Florida Gators
NCAA Championships
Proctor All-America Honor Highlights Day Two Of NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Friday, June 13, 2008 | Track and Field
Shara Proctor earned All-America honors in the women's long jump, while both University of Florida track and field teams continued to methodically advance on day two of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium.
Proctor's outing was one of only two finals of the day involving UF athletes, however, both the men's and women's squad continued to set the stage for the final two days of competition, advancing six of seven potential athletes on the day.
“I'm very pleased with the day's results” said University of Florida head coach Mike Holloway. “We're just trying to give ourselves a chance. Everyone that has lined up over the first two days has lined up with pride and competed well. We'll need the same the next two days.”
The women's team sits in 14th place on Proctor's finish through only two events, while the men's team has not scored yet through three events, but like the women's team, has set the stage for productive days on Friday and Saturday.
Proctor got the women's squad on the board with an eighth place finish in the long jump, earning the first All-America honor of her career with a jump of 20 feet 10 ? feet on her third attempt. Proctor went through the first flight of jumps in sixth place, but was unable to improve upon her third round jump.
Stefan Hommel competed valiantly, but came up just shy in his bid to become UF's first All-American in the decathlon, finishing 11th with a two-day total of 7,292. Hommel entered the 1,500-meter run, the final event of the competition, in ninth place and 131 points out of scoring position but was not able to move up.
NCAA Indoor shot put champion Mariam Kevkhisvili began her quest to become the fifth woman this decade to pull off the indoor-outdoor double in the event, advancing to the final on Saturday with a throw of 53 feet 5 inches on her second attempt.
A day after qualifying for the discus final, Wes Stockbarger advanced to the final of the shot put as well. Stockbarger came up with a throw of 59-11 ? on his first attempt, good enough to advance to a loaded field in Saturday's final, in which the top nine qualifiers all through better than 60 feet.
Evelien Dekkers grabbed the 12th and final qualifying spot in the women's javelin final by an inch, coming up with a throw of 160-9 on her final attempt. Dekkers will compete in the final on Saturday.
In the women's 200-meter semifinals Natalie Knight advanced easily in the first round, finishing second in her heat in a time of 23.43 seconds, behind NCAA-leader Simone Facey of Texas A&M who won the heat in a time of 23.12.
Just over an hour last she returned to the track and grabbed the final qualifying spot in Saturday's final, running a time of 23.28 in the semifinals.
For Knight, a semifinalist a year ago, it's a return to the finals for the first time since her freshman year in 2005 when she placed sixth. She also finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor meet earlier this year.
Kallinka Pitt looked sharp in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing second in his heat with a time of 13.89, run into a strong headwind of -2.0 meters per second. Pitt advanced to Friday's semifinal round.
Carlos Phillips narrowly missed advancing the 800-meter final, finishing fourth in his semifinal section, just missing one of the three automatic qualifying positions from his heat. Phillips ran a time of 1:48.58, however, the final two qualifying spots were grabbed by the fourth and fifth place finishers in the first semifinal.
Florida closed out the day with the men's 4x400-meter relay squad advancing to Saturday's final, as the foursome of Bernard Middleton, Calvin Smith, LaMarr Davis and Eric Alberter finished third in a very fast heat, finishing with a time of 3:04.51. The time, just off their season best, was the fourth fastest time overall.
Friday will be a busy day for both squads as five finals will be contested on the track involving Florida athletes, while two field event finals involving UF athletes will take place.
Both 4x100-meter relays will compete in their respective finals, while Lakecia Ealey competes in the 100-meter final, Jeremy Hall in the men's 100-meter final and Rebecca Lowe in the 5,000-meter final. In the field, Adam Montague will take part in the javelin final and Stockbarger in the discus.
NCAA Outdoor Championship Day Two Highlights
UF All-Americans (1)
Shara Proctor, Long Jump – 8th
UF Qualifiers (6)
Natalie Knight, 200m (finals)
Kallinka Pitt, 110h (semifinals)
Men's 4x400m relay (final)
Evelien Dekkers, javelin (final)
Mariam Kevkhisvili, shot put (final)
Wes Stockbarger, shot put (final)
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