Gators Head to Lone Star State for SEC/Big 12 Showdown
Thursday, January 29, 2009 | Track and Field
Fresh off a successful weekend at its lone home indoor event of the season, the University of Florida track and field team heads West to College Station, Texas, this weekend to participate in the Southeastern Conference/Big 12 Conference Showdown hosted by Texas A&M University at its new Gilliam Indoor Stadium, site of the 2009 NCAA Indoor National Championships.
This weekend's meet will have an interesting twist to it as it will be a rare scored regular-season event. It won't be scored by team, though, like an SEC or NCAA Championship meet. It will instead be scored by conference. Staying true to its name – the SEC/Big 12 Showdown – points will be awarded on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis (similar to championship scoring) – and the winning conference will be declared at the end of competition.
Competition begins at 7 p.m. EST on Friday evening with the multi-events, while activities continue at 12 p.m. EST Saturday. Participating teams include Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M from the Big 12 Conference and Florida, LSU and Ole Miss from the SEC.
“The SEC/Big 12 Showdown is something that's very new,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “Coach [Pat] Henry at Texas A&M called me last summer and we talked about it. I think it's a great idea. We're talking about two conferences with a lot of pride and a lot of tradition. On the SEC side, you have us, LSU and Ole Miss – three very storied programs – and on the Big 12 side, you have Texas, host Texas A&M and Missouri. I think across the board it is going to be a great competition.
“I think it's going to be a situation where you see some great marks come out and it's a chance for us to see the venue where the NCAA Championships are going to be held this year. It's a new facility, it's supposed to be state-of-the art and our goal is going to be to go in there, get focused and take care of the Gators – not worry about how nice the building is or what the other schools in the Big 12 and the SEC do. We're going to go in this weekend and take care of the Gators like we always do.”
Florida has nine men – plus two relays - and four women who have provisionally qualified for the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships this season in at least one event, while junior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) has recorded NCAA automatic-qualifying marks in the women's shot put in both meets in which she has participated this season. She currently leads the SEC and the nation with a mark of 56-0/17.07m.
This is the first season for Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, which also will host the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships and the NCAA Track and Field Championships this season. The 5,000-seat stadium sits inside a 115,440 square-foot building that is big enough to house two football fields.
With its trip to Lexington, Ky., two weeks ago and its trip this weekend to College Station, Florida will now have had the opportunity to compete at the site of both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships during the regular season.
“That helps a lot,” Holloway said. “I think when you go in and can familiarize yourself with a facility and run the facility, it helps. They're both very different because Kentucky is an oversized track and Texas A&M is a 200-meter banked track. Running on the banked track is like nothing you've ever done, so going in there and being able to run on those exact banks is going to help us a lot down the road. It's very important for us that we get on that and get a good feel for it. It will be very important for us to go out during our pre-meet on Friday and really walk the facility and run certain angles to see what we are going to experience Saturday during the competition itself.”
Though the meet won't be scored by teams, this marks the first scored regular-season indoor event for both the Florida men and women since the 2005 campaign. That year the men finished first at the Wes Kittley 6-Way, while the women placed first at the Clemson 5-Way, both on January 22, 2005.
