T&F Announces The Signing Of A Dozen Talented Athletes For 2009 Season
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 | Track and Field
University of Florida head track & field coach Mike Holloway announced on Wednesday the signing of 12 diverse and talented athletes who will begin competing for the Gators in 2009.
Madara Apine (Ogres Rajons, Latvia/Ikskile Secondary School), Ben Davies (Franklin, Tenn./Brentwood Academy), Gray Horn (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Waynesfield Goshen HS), Ije Iheoma (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South HS), Genevieve LaCaze (Queenland, Australia/John Paul College), Madison McNary (Tarpon Springs, Fla./Palm Harbor University HS), Paige Morton (Stockbridge, Ga./Stockbridge HS), Michelle Stegall (Fayetteville, Ga./Starr's Mill HS), Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga./Sandy Creek HS), Alishea Usery (Florissant, Mo./McLuer South Berkeley HS), Ashley Usery (Florissant, Mo./McLuer South Berkeley HS) and William Wynne (Kennesaw, Ga./McEachern HS) have signed National Letters of Intent to begin competing for UF next season.
“We're very pleased with the class, and I'm very proud of the hard work that the coaching staff put in to get it together,” Holloway said. “We've got four of the best men's athletes in the country coming to Florida next year, as we're adding a great hurdler, a great jumper and two terrific multi-event athletes, and we're getting some help in the sprints and the jumps from the class that the football team signed.”
“Our women's sprint group was very experienced this year, so we had to go out and identify some good young sprinters in this class, and we were able to get that done. The women's class is also well-rounded, and includes some great field and distance athletes. Our goal is always to not be just a track team, but a track & field team. If you look at our signing class, there are athletes that we think can come in here and help us get better across the board.”
The 2008 Latvian national indoor triple jump champion, Apine owns the Latvian national junior record in the outdoor triple jump with a personal best of 43-4.50. She has also recorded an indoor PR of 42-6.25 and a personal-best leap of 6-0 in the high jump.
The top-ranked high school junior and fourth-ranked high school athlete of all-time in the decathlon, Davies was Tennessee's Gatorade Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year in 2006-07. He recorded his historic total of 7,379 points in the decathlon at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics, outdistancing the next-closest competitor by 300 points. Davies also owns the Tennessee high school record in the decathlon at 7,206 points, and won the state crown as a sophomore in 2006. He has also achieved marks of 204-1 in the javelin and 36.39 in the 300m hurdles.
Horn, who owns personal records of 6-5.50 in the high jump and 15-4 in the pole vault, is a two-time Ohio state champion and three time state runner-up. As a junior at the 2007 Ohio Division III state championships, Horn posted second-place finishes in the 110m hurdles, the high jump and the pole vault, clearing the winning height of 15-4 in the last of those events but finishing second due to misses. He led Waynesfield-Goshen to the 2006 Division III state crown with an individual championship in the pole vault (15-3), while also competing as a member of the school's state-record setting 4x200m squad. He won the intermediate boys decathlon at the 2006 United States Track & Field Junior Olympics, and competed in the event at the 2007 U.S. Junior Championships. Horn recently won the pentathlon at the 2008 Nike Indoor Nationals with a score of 3,786 points, a performance that featured a personal-best effort of 6-5.50 in the high jump.
Another two-time state champion, Pennsylvania-product Iheoma finished the 2007 outdoor season ranked second in her home state in the 400m with a PR of 54.48. She has also run 24.59 in the 200m and split 2:08 in the 800m. At the 2007 National Junior Olympic Outdoor Championships, Iheoma ran the second leg of the winning 4x800m relay squad that set a new USATF young women's record with a time of 8:50.72. She won the 400m at the Pennsylvania Class 3A state championships as both a freshman (56.19) and a sophomore (54.95) before taking second as a junior in 2007 (54.48), and holds school records in the 100m (12.0), 200m (24.65), 400m (54.48), 800m (2:14), 4x100m (48.90) and the 4x400m (3:56.91). Iheoma also left her mark on the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics, finishing second in the 400m (56.24) and 4th in the 800m (2:11.63). She finished the 2008 indoor season ranked fourth in the nation with a top time of 54.54, which she used to win the 2008 PTFCA indoor title, while also capturing runner-up honors in the 200m with a personal-best time of 24.59. Iheoma also capped the indoor season with a fourth-place finish in the 400m at the Nike Indoor Nationals, clocking in at 56.53.
LaCaze narrowly missed a bid to the 2007 World Cross Country Championships after finishing fourth at the Australian trials, and will come to Gainesville with personal bests of 4:29.72 in the 1,500m and 9:38.74 in the 3,000m. She was the 2007 national champion in the 3,000m, in addition to taking third in the 1,500m, and earned a trio of state titles in the 800m, 1,500m and 3,000m. The 2006 season saw LaCaze win the Australian under-20 national crown in the 3,000m.
McNary won a gold medal last summer at the Pan Am Juniors in Sao Paolo, Brazil, as part of Team USA's 4x100m quartet that clocked in at 43.71. A sprinter with PRs of 11.59 in the 100m and 24.29 in the 200m, she won both events at the 2007 Florida Class 4A state championships en route to earning St Petersburg Times Girls Track Co-Athlete of the Year honors. She took first in the 200m (24.56) at the 2007 USATF Age Group Meet, and took eighth in the 100m (11.74) at last year's U.S. Junior Championships.
