Williams, Burroughs Claim Titles On Final Day Of SEC Indoors

Sunday, March 2

Fayetteville, AR

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

SEC Championships

Williams, Burroughs Claim Titles On Final Day Of SEC Indoors

Sunday, March 2, 2008 | Track and Field

Senior Shawneise Williams (Archer, Fla.) won the women's weight throw and junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) captured the men's shot put on Sunday to help secure fourth-place finishes for both the No. 9 University of Florida men's track team and the No. 14 UF women at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Gator women finished just three points out of the top three with 90 points, which more than doubled their output from the 2007 SEC meet, while the UF men concluded the meet with a 7.5-point cushion over Georgia for the fourth spot.

“I can't begin to explain how I feel about our women's team,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “They've decided that they want to be competitive. They're a talented group of individuals, and they put their best foot forward today. You it from them every time they step on the track.”

Williams quickly got Florida in the win column on Sunday, winning the women's weight throw at Walker Pavilion with a mark of 19.11m/62-8.50. The victory was the first SEC title of Williams' career, and added another chapter to Florida's storied championship-season history in the event. Williams now joins four-time SEC champion Candice Scott and one-time champions Joyce Owes and Erin Gilreath to give UF seven SEC titles in the women's weight throw, which ties for the most crowns by the Gator women in a single event. Williams' title is the first for UF since 2005, but gives the Orange and Blue six women's weight throw championships since 2001.

“I'm very happy, and I feel very grateful that this has happened to me,” Williams said. “Coach Lemke told me before the event to stay relaxed and have fun, and that paid off for me today. Coming into the event, I thought I had a chance to win, and I was able to put together some good throws.”

Sophomore Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) wrapped up a strong season debut with a third-place finish in the women's triple jump, leaping an NCAA provisional-qualifying distance of 12.88m/42-3.25 to contribute another six points to the UF tally. Sunday's showing brought Proctor's scoring total for the meet to 14 points, the highest total on the UF women's team and the seventh-best scoring effort of all women at the meet.

Senior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) turned in a seventh-place finish in the women's 60m, posting a time of 7.35 to finish seventh to contribute two points, and classmate Dominique McLeggan (Weston, Fla.) did the same with a seventh-place effort in the women's 400m, finishing in 54.20. The women's 800m saw the Gators earn another eight points when senior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) made a late push to finish claim runner-up honors with a time of 2:07.09.

As the afternoon reached the midway point, the UF women were one of two schools to place a pair athletes in the top five of the 200m, scoring 10 total points in the event. Senior Natalie Knight (Snellville, Ga.) exploded for a career-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 23.35 in the second heat, placing third overall and moving into a tie for second on the school's all-time indoor list. She was preceded by classmate Ealey, who put a cap on her day with a fifth-place finish in an NCAA provisional time of 23.56.

For the second day in a row, the UF received a late spark from its women's distance runners, as freshman Rebecca Lowe (Vancluse, Australia) and junior Jacy Kruzel (Cooper City, Fla.) teamed up to record a pair of NCAA provisional times and score nine points in the women's 5,000m – the second-most of any school in the field. Lowe led the way with a career-best output of 16:27.07 to finish third, ascending to second place on the on all-time Florida list, and Kruzel followed up in sixth place with a mark of 16:40.79, a personal-best of nearly 40 seconds that moved her into third on the school ledger.

The women finished strong in the relay portion of the meet, picking up 11 points in the final two events to pull within three points of third-place Arkansas. The Gators' distance medley relay turned in a third-place finish, as freshman Kaitlin Shiver (Satellite Beach, Fla.), senior Zan Joseph (Boynton Beach, Fla.), McKenzie and senior Lindsay Sundell (Ft. Salonga, N.Y.) recorded a season-best time of 11:41.11, while the UF 4x400m quartet of senior Abigail David (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago), Ealey, Knight and McLeggan notched a season-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:38.01 to take fourth.

“I'm so proud of what this group of young ladies was able to accomplish today,” Holloway said. “They fought hard every time they came to the blocks. Every one of them put the uniform on and competed hard this weekend, and that's why you see the great improvement. For them to go from 42 points last year to 90 this year shows the kind of heart and character they have.”

Junior Beau Burroughs (Tampa, Fla.) provided some late excitement of his own in the men's shot put, winning his first-career SEC title with a career-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 18.53m/60-9.50. Burroughs didn't, however, wait long to put the competition out of reach, recording the top mark on his second attempt to outpace the next-best competitor by more than two feet and strengthen his grip on the sixth position on the all-time Florida indoor chart. The title marked the Gators' second-straight SEC men's shot put crown after indoor junior Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) captured the 2007 championships, and their eighth overall.

