Track and Field's Kevkhishvili, LaCaze Earn SEC Weekly Honors
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | Track and Field
Florida track and field's Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Genevieve LaCaze (Queensland, Australia) each earned weekly honors from the Southeastern Conference, the league offices in Birmingham, Ala., announced Tuesday afternoon.
Kevkhishvili was named the SEC's Female Field Athlete of the Week, while LaCaze was named the league's Female Freshman of the Week for their strong performances at this past weekend's Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Kevkhishvili, a junior thrower, earned the honor after posting an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the shot put for the second consecutive week to increase her SEC and NCAA-leading mark in the event to 56-0/17.07m.
Kevkhishvili, the 2008 NCAA Indoor Shot Put Champion, remains the only female shot putter in the nation to have automatically qualified for the upcoming 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships and the only athlete in the country this season to have thrown better than 17 meters in the women's shot put.
LaCaze, a freshman distance runner who in the fall was named the 2008 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year, notched an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the women's mile in a time of 4:46.60 (converted) this past weekend. Her time currently ranks sixth-best in the nation in that event and it is the third-best in the SEC this year.
LaCaze is the only female freshman in the conference so far this season to run better than a 4:50 mile and one of only two freshmen in the league to run better than a 5-minute mile.
The Gators return to action this weekend when they travel to College Station, Texas, to participate in the two-day SEC/Big 12 Showdown hosted by Texas A&M University. Activities get underway Friday at 7 p.m. EST at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. Complete results and a recap will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
The University of Florida is home of the 2009 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. For all of the latest information on Gator Track and Field, log on to www.GatorZone.com.
SEC TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK – WEEK 2
Female Runner of the Week: Sarah Bowman, Tennessee
Female Field Athlete of the Week: Mariam Kevkhishvili, Florida
Female Freshmen of the Week: Genevieve LaCaze, Florida
Male Runner of the Week: Dorian Ulrey, Arkansas
Male Field Athlete of the Week: Walter Henning, LSU
Male Freshman of the Week: Torrin Lawrence, Georgia
END OF REPORT