A hurdler with personal bests of 14.31 in the 110m, 44.04 in the 300m and 1:04.46 in the 400m hurdles, Morton put on a show at the 2007 Georgia AAAA state championships, winning the 100m hurdles (14.58) and taking second in the 300m hurdle competition (44.04). She turned in a top-20 finish in the 100m hurdles at the 2007 U.S. Junior Championships. She recently kicked off her 2008 outdoor season with second-place showings in the 100m hurdles (15.17) and 300m hurdles (44.05) at the Stephenson Invitational in Atlanta.
Stegall capped the 2007 outdoor season as the second-ranked 400m runner in Georgia with a best of 54.45, and also owns PRs of 12.10 in the 100m and 24.66 in the 200m. She took fourth in the 400m at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics with a time of 55.87 after obtaining her PR in prelims. She captured the Georgia AAAA state crown in her primary event as a junior in 2007, while also finishing fourth in the 200m.
The nation's top returning high school triple jumper in 2008, Taylor capped the 2007 outdoor campaign as the nation's second-best performer in the event. He captured the gold medal at the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships with a personal-best leap of 52-5.25, while also taking third in the long jump with a mark of 23-11 that also represented a PR. He won individual titles in the 200m, long jump and triple jump, as well as the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, at the 2007 Georgia AAA state championships to pace Sandy Creek to the team crown. He finished the 2008 indoor campaign as the nation's top triple and long jumper with marks of 52-0 and 25-6.75, respectively, while also posting the country's fastest 400m performance with a time of 47.42. He captured gold medals in all three events at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships, falling just shy of setting the national record in the triple jump with a winning leap of 51-3.
Alishea Usery will enter UF as one of the most accomplished high school sprinters in Missouri history, having claimed eight individual state championships in just three years of competition. The 2006-07 Missouri Gatorade Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, she holds state Class 3A records in the 100m (11.69), 200m (23.78) and 400m (53.55). She has won state titles in all three events in each of her three high school seasons, and added a state-record performance in the 4x400m relay in 2007 to guide her McLuer South-Berkeley to the team crown. Usery won the 200m (24.57) and took second in the 100m (12.11) at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics, and finished the year ranked eighth in the nation in the 400m with a mark of 53.47. She owns a PR of 11.57 in the 100m.
Ashley Usery joined her sister on the McLuer South-Berkeley state-record 4x400m squad, while also setting a PR in the 800m, during the 2007 season. Usery also ran on the winning 4x400m at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics and her high school's 4x400m unit that won the 2006 Class 3A title and set a mark of 3:51.40 that represented a state record at the time.
The reigning USATF Youth Athlete of the Year, Wynne won a gold medal and set a world youth record in the 400m hurdles at the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships with a time of 49.01, while also taking gold in the sprint medley relay with a time of 1:51.34 and silver in the 110m hurdles with a mark of 13.44. He owns PRs of 7.34 in the 55m hurdles, 7.90 in the 60m hurdles, 13.39 in the 110m hurdles, 35.67 in the 300m hurdles and 49.01 in the 400m hurdles, and concluded the 2007 outdoor season ranked second in the nation in the 400m hurdles and third in the 300m hurdles. He is a three-time individual champion at the USATF Junior Olympics, and won the 400m hurdles at the 2007 U.S. Junior Championships with a time of 49.70 that moved him into second place on the country's all-time junior list. The 2006 Georgia AAAAA state championships saw him win the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.09, and he followed that up with titles in the same event (13.76) and the 300m hurdles (35.67) in 2007. Wynne established a personal best in the 60m hurdles at the University of Kentucky High School Invitational in February with a time of 7.73 that ranked as the nation's fourth fastest during the indoor campaign, and recently earned runner-up honors in the 60m hurdles at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships, clocking in at 7.84.
Also expected compete for the UF track & field program in 2009 are freshmen Jeff Demps and Frankie Hammond, Jr., both of whom signed National Letters of Intent with the Gator football team.
Demps finished the 2007 outdoor campaign as the nation's second-ranked 100m runner with a time of 10.25 in the semifinal round at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics, marking the second-best output in history by a high school athlete from Florida. He was a double winner at the AAU Junior Olympics in 2007, taking the 100m crown with a finals time of 10.26 and capturing the title in the 200m with a personal-best 21.04. The 2007 Orlando Sentinel Male Athlete of the Year, Demps set an FHSAA record in the 100m with a winning time of 10.27 at the 2007 2A state championships, and won the high school boys competition at the 2007 Pepsi Florida Relays with a mark of 10.32. He was ranked the No. 4 athlete and No. 53 overall football player in the ESPN 150 after picking up 1,401 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior, earning second-team 4A all-state honors along the way.
Hammond, Jr., is a two-time Florida 3A state runner-up and Region 4 champion in the high jump. He posted a personal-best mark of 6-10 to win the event at the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics before placing 13th at the IAAF World Youth Championships later in the summer with a leap of 6-8.25. The No. 26 wide receiver in the nation according to Rivals.com, Hammond, Jr., put up 46 catches for 880 yards and 10 scores as a senior to garner third-team 4A all-state honors in 2007.
“You can never truly know how a class is going to stack up until they get here and perform,” Holloway said. “On paper, both our men's and women's classes could be just as good as any we've ever had at UF. It's one thing to do well in high school and another to do well in college, so we still have a lot of work to do. We've got an exciting group coming in, though, and that work is also going to be a lot of fun.”
After opening the 2008 outdoor season at Florida State's Snowbird Invitational last weekend, the Gators will continue the second half of their 2008 slate this weekend when different UF contingents head to the Florida State Relays and the Hurricane Challenge in Miami.
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