Track and Field and Swimming Teams Honored in Tallahassee
Thursday, April 15, 2010 | General
The NCAA Champion University of Florida men's track and field and women's swimming and diving teams were honored Thursday with resolutions at the State Capitol for their accomplishments this past winter.
Coaches Mike Holloway (track & field) and Gregg Troy (swimming & diving) were on hand along for the recognition with track and field student-athletes Calvin Smith and Christian Taylor, and swimming and diving student-athletes Teresa Crippen and Shara Stafford.
Florida Senator Steve Oelrich, who was elected to the Senate in 2006 and whose legislative delegation includes Gainesville, put up the resolution to honor the Gators in the Senate Chambers, while Florida Representative Seth McKeel, a Florida alum and Lakeland, Fla., native, sponsored the House resolution.
The Florida men's track and field team claimed the first NCAA Indoor Championship in program history this past March, scoring 57 total team points to claim the meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Gators, whose team featured individual NCAA Champions Jeff Demps (60m dash) and Taylor (triple jump), defeated Oregon and Texas A&M by 13 points for the national title. Holloway was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Men's Head Coach of the Year.
Smith, a 16-time All-American, and Taylor, a two-time NCAA Champion in the indoor men's triple jump, who represented the team in Tallahassee, were part of a nation-leading 14 All-America honors at the meet.
“This was a great experience for us today,” Holloway said. “To actually sit down on the floor and watch the debate of different issues was pretty cool. When you talk about Christian and Calvin, they're a great representation of what our track and field and cross country program is about. In a perfect world, we'd get to come to Tallahassee twice a year for a long time, but right now, the biggest thing for me is to go back and share this experience with my family, children and grandchildren about how things operate in Tallahassee.”
The UF women's swimming and diving team brought home the program's second NCAA Championship title, its first in 28 years (1982), after topping second-place Stanford by 2.5 points at the 2010 NCAA Championship Meet March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., on the Purdue University Campus. The Gator women's team used two national titles in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 100-yard back and a wealth of depth to pull out the victory on the final day of competition.
Twelve Gators, including sophomores had 36 All-America performances on the way to the team title. Troy was named the 2010 National Women's Swimming Coach of the Year after leading the Orange and Blue to their fourth top five and 11th top 10 finish under his tutelage in Gainesville. Florida's two national titles marked the 101st and 102nd national titles for the program as the squad racked up five school records on its way to a 382-point finish.
Crippen and Stafford, who represented the team in Tallahassee, combined for 10 All-America swims at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the Purdue campus, including Stafford as the third leg of the winning 200-yard free relay.
“What a great honor to be here today,” Troy said. “What a great experience for both myself and the ladies who came to represent the women's swim and dive team here in Tallahassee. To be down on the floor and hear a bill passed for our accomplishments this year was a tremendous honor. We brought Shara and Teresa because they were two outstanding competitors at the NCAA meet and they are a tremendous representation of our team. We have so many great athletes, including seniors, but these young ladies are the future of the Florida swimming and diving program.”
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