Florida Gators
NCAA Preliminary Rounds
Track and Field Finalizes Strong Contingent For Eugene
Sunday, May 30, 2010 | Track and Field
Heading into the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds – the first year of the current format – Florida head coach Mike Holloway charged his team with one primary goal: advancing as many scoring opportunities to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., as possible.
The Gators answered their coach's call this past weekend and now have qualified 21 slots for the upcoming NCAA Championships, capping off a stellar weekend on Saturday by Florida at the three-day event, hosted by North Carolina A&T University at its Irwin Belk Track.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships take place June 9-13 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Tickets for the championship may be purchased from the Oregon athletics department ticket office by visiting GoDucks.com or calling 1-800-WEB-FOOT. The ticket office is open Monday–Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PT. If any tickets remain to be sold, they will be available for purchase at Hayward Field 90 minutes prior to the first event on each day of competition.
“We talked before we got here about doing our job at this meet and getting as many of our scorers through to the NCAA meet as possible,” Holloway said. “I thought we did a great job of that this weekend, and I'm very proud of our team's focus and effort.
“A lot of times when you come in as the favorite, or you are expected to do certain things, you have a tendency to get complacent,” Holloway said. “I thought everybody did a wonderful job and that was a byproduct of our focus. The things we want to do in two weeks started Thursday. If we hadn't done our jobs this weekend, we wouldn't be able to score points in two weeks.”
Sophomore jumper Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) and freshman jumper Omar Craddock (Kileen, Texas) each qualified for the men's triple jump finals, placing first and third, respectively, in Saturday's qualifying round. Taylor would have broken his own school record had the performance not been heavily wind aided (+2.2). He recorded a mark of 16.95m/55-7.50 (+2.2), while Craddock charted a leap of 16.52m/54-2.50 (+2.9). Taylor currently holds Florida's school triple jump record at 16.91m/55-5.75.
The defending NCAA Champion 4x100-meter relay team notched the top time in the quarterfinals, clocking a season-best time of 38.81 to advance to Eugene. The quartet consisted of Chris Rainey (Lakeland, Fla.), Jeremy Hall (Jacksonville , Fla.), Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) and Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.).
Wilks also advanced to Eugene in the 200-meter dash, logging a personal-record time of 20.53 (+1.1) in the quarterfinal round.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team, which entered the meet with the fastest time in the world so far this season, placed second overall in the quarterfinals to advance to Eugene. The foursome consisted of senior R.J. Anderson (Big Pine Key, Fla.), freshman Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.), Taylor and senior sprinter Calvin Smith (Lutz, Fla.), clocking a time of 3:02.75.
Senior distance runner Julie Northrup (Vero Beach, Fla.), the second-fastest women's steeplechase athlete in school history, advanced to the semifinals of the event with a time of 10:27.44. Northrup, who advanced on time, placed fifth in her heat – by far the fastest of the three heats – and finished with the seventh-best time overall in the quarterfinal round.
Senior jumper Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in her second event, placing fourth in qualifying for the women's triple jump with a season-best leap 13.41m/44-0 (+1.3).
Senior distance runner Charlotte Browning (Pullborough, England), the women's 1,500m SEC Outdoor Champion in 2010, ran a strategic race to finish third overall in the event quarterfinals with a time of 4:18.46 to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
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.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Men's Discus – 9:30 a.m. ET
--. Kemal Mesic - FOUL
Women's Steeplechase – 10:10 a.m.
7. Julie Northrup – 10:27.44 q
30. Genevieve LaCaze – 10:54.44
Men's Triple Jump – 12 p.m. ET
1. Christian Taylor – 16.95m/55-7.50 (+2.2) Q
3. Omar Craddock – 16.52m/54-2.50 (+2.9) Q
Women's Discus – 3:30 p.m. ET
25. Ashley Miller – 46.83m/153-7
--. Keely Medeiros - FOUL
Women's Triple Jump – 4 p.m. ET
4. Shara Proctor – 13.41m/44-0 (+1.3) Q
Men's 4x100m Relay Quarterfinals – 6 p.m. ET
1. Florida (C. Rainey, J. Hall, T. Wilks, J. Demps) – 38.81 Q
Men's 1,500m Run Quarterfinals – 6:30 p.m. ET
17. Justin Taylor – 3:52.95
Women's 1,500m Run Quarterfinals – 6:45 p.m. ET
3. Charlotte Browning – 4:18.46 Q
Men's 200m Dash Quarterfinals – 7:35 p.m. ET
4. Terrell Wilks – 20.53 (+1.1) Q
Men's 5,000m Run Semifinals – 8:05 p.m. ET
31. Jeremy Criscione – 14:31.83
Women's 5,000m Run Semifinals – 8:45 p.m. ET
24. Stacey Johnson – 16:52.64
Men's 4x400m Relay Quarterfinals – 9:25 p.m. ET
2. Florida (R. Anderson, T. McQuay, C. Taylor, C. Smith) – 3:02.75 Q
Women's 4x400m Relay Quarterfinals – 9:45 p.m. ET
15. Florida (I. Iheoma, Al. Usery, U. Ndu, L. Whittaker) – 3:38.09
QUALIFIERS FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT EUGENE, ORE. (21)
- Charlotte Browning – Women's 1,500m Run (3rd)
- Omar Craddock – Men's Triple Jump (3rd)
- Evelien Dekkers – Women's Javelin (1st)
- Jeff Demps – Men's 100m (4th)
- Gray Horn – Men's Decathlon (N/A)
- Josh Izewski – Men's 10,000m (12th)
- Fidela James – Women's Shot Put (10th)
- Mariam Kevkhishvili – Women's Shot Put (1st)
- Tony McQuay – Men's 400m Dash (10th)
- Keely Medeiros – Women's Shot Put (5th)
- Kemal Mesic – Men's Shot Put (1st)
- Julie Northrup – Women's Steeplechase (7th)
- Shara Proctor – Women's Long Jump (3rd)
- Shara Proctor – Women's Triple Jump (4th)
- Calvin Smith – Men's 400m Dash (2nd)
- Christian Taylor – Men's Long Jump (1st)
- Christian Taylor – Men's Triple Jump (1st)
- Terrell Wilks – Men's 100m Dash (9th)
- Terrell Wilks – Men's 200m Dash (4th)
- Men's 4x100m Relay (1st)
- Men's 4x400m Relay (2nd)
END OF REPORT
