T&F Set For SEC Indoor Championships In Fayetteville
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | Track and Field
Led by four individuals and a relay that sit atop the conference rankings, the No. 9 (men)/14 (women) University of Florida track & field team will take on the best the league has to offer this weekend at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
Regarded among the most competitive conference meets in the nation, the SEC Indoor Championships will play host to a half-dozen men's squads and seven women's teams that rank in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association top 25. The ninth-ranked UF men will take on No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 LSU, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 20 Georgia, while the No. 14 Gator women will square off with top-ranked LSU, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 15 Mississippi, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 25 South Carolina.
The Gator men have recorded five-straight top-three finishes at the SEC indoor meet, dating back to 2003, while the UF women will be seeking a return to the top trio for the first time since winning the title in 2004. Florida has won 10 SEC indoor crowns in its track & field history – five on the men's side and an identical number on the women's.
The UF men will be paced by indoor junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), who leads the conference with an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 1:47.89 in the men's 800m, and sophomore Steffan Hommel (Albershausen, Germany), who posted an SEC-best total of 5,507 points in the heptathlon at the United Heritage Invitational in early February to earn an NCAA provisional mark. The men will also be bolstered by the season debut of indoor junior Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.), who won the shot put at last year's SEC Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky.
The Gators' 4x400m squad of junior R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.), Phillips, senior Bernard Middleton (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) also enters the meet with an NCAA and SEC-leading time of 3:06.48, which ranks as the fastest in the world this year.
Florida's women will be led into the meet by a pair of throwers who rank first in the conference in their respective events, as senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) owns a conference-best mark of 19.83m/65-0.75 in the weight throw and sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) tops the charts in the shot put with an NCAA automatic-qualifying heave of 17.44m/57-2.75.
Seniors Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.), who has broken the school record in the 60m in each of her last two outings, and Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.), who is in the midst of a three-meet winning streak in the 200m, will lead the women's runners at the conference meet.
Heading into the weekend, the Gators boast a combined 30 athletes – 17 men and 13 women – who rank in the top-10 in the SEC in their respective events, while both the men and women have placed the 4x400m and distance medley relays in the top-10 of the conference standings.
Live results from Fayetteville will be available via www.GatorZone.com.
SEC Indoor Championships Schedule of Events
Friday, Feb. 29:
3 p.m. 60m (M - Hep)
TBD Long Jump (M - Hep)
TBD Shot Put (M - Hep)
TBD High Jump (M - Hep)
4 p.m. 60m Hurdles (W - Pen)
TBD High Jump (W - Pen)
TBD Shot Put (W - Pen)
TBD Long Jump (W - Pen)
TBD 800m (W - Pen)
Saturday, March 1:
11 a.m. Weight Throw (M)
Noon Pole Vault (W)
1:30 p.m. 60m Hurdles Prelim (W)
1:50 p.m. 60m Hurdles Prelim (M)
2:10 p.m. 60m Hurdles (M - Hep)
TBD Pole Vault (M - Hep)
TBD 1,000m (M - Hep)
2:30 p.m. 60m Prelim (W)
2:50 p.m. 60m Prelim (M)
3 p.m. Long Jump (M)
Long Jump (W)
3:10 p.m. Mile Prelim (W)
3:30 p.m. Mile Prelim (M)
3:50 p.m. 400m Prelim (W)
4:10 p.m. 400m Prelim (M)
Shot Put (W)
High Jump (M)
4:30 p.m. 800m Prelim (W)
4:50 p.m. 800m Prelim (M)
5:20 p.m. 200m Prelim (W)
5:45 p.m. 200m Prelim (M)
6:15 p.m. 3,000m (W)
6:35 p.m. 3,000m (M)
Sunday, March 2:
10 a.m. Weight Throw (W)
Noon Triple Jump (W)
12:30 p.m. Pole Vault (M)
12:35 p.m. 60m Hurdles Final (W)
12:45 p.m. 60m Hurdles Final (M)
12:55 p.m. 60m Final (W)
1:05 p.m. 60m Final (M)
1:15 p.m. Mile Final (W)
1:25 p.m. Mile Final (M)
1:35 p.m. 400m Final (W)
1:45 p.m. 400m Final (M)
Shot Put (M)
High Jump (W)
1:55 p.m. 5,000m (W)
2 p.m. Triple Jump (M)
2:15 p.m. 800m Final (W)
2:25 p.m. 800m Final (M)
2:35 p.m. 200m Final (W)
2:45 p.m. 200m Final (M)
2:55 p.m. 5,000m (M)
3:15 p.m. DMR (W)
3:30 p.m. DMR (M)
3:45 p.m. 4x400m Relay (W)
4 p.m. 4x400m Relay (M)
- UF -