“I feel justified for all the hard work I've put in over the last couple of years,” Burroughs said. “I believed I could do it, but anything can happen. I was hoping to put it away early and not give anyone else a chance. To finally have it done feels great. They can't ever take it away – SEC champ.”

The Florida men opened the day in strong fashion, picking up 11 points on the straightaway in the day's first two running events. The first five came courtesy of juniors Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) and Kallinka Pitt (Largo, Fla.) in the 60m hurdles, as they crossed the line in fifth and eighth places with times of 7.83 and 7.88, respectively. Just minutes later, sophomore Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) came to the blocks for the 60m and added another half-dozen points to Florida's total with a third-place finish, timing in at a season-best 6.65. The effort was an NCAA provisional mark, tying Hall for 10th in the NCAA this season, and fell just a hundredth of a second shy of matching Hall's career best.

The Gators continued to build momentum in the men's 400m, as sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) ripped off an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 46.04 – a career best by a hundredth of a second – to finish second. The performance ranked second in the NCAA and fourth in the world this season, and improved his hold on the fourth spot on Florida's all-time indoor chart. Smith was on the track again less than an hour later, where he battled to a fourth-place finish in the men's 200m with an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 21.00. In two individual races on the day, Smith was able to post 13 points for the Gators, sharing team-high honors and tying for seventh at the meet.

“Calvin had a phenomenal meet,” Holloway said. “With indoor PRs in both the 200m and 400m and a great leg on the 4x400m, he really showed up for us. That's what Calvin does, and I expect him to do that again in two weeks.”

Sophomore Mike Morrison (Chesapeake, Va.), less than 24 hours after finishing second in the heptathlon, scored five more points for the Gators in the men's pole vault with a clearance of 5.15m/16-10.75 that was good for fourth place. Morrison was joined in the top eight of the men's pole vault by junior Justin Semeyn (Tampa, Fla.), who vaulted 5.00m/16-4.75 to tie for sixth and earn 2.50 points, and redshirt freshman Eric Foran (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), who established a new career best with a mark of 5.00m/16-4.75 and placed eighth due to previous misses.

Indoor junior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) chipped in with a seventh-place finish in the men's 800m, securing two points with a time of 1:50.76, and indoor sophomore Jeremy Criscione (Interlachen, Fla.) added an eighth-place finish in the men's 5,000m with a personal-best effort of 14:25.33 that was good for eighth place in school history. The Gators wrapped up the meet with a third-place finish in the DMR, as senior Ryder Leary (Yulee, Fla.), Phillips, senior Eric Alberter (Belleville, Ill.) and senior Steven Hassen (Ocala, Fla.) stopped the watches at a season-best 9:52.14.

“The men are still missing their zest for the fight, and that's something we have to correct right now,” Holloway said. “We can't rely on a small group of people to get the job done. It has to be a team effort from here on out.”

Select members of the squad will be in action this weekend at Last Chance meets in either Ames, Iowa, or South Bend, Ind. Gators who have already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships will return to Fayetteville in two weeks to take on the best the NCAA has to offer.

Final Men's Team Standings

1. Arkansas 124; 2. LSU 108; 3. Tennessee 99.50; 4. Florida 79.50; 5. Georgia 72; 6. Kentucky 48; 7. South Carolina 42; 8. Auburn 12; 9. Alabama 30; 10. Mississippi 21.

Final Women's Team Standings

1. LSU 133; 2. Tennessee 116; 3. Arkansas 93; 4. Florida 90; 5. Kentucky 57; 6. Mississippi 49; 7. Alabama 43; 8. Auburn 27; 9. South Carolina 20.50; 10 Georgia 14.50; 11. Mississippi State 12; 12. Vanderbilt 8.

Florida SEC Champions

Beau Burroughs – Men's shot put

Eugene Martin – Men's high jump

Shawneise Williams – Women's weight throw

Florida Top-Eight Individual Finishers

Jeremy Criscione – Men's 5,000m, 8th

Lakecia Ealey – Women's 60m, 7th; Women's 200m, 5th

Eric Foran – Men's pole vault, 8th

Jeremy Hall – Men's 60m, 3rd

Mariam Kevkhishvili – Women's shot put, 2nd

Natalie Knight – Women's 200m, 3rd

Kurt Lee – Heptathlon, 4th