No. 3/9 T&F Set For SEC Outdoor Championships In Auburn
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | Track and Field
With a combined 35 athletes who rank among the top 10 Southeastern Conference performers in their respective events, the No. 3 (men)/9 (women) University of Florida track & field team is set to add another chapter to program history this weekend at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Auburn, Ala.
Regarded among the most competitive conference meets in the nation, the SEC Outdoor Championships will play host to eight men's squads and a half-dozen women's teams that rank in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association top 25. The third-ranked UF men will take on No. 4 LSU, No. 8 Auburn, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Arkansas, No. 17 Kentucky, No. 22 South Carolina and No. 24 Georgia, while the No. 9 Gator women will square off with No. 2 LSU, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 19 Mississippi, No. 23 Tennessee and No. 25 Auburn.
The Gator men will be looking to post their ninth top-three finish at the conference meet in the last dozen years, while also searching for the fourth SEC team title in program history. The Florida women will be in the hunt for their first top-three finish since winning their fourth-ever championship at the 2003 edition of the meet.
Two Gators will head into the weekend ranked among the league's top two in a pair of different events, as senior All-American Wes Stockbarger (Port Charlotte, Fla.) will head into the meet rated first in the league in the men's shot put (19.23m/63-1.25) and second in the women's discus (60.94), and sophomore Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) leads the conference in the triple jump (13.28m/43-7) and ranks second in the long jump (6.52m/21-4.75). Redshirt freshman Eric Foran (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) will enter the weekend with the league's top mark in the men's pole vault (5.25m/17-2.75), while senior Lindsay Sundell (Ft. Salonga, N.Y.) and sophomore Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) will do so in the women's steeplechase (10:18.21) and shot put (17.60m/57-9), respectively.
This weekend's action will also be a title defense for Kevkhishvili, Stockbarger and sophomore Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.). Kevkhishvili won the shot put title in Tuscaloosa last year as a freshman with a heave of 17.05m/55-11.25 before going on to earn All-America honors in the event, while Smith was also a rookie champion last season after becoming just the second freshman in school history to win the outdoor 400m (45.74). Stockbarger is the two-time defending conference champion in the discus, having won the event in 2006 with a mark of 57.50m/188-8 and repeating the feat a year ago with a toss of 60.78/199-5.
Live results from Auburn will be available via www.GatorZone.com. For more information on the meet, including parking details, ticket prices and a schedule of events, visit www.auburntigers.com.
SEC-TV, which airs on Fox Sports Net, will broadcast the action on tape-delay basis on Sunday, May 25, from 7-9 p.m. ET.
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