Florida Gators
SEC Outdoor Championships
Gray Horn Captures 2010 SEC Decathlon Title
Saturday, May 15, 2010 | Track and Field
Sophomore Florida multi-event athlete Gray Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio) successfully defended his Southeastern Conference decathlon title, capturing the event for the second consecutive year on Friday at Tom Black Track on the campus of the University of Tennessee.
“I am extremely proud of Gray Horn,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “He did an unbelievable job of defending his conference title in the decathlon. I am also very proud of Josh Izewski for coming into the SEC meet as a freshman and finishing eighth in the 10K. Other than those two guys, we had some mixed emotions today. Clearly we have to do a better job in some of the other areas and I take full responsibility for that. We are going to go back to the hotel, figure out what we did wrong and come out tomorrow and run like we know the Gators are capable of running.”
Horn turned in a career-best score of 7,652 – the second-best decathlon score in school history – to capture the event and become the ninth person in SEC history to win in the event in back-to-back years since 1974. Horn in 2009 became the first person in UF school history to win a league decathlon crown.
“Gray is a great competitor,” Florida multi-events coach Mellanee Welty said. “He has trained all year to come in and defend his conference championship. He came out and competed hard all weekend. Hats off to Cory Holman, he had an absolutely great meet and the two battled all weekend long. To finish with his PR and know there is still room for improvement, we are excited for the future and for him winning his second consecutive SEC Championship.”
Horn entered the day in second place overall in the competition after the first five events with a school-record opening day score of 4,068 and trailed Georgia's Cory Holman in total points the entire evening before closing the gap in the 1,500m – the final event of the day.
Horn started off the day with a personal-record time of 14.50 in the 110-meter hurdles, eclipsing his previous-best time of 14.59 set at the Mt. Sac Relays Multi-Events on April 15, 2010.
Horn followed that up with a third-place finish in the decathlon discus with a toss of 38.05m/124-11. That increased his points total to 5,604 points, 130 off of the lead at that point.
Horn won the decathlon pole vault with a leap of 4.64m/15-3 and cut his deficit in the decathlon down to 42 points before placing fourth with a personal-record mark of 48.88m/160-4 in the javelin. That decathlon mark bettered his previous-best of 47.75m/156-8 recorded at the Mt. Sac Relays and brought him within 20 points of the lead.
Horn ran a great 1,500-meter race in a time of 4:41.28 to capture his second consecutive league decathlon title.
“We've had some really good training cycles lately,” Horn said. “Ever since we got back from the Mt. Sac Relays, everything has just clicked. I've gotten a lot stronger and I've stayed injury free. I'm just really thankful. The team championship is my top goal. I love my teammates and I love the way they support me. I just wanted to give us a jumpstart, because I know we can win this thing.”
Freshman distance runner Josh Izewski (Doylestown, Pa.) ran a personal-record time of 30:08.33 to finish eighth in the men's 10,000-meter run and score a point for the team. Izewski's time bettered his previous PR in that event of 30:44.54, achieved at the UNF Spring Break Invitational on March 5 and is just outside of Florida's all-time top-10 list in the 10,000m. Senior Jeremy Criscione (Interlachen, Fla.) finished ninth in 30:15.56.
The Gator women picked up five points in the 10,000-meter run as Ali Crabb (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Laura Garrow (Port Orange, Fla.) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the event. Crabb clocked a time of 36:23.69 and Garrow charted a time of 36:24.79.
Senior middle-distance runner Carlos Phillips (Winter Park, Fla.) was the ninth and final qualifier in the men's 800-meter run in a season-best time of 1:49.86.
Senior sprinter Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.) advanced to the finals of the men's 200-meter dash in a time of 20.99 (+0.1).
Redshirt freshman thrower Jeremy Postin (Andover, Kan.), the school-record holder in the men's hammer throw, placed seventh in that event with a toss of 58.19m/190-11 to earn two points for the team.
