runner up in the 300m hurdles. Stegall is a three-time Georgia state champion, having claimed back-to-back 400m titles and a 200m crown in her senior season.
"We're very, very young in the sprints, hurdles and relays, and will have to lean heavily on our freshman class," Holloway said. "They will be a work in progress. But, I think that by the end of the year, you will see people like Ije Iheoma, Madison McNary, Paige Morton, Michelle Stegall and Alishea Usery really step up and be able to run well for us."
DISTANCE AND MIDDLE DISTANCE
Florida's distance and middle distance program, for the first year under assistant coach Todd Morgan's direction, is an area in which Holloway expects the Gators to surprise their opposition in 2009.
Sophomore Rebecca Lowe, the 2008 SEC Outdoor Female Freshman Runner of the Year, returns to anchor the Florida distance corps after winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m events at last season's outdoor league championships.
Lowe, a native of Vancluse, Australia, became just the ninth athlete in SEC history and the second Gator to win both events in the same year. She was the first athlete in Florida history to win two conference titles in the same meet since Candice Scott captured a pair of titles in the throws during the 2003 campaign.
“It all starts with Rebecca Lowe, who was fifth last year at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5K,” Holloway said. “She won both the 5K and the 10K at the conference meet last year, and Coach Morgan is really excited about the year she is going to have as a sophomore.”
Junior Charlotte Browning, a transfer from UNLV who recorded Florida's eighth-best time in school history at the 2008 SEC Cross Country Championships, was the 2007 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year and captured All-West Region honors for an eighth-place finish at the 1,500m. When she captured the 1,500m at the 2007 MWC Outdoor Championships,Browning became the first UNLV athlete to win an individual league championship in more than two years.
Freshman Genevieve LaCaze, a Queensland, Australia, native, had a breakout rookie season in cross country, finishing sixth overall at the SEC Championships with the sixth-fastest time in school history. LaCaze, the Australian 3K national champion, looks to transfer her successes from the course to the track this spring.
Senior Jacy Kruzel, the ninth-place finisher at the 2008 SEC Cross Country Championships, also will bring leadership and stability to this year's distance squad.
“I think people will be pleasantly surprised with how well our distance runners will perform this year,” Holloway said. “Genevieve LaCaze and Charlotte Browning have done a great job leading our cross country program this fall and Jacy Kruzel has been a mainstay in that area who has consistently done a good job with everything that we have asked her to do.”
THROWS
Kevkhishvili, who represented her home country of Georgia in the 2008 Beijing Olympics this past summer, leads a gifted Florida throws group that will be one of the team's strengths in 2009.
Kevkhishvili became the first Gator athlete on either the men's or women's side to ever capture an NCAA title in the shot put, when she accomplished that feat at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships. She also finished third in that event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Freshman Keely Medieros, the Brazilian under-23 record holder in the shot put, will be looking to put together a breakout season in the throws after competing in several meets during her freshman campaign.
Freshman Fidela James, the 2007 All-First Coast Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, also will look to factor into the throws mix for the Gators as she competes in both the shot put and discus.
“Mariam Kevkhishivili was the NCAA Champion indoors this past year and finished third outdoors,” Holloway said. “She had the opportunity to participate in the Olympics this summer and her fall training is going very, very well. We are looking for improvement out of Keely Medieros and freshman Fidela James is going to do well.”
Junior Evelien Dekkers, the 2008 SEC javelin champion, will be Florida's leader in the javelin toss after becoming the first person in school history to earn All-America honors in that event since the 2000 season when she finished eighth at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also was the NCAA East Region runner-up in the javelin last season.
“In the javelin, we really expect Evelien Dekkers to have a great year this year after finishing eighth at the NCAA championships last year,” Holloway said.
Junior Star Sansone returns in the javelin after finishing third at the 2008 SEC Outdoor Championships with a personal-best toss of 48.40/158-9 and placing 10th at the NCAA East Regional.
POLE VAULT
Senior Natalie Moser leads a deep group of talented pole vaulters after finishing as the NCAA indoor runner-up in that event during the 2007 campaign. She cleared 4.30m/14-1.25 at that meet to break the school record, as Moser has equaled or bettered the all-time UF mark three times in her career.
Sophomore Daisy Glasser had an outstanding freshman campaign, earning USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, finishing sixth in her event at the NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., with a height of 3.96m/12-11.5. Glasser also finished fourth at the USA Junior Championships this past summer, using a significant personal record of 13-3.5 to accomplish that feat.
JUMPS
Junior Shara Proctor returns to lead Florida's jumpers after earning the first All America honor of her career last season with an eighth-place finish in the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The 2008 SEC Outdoor Champion in the triple jump, Proctor has been showing signs of strong improvement during the offseason and will be relied upon to score championship points for the Gators again in 2009.
“We're really excited about Shara,” Holloway said. “She continues to get stronger and faster, and Coach [Rana] Reider really expects great things out of her this season.”
Sophomore Liene Karsuma returns from an injury after posting an outstanding freshman indoor campaign. She finished fourth at the SEC Championships in the high jump and qualified for the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.
Freshman Madara Apine, who, like Karsuma, is a native of Latvia, will look to quickly make an impact on the team's jumps corps. Apine is the Latvian Junior National record holder in the triple jump and captured the 2008 Latvian indoor triple jump championship.
“We're looking forward to seeing what Liene Karsuma will do for us this year,” Holloway said. “She finished fourth in the high jump at the indoor conference meet and redshirted outdoors, but is getting over her injury and we're excited about the things she can do. We're also really excited about freshman Madara Apine and think she is going to be able to do some really great things this year.”
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