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/Big 12 Showdown – January 30-31 (College Station, Texas)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009
Heptathlon – 7 p.m. EST (AUTO: 5,650; PROV: 5,300)
- Gray Horn
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009
Heptathlon - 12 p.m. EST (AUTO: 5,650; PROV: 5,300)
- Gray Horn
Men's 60-Meter Hurdle Preliminaries – 3:10 p.m. EST (AUTO: 7.70; PROV: 7.91)
- Jarius Cooper
- Dennis Martin
- Kallinka Pitt
- William Wynne
Women's 60-Meter Dash Preliminaries – 3:30 p.m. EST (AUTO: 7.26; PROV: 7.44)
- Daniela Griffin
- Madison McNary
- Shara Proctor
Men's 60-Meter Dash Preliminaries – 3:30 p.m. EST (AUTO: 6.63; PROV: 6.74)
- Jeremy Hall
- Terrell Wilks
Women's Mile – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 4:38.00; PROV: 4:48.00)
- Charlotte Browning
- Genevieve LaCaze
- Kaitlin Shiver
Men's Mile – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 3:59.50; 4:04.00)
- Jeremy Criscione
- Anthony Morales
- Justin Taylor
Women's Shot Put – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 16.90; PROV: 15.20)
- Fidela James
- Mariam Kevkhishvili
- Keely Medeiros
Women's Pole Vault – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 4.20; PROV: 3.95)
- Daisy Glasser
- Lauren Menke
- Natalie Moser
Men's Pole Vault – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 5.50; PROV: 5.20)
- Eric Foran
- Justin Semeyn
Women's Long Jump – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 6.35; PROV: 6.10)
- Shara Proctor
Men's Long Jump – 5 p.m. EST (AUTO: 7.85; PROV: 7.50)
- Christian Taylor
Men's 60-Meter Hurdle Finals – 5:25 p.m. EST (AUTO: 7.70; PROV: 7.91)
- Contingent on qualifying – Cooper, D. Martin, Pitt, Wynne
Women's 400-Meter Dash – 5:35 p.m. EST (AUTO: 52.40; PROV: 54.40)
- Ije Iheoma
- Danielle Williams
Men's 400-Meter Dash - 5:35 p.m. EST (AUTO: 46.15; PROV: 47.25)
- R.J. Anderson
- Preston Wilson
- William Wynne
Women's 60-Meter Dash Finals – 6:10 p.m. EST (AUTO: 7.26; PROV: 7.44)
- Contingent on qualifying – Griffin, McNary, Proctor
Men's 60-Meter Dash Finals – 6:10 p.m. EST (AUTO: 6.63; PROV: 6.74)
- Contingent on qualifying – Jeremy Hall, Terrell Wilks
Women's 800-Meter Run – 6:20 p.m. EST (AUTO: 2:05.00; PROV: 2:09.00)
- Ashley Usery
Men's 800-Meter Run – 6:20 p.m. EST (AUTO: 1:48.00; PROV: 1:50.50)
- Lamarr Davis
- Carlos Phillips
- Ethan Philpot
Women's Weight Throw – 6:30 p.m. EST (AUTO: 21.00; PROV: 18.75)
- Fidela James
Men's Shot Put – 6:30 p.m. EST (AUTO: 19.30; PROV: 17.75)
- Beau Burroughs
Men's High Jump – 6:30 p.m. EST (AUTO: 2.24; PROV: 2.14)
- Eugene Martin
Women's 200-Meter Dash – 6:40 p.m. EST (AUTO: 23.20; PROV: 23.90)
- Daniela Griffin
- Madison McNary
- Alishea Usery
Men's 200-Meter Dash – 6:40 p.m. EST (AUTO: 20.83; PROV: 21.23)
- Jeremy Hall
- Calvin Smith
- Deonte Thompson
Women's Triple Jump – 6:45 p.m. EST (AUTO: 13.30; PROV: 12.65)
- Madara Apine
- Michelle Jenije
Men's Triple Jump – 6:45 p.m. EST (AUTO: 16.10; PROV: 15.40)
- Joshua Postell
- Christian Taylor
Women's 5,000-Meter Run – 7:20 p.m. EST (AUTO: 16:08.00; PROV: 16:45.00)
- Laura Garrow
Men's 5,000-Meter Run – 7:20 p.m. EST (AUTO: 13:47.00; PROV: 14:10.00)
- Michael Anderson
- Sean Blaney
- Alex Wills
Women's Distance Medley Relay – 7:45 p.m. EST (AUTO: 11:09.00; PROV: 11:30.00)
- Kaitlin Shiver, Ashley Usery, Charlotte Browning, Genevieve LaCaze
Men's Distance Medley Relay – 7:45 p.m. EST (AUTO: 9:34.00; PROV: 9:45.70)
- Anthony Morales, Lamarr Davis, Ethan Philpot, Justin Taylor
Women's 4x400-Meter Relay – 8:10 p.m. EST (AUTO: 3:33.00; PROV: 3:40.00)
- Florida
Men's 4x400-Meter Relay – 8:10 p.m. EST (AUTO: 3:06.50; PROV: 3:10.40)
- Florida
END OF REPORT