Florida was unable to advance any competitors to the finals in the women's 200-meter dash or the women's 400-meter hurdles.
The third day of the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships commences at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday from Tom Black Track in Knoxville, Tenn.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (MAY 13-16, 2010 – KNOXVILLE, TENN.)
Friday, May 14, 2010
SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS MEN'S DECATHLON FINAL SCORES
1. Gray Horn, Florida – 7,652
2. Cory Holman, Georgia – 7,500
3. Jager Livingston, Auburn – 7,160
4. Scott Pierce , South Carolina – 7,056
5. Eddie Stoudemire, South Carolina – 6,858
6. Trevarus Christian, Mississippi State – 6,840
7. Michael Hughes, Alabama – 6,794
8. Terry Prentice, Arkansas – 6,650
9. Martin Lee, Mississippi State – 6,639
10. Antoine Lipscomb, Mississippi State – 6,462
11. Matt Kirbos, Arkansas – 6,364
12. Justin Brady , Alabama – 6,056
Women's Hammer Throw – 10 a.m. ET
18. Fidela James – 46.33m/152-0
Men's Hammer Throw – 1 p.m. ET
7. Jeremy Postin – 58.19m/190-11 (2 points)
10. David Triassi – 51.78m/169-10
Men's Decathlon – 4 p.m. ET
1. Gray Horn – 7,652 (10 points)
Decathlon 110m Hurdles
2. Gray Horn – 14.50 (+0.9) – 911 points
Decathlon Discus Throw
3. Gray Horn – 38.05m/124-10 - 625 points
Decathlon Pole Vault
1. Gray Horn – 4.64m/15-3 – 804 points
Decathlon Javelin
4. Gray Horn – 48.88m/160-4 – 572 points
Decathlon 1,500m Run
3. Gray Horn – 4:41.28 – 672 points
Men's 800m Run Prelims – 7:15 p.m. ET
9. Carlos Phillips – 1:49.86 q
13. John Mitchell – 1:51.03
15. Ethan Philpot – 1:52.93
16. Sean Obinwa – 1:53.04
Women's 200m Dash Prelims – 7:35 p.m. ET
24. Alishea Usery – 24.54 (+0.4)
29. Danielle Williams – 24.89 (+1.5)
32. Madison McNary – 24.98 (+1.5)
Men's 200m Dash Prelims – 7:50 p.m. ET
8. Calvin Smith – 20.99 (+0.1) q
11. Tony McQuay – 21.11 (-0.8)
20. Jeremy Hall – 21.70 (-0.3)
23. Terrell Wilks – 21.79 (-1.3)
Women's 400m Hurdles – 8:20 p.m. ET
9. Ugonna Ndu – 1:00.00
16. Ashley Usery – 1:03.59
18. Paige Morton – 1:04.35
Women's 10,000m Run – 8:50 p.m. ET
6. Ali Crabb – 36:23.69 (3 points)
7. Laura Garrow – 36:24.79 (2 points)
Men's 10,000m Run – 9:40 p.m. ET
8. Josh Izewski – 30:08.33 (1 point)
9. Jeremy Criscione – 30:15.56
MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS (THROUGH 3 EVENTS)
1. Auburn – 28
T2. LSU – 20
T2. Georgia – 20
4. South Carolina – 14
5. Florida – 13
6. Arkansas – 8
7. Ole Miss – 6
T8. Mississippi State – 3
T8. Tennessee – 3
10. Alabama - 2
WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS (THROUGH 3 EVENTS)
1. Georgia – 29
2. Kentucky – 26
T3. Auburn – 13
T3. Alabama – 13
5. Arkansas – 10
6. Mississippi State – 8
7. LSU – 6
8. Florida – 5
9. Vanderbilt – 5
10. Ole Miss – 2
FLORIDA'S SEC CHAMPIONS ON FRIDAY
- Gray Horn – Men's Decathlon
END OF REPORT
