Track and Field Announces Impressive 2010 Schedule
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | Track and Field
VIDEO: Coach Holloway Discusses 2010 Schedule
Two home meets and an impressive slate of challenging competition highlight the 2010 University of Florida track and field schedule, head coach Mike Holloway announced Tuesday.
The Gators are coming off of a pair of top-10 finishes by both the men's and women's programs at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Florida men's track and field team posted runner-up finishes at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the women's squad captured the 2009 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Florida begins the 2010 indoor season in Lexington, Ky., Jan 15-16 at the Kentucky Invitational before traveling to College Station, Texas, to participate in the Texas A&M Challenge. The prestigious two-day meet at Texas A&M, scheduled for Jan. 29-30, features Big 12 teams Baylor, Texas and Texas A&M; Pac-10 teams Oregon, Stanford and Washington State; and SEC teams Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina.
Florida then travels to Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 5-6 for the Virginia Tech Elite Meet before sending split squads to the Iowa State Invitational (Ames, Iowa), the Tyson Invitational (Fayetteville, Ark.) and the Washington Invitational (Seattle, Wash.) on Feb. 12-13.
The 2010 SEC Indoor Championships return to Fayetteville, Ark., for the second time in three years when the event is contested Feb. 26-28. Gator athletes will then embark on a pair of last-chance meets at Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. The NCAA Indoor Championships will take place Nov. 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark., after a hiatus to College Station last season.
“Indoors, we're trying to prepare for the conference championships and put ourselves in a position to qualify for NCAAs,” Holloway said. “We open in Kentucky and then go to Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and the Tyson Invitational. These are all great facilities that will give us an opportunity to perform well at a high level.”
Florida will open its 2010 outdoor season with a pair of meets hosted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando before playing host to two consecutive home meets. The Gators welcome teams from across the country to Gainesville for the 66th-Annual Pepsi Florida Relays on April 2-3 before playing host to the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on April 17. The Tom Jones meet will feature UCF, Kentucky and UCLA, among other schools.
“It is very important to me to have a meet to honor Tom,” Holloway said. “Coach Jones was a wonderful man. He meant a lot to this program, this University and to me. We had the opportunity to host an outdoor meet and it was a no-brainer to have it in Tom's honor.”
The Gators travel to Philadelphia, Pa., April 22-24 to participate in the prestigious Penn Relays at historic Franklin Field before capping the regular season at the Seminole Twilight Invitational on May 8 in Tallahassee, Fla.
The 2010 SEC Outdoor Championships will take place May 13-16 in Knoxville, Tenn., and Florida will make a return to Greensboro, N.C., to participate in the NCAA East Regional May 27-29.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships are scheduled for June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore., a town noted for its rich history in track and field, at the University of Oregon's storied Hayward Field.
“Outdoors, it's a little more low-key early on because we will focus on being ready for the conference, regional and national meets,” Holloway said. “We will either be in Orlando or Gainesville for the first four meets of the season and then we'll head to Penn Relays. At the University of Florida, we're outdoors every day, so we're always excited about the outdoor season. The approach to outdoors is to slowly build momentum and to have everybody at their absolute best at the end of the season.”
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or click to the team's Twitter page at www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
2010 FLORIDA TRACK AND FIELD SCHEDULE
INDOOR
| Date | Meet | Location |
| Jan. 15-16 | Kentucky Invitational | Lexington, Ky. |
| Jan. 29-30 | Texas A&M Challenge | College Station, Texas |
| Feb. 5-6 | Virginia Tech Elite Meet | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Feb. 12-13 | Tyson Invitational | Fayetteville, Ark. |
| Feb. 12-13 | Iowa State Invitational | Ames, Iowa |
| Feb. 12-13 | Washington Invitational | Seattle, Wash. |
| Feb. 26-28 | SEC Indoor Championships | Fayetteville, Ark. |
| March 6 | Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet | Blacksburg, Va. |
| March 6 | Notre Dame Last Chance Meet | South Bend, Ind. |
| March 12-13 | NCAA Indoor Championships | Fayetteville, Ark. |
OUTDOOR
| Date | Meet | Location |
| March 20 | UCF Black and Gold Challenge (W) | Orlando, Fla. |
| March 27 | UCF Invitational | Orlando, Fla. |
| April 2-3 | Pepsi Florida Relays | Gainesville, Fla. |
| April 17 | Tom Jones Memorial Invitational | Gainesville, Fla. |
| April 22-24 | Penn Relays | Philadelphia, Pa. |
| May 8 | Seminole Twilight Invitational | Tallahassee, Fla. |
| May 13-16 | SEC Outdoor Championships | Knoxville, Tenn. |
| May 27-29 | NCAA East Regional | Greensboro, N.C. |
| June 9-12 | NCAA Outdoor Championships | Eugene, Ore. |
| June 24-27 | USATF Outdoor Championships | Des Moines, Iowa |
END OF REPORT
