Fourteen Gators Headed to NCAA Indoor Meet
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | Track and Field
Fourteen University of Florida track and field athletes will embark on College Station, Texas, this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, it was announced late Monday night when the NCAA released its declarations for the upcoming national meet.
Nine Gator men and five women will be among the field this Friday and Saturday at the Gilliam Indoor Track and Field Stadium, site of the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Junior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia), the nation's top female shot putter at 58-10.25/17.94m, returns to defend her crown after becoming the first person in school history to capture the NCAA Indoor Women's Shot Put title last season. Her mark this season stands as a school record and also broke the Southeastern Conference indoor meet record. Kevkhishvili is undefeated so far this season, having picked up five wins, including the SEC individual indoor event title.
Freshman jumper Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) ranks No. 2 in the nation in the men's long jump and is 11th in the men's triple jump, having captured each of those events en route to the Cliff Harper Trophy at the SEC Indoor Championships two weeks ago.
The Florida men's 4x400m relay team ranks second in the nation with a time of 3:05.82, recorded at the SEC Championships, where the Gators captured the league's individual event title. The team consists of Taylor, senior Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.), senior R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.) and junior Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.).
Additional qualifiers on the men's side include sophomore Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) in the 60m dash, junior Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) in the 60m dash, senior Dennis Martin (Anderson, S.C.) in the 60m hurdles, Smith in the 400m dash, Phillips in the 800m run, sophomore thrower Kemal Mesic (Sarajevo, Bosnia) in the shot put and freshman Gray Horn (Wapakoneta, Ohio) in the heptathlon.
Additional qualifiers on the women's side include freshman Alishea Usery (St. Louis, Mo.) in the 200m dash, junior Charlotte Browning (West Sussex, England) in the mile, junior Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) in the long jump and triple jump and freshman Keely Medeiros (Luziana, Brazil) in the shot put.
Complete results and a recap of this weekend's meet will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
FLORIDA PARTICIPANTS IN THE 2009 NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
FLORIDA MEN
60m Dash
- Terrell Wilks (6.60/9th)
- Jeremy Hall (6.62/12th)
60m Hurdles
- Dennis Martin (7.76/10th)
400m Dash
- Calvin Smith (46.23/7th)
800m Run
- Carlos Phillips (1:49.01/14th)
4x400m Relay
- Florida (3:05.82/2nd) – Christian Taylor, Carlos Phillips, R.J. Anderson, Calvin Smith
Men's Long Jump
- Christian Taylor (8.02m/2nd)
Men's Triple Jump
- Christian Taylor (16.11m/11th)
Men's Shot Put
- Kemal Mesic (18.91m/9th)
Men's Heptathlon
- Gray Horn (5,586/10th)
FLORIDA WOMEN
Women's 200m Dash
- Alishea Usery (23.62/11th)
Women's Mile Run
- Charlotte Browning (4:36.09/7th)
Women's Long Jump
- Shara Proctor (6.33m/15th)
Women's Triple Jump
- Shara Proctor (13.31m/6th)
Women's Shot Put
- Mariam Kevkhishvili (17.94m/1st)
- Keely Medeiros (16.07m/15th)
END OF REPORT
