Two School Records Fall On Day One Of NCAA Indoor Championships

Friday, March 14

Fayetteville, AR

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

NCAA Championships

Two School Records Fall On Day One Of NCAA Indoor Championships

Saturday, March 15, 2008 | Track and Field

Seniors Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) and Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) broke school records in the women's 60m and 200m, respectively, and the University of Florida track & field team collected six All-America honors on the first day of the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships at Randal Tyson Track Center, as the fifth-ranked UF men finished the day in a tie for 21st with five points and the No. 10 Gator women grabbed a share of 25th with four.

“We had a great day today, and I'm very pleased with the way we competed,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “Everyone who came out for us today came out hard. There were some bumps in the road, but we were able to move on. We talked a lot about getting our fight back, and I think we did a terrific job of that today.”

The Gators' leading active scorer at the NCAA Indoor Championships, junior Willie Perry (Lenoir, N.C.) added five points to the UF cause with a fourth-place showing in the men's 200m, recording a season-best time of 20.73 in Friday night's final. The finish earned Perry the fourth overall All-America honor of his career, and his second in the indoor 200m. He is just the fourth athlete in school history to earn multiple All-America honors in the event, joining John Capel, Daymon Carroll and Kyle Farmer in that select company. Perry's most recent All-America accolade also brings UF's all-time total to 14 in the indoor 200m, moving the event ahead of the long jump (13) as the most decorated in Florida's indoor history, and gives UF at least one All-American in the race in seven of the last nine years.

“Tonight's race reestablished Willie Perry as one of the best sprinters in the nation,” Holloway said. “He had a rough season last year, but he continued to work hard. Once we got him qualified for the meet, we talked to him a lot about reestablishing himself among the nation's best, and people got to see him do that tonight.”

Sophomore Mike Morrison (Chesapeake, Va.) started the day with a bang in the heptathlon, posting a career-best 7.13 in the 60m to earn 837 points in the first event. The effort was good enough to win a competitive second heat in which six of the eight competitors established new personal bests, and positioned him seventh after the opening contest.

Another PR followed for Morrison in the long jump, as his second attempt yielded a leap of 7.31m/23-11.75, making him one of only two athletes in the field to record a career best in the event. He finished third in the long jump and gained 888 points, moving into fifth place following the first two events with a total of 1,725 points. He registered a top mark of 12.10m/39-8.50 in the shot put to gain 612 points, but dropped a spot in the standings and stood sixth after three events with 2,337 points.

Morrison wasn't kept out of the top five for long, as he regained possession of fifth place in the high jump with a leap of 1.99m/6-6.25 that earned him 794 points. The performance moved his day-one tally to 3,131, just six points off the school-record pace he established at the Southeastern Conference Championships. Just 93 points separate third place from eighth in a competitive heptathlon in which Morrison has placed himself squarely in contention for to earn the first All-America honor in a multi event by a UF men's athlete.

Shortly after the heptathlon adjourned for the day, junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) took the shot put ring and picked up his first-career All-America honor, finishing 10th overall, but eighth among Americans, with a toss of 17.95m/58-10.75. Just two weeks after winning the first SEC shot put title of his career at Tyson Track Center, Burroughs became just the third UF athlete to earn All-America recognition in the event, joining Matt Simson (1991-94) and teammate Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) in that elite group. The Gators have garnered All-America honors in the men's shot put in consecutive years, as Stockbarger took eighth in the event last season, and can now claim a half-dozen accolades in their track & field history. Burroughs also secured the UF men's first All-America honor of the meet, running the Gators' streak of consecutive years with at least one All-American to 23 in a row, dating back to 1986.

Junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) also ran his way to All-America status on Friday, finishing 11th overall, and seventh among Americans, in the men's 800m with a time of 1:50.58, narrowly missing a finals berth by less than a second. He is UF's first All-American in the event since 2004, and became the fifth athlete in school history to earn the distinction in the 800m, improving the Gators' all-time total to 10 honors. Classmate Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) also came up just shy of earning a finals spot in the men's 60m hurdles, as he clocked in at a career-best 7.78 to take 10th – missing the evening's final by two one-hundredths of a second. The time eclipsed his previous personal best by .01 and moved him into sole possession of third place on Florida's all-time chart.

Sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished ninth overall, and seventh among Americans, in the men's 60m with a time of 6.67 to earn his first-career All-America honor as the meet progressed into the evening. The accomplishment was bittersweet for Hall, however, as he finished four one-thousandths of a second out of the final. He is just the fourth UF athlete ever to capture All-America honors in the event, having earned the school's fifth overall accolade. He is also the first Gator to receive the recognition since 2005.

Despite being tripped up near the midway point of the men's 400m prelim, sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) battled his way to a spot in Saturday's final with a time of 46.62, which qualified third overall.

On the women's side, the Gators were led by Knight, who capped her fine collegiate indoor career with a school record and an All-America honor in the 200m. Now a six-time All-American, Knight posted a time of 23.14 in Friday night's final to finish sixth and contribute three of the Gators' four points on the day. The performance eclipsed Nadine Palmer's school mark of 23.23, set at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships, and marked the first individual indoor All-America honor of Knight' career. She is the fifth athlete in school history to claim All-America accolades in the 200m, improving UF's overall haul to eight honors, while also earning the Gators' first All-America status in the event since 2002.

“Breaking the school record was something that Natalie wanted very badly, and I'm very pleased with what she was able to accomplish tonight,” Holloway said. “She's pleased with what she's done, and she deserves that. The biggest thing for Natalie Knight right now is to continue to believe and continue to get better.”

Florida was one of just three schools to capture All-America honors in both the men's and women's 200m, as they were joined by Texas A&M and Tennessee. Friday's performances also marked just the third time in school history that the Gators posted All-America showings in both races in the same year.

Senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) added another chapter to Florida's storied history in the women's weight throw, finishing eighth with a season-best mark of 20.34m/66-8.75 to earn the Gators' 16th All-America honor in the event, which represents UF's highest total of any indoor discipline. Williams' effort also extends Florida's streak of claiming All-America status in an indoor throws event to seven-straight years, and gives UF 15 All-America honors in the women's weight throw since 2002. By earning the Gators' first All-America honor of the 2008 indoor season and the first of her career, Williams also ensured that Florida would have at least one woman earn the distinction for the 26th year in a row, a streak that dates back to 1983.

Ealey used her third school-record performance of the season in the women's 60m to qualify for Saturday's final, stopping the watches at 7.25 to qualify seventh overall. The performance bettered her own school standard by one one-hundredth of a second.

The NCAA Indoor Championships will conclude on Saturday, as competition will start with the remaining three events of the heptathlon at noon ET and culminate with the 4x400m relay. Morrison, Smith and Ealey will all look to finish their individual events on a strong note, while sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) will be in action in the women's shot put and the Gators' top-ranked men's 4x400m squad will take center stage at the end of the meet.

“We've got great opportunities to come out and score points tomorrow on both sides,” Holloway said. “There are no excuses – we need to come out and take care of the Gators. If we can compete as hard as we did today, The Gator Nation is going to be proud of its track & field team. We're going to leave it all here in Fayetteville, and the results will hopefully reflect that.”

Live results from Tyson Track Center can be accessed via www.GatorZone.com.

Men's Team Top-10 Through Day One

1. Florida State 26; 2. Tennessee 20; 3. Arizona State 19; 4. Texas 16; 5 UCLA 11.50; T6. Binghamton 10; T6. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 10; T6. Stanford 10; T6. Cal State Northridge 10; T10. Arkansas 9; T10. Texas A&M 9; T21. Florida 5.

Women's Team Top-10 Through Day One

1. Michigan 18; T2. Texas 16; T2. Virginia Tech 16; T2. Mississippi 16; 5. Arizona State 15; T6. Stanford 11; T6. Tennessee 11; T8. Southern Illinois 10; T8. Washington State 10; T8. Texas Tech 10; T25. Florida 4.

Florida All-Americans

Beau Burroughs – men's shot put

Jeremy Hall – men's 60m

Natalie Knight – women's 200m

Willie Perry – men's 200m

Carlos Phillips – men's 800m

Shawneise Williams – women's weight throw

Florida Athletes Advancing to Finals on Saturday

Lakecia Ealey – women's 60m (7.25*)

Calvin Smith – men's 400m (46.62)

Florida Results

Men's 60m