Gators Send Split Squads to Trio of Meets
Friday, February 11, 2011 | Track and Field
The University of Florida track and field team will send split squads to a trio of prestigious meets across the country this weekend to serve as the final tuneup before the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships. The team's sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers will be at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., the throwers will be at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, and the distance runners will travel to the FloTrack Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. Each of the three competitions is a two-day meet.
The Tyson Invitational will be hosted by the University of Arkansas at its Randal Tyson Track Center despite a record-setting snow storm that blanketed Northwest Arkansas. Record-low sub-zero temperatures as well as 15-19 inches of snow have been reported across Washington County. The event begins at 1 p.m. ET Friday and continues at 12 p.m. ET Saturday. Live results will be available at www.flashresults.com as well as live video (subscription-based) at www.arkansasrazorbacks.com.
The Iowa State Classic is being hosted by Iowa State University at its Lied Recreation Center. The event begins at 10 a.m. ET Friday and continues at 10 a.m. ET Saturday. Live results will be available at http://www.cyclones.com/fls/10700/track_live/index.htm and video coverage will be available through www.flotrack.com.
The FloTrack Husky Classic is being hosted by the University of Washington at its Dempsey Indoor Stadium. The event begins at 9 p.m. ET Friday and continues at 11 a.m. ET Saturday. Live results will be available at http://www.gohuskies.com/livestats/c-track/021111/index.htm with video coverage available through www.flotrack.com.
“We're just looking to get better,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “The good thing about being in Fayetteville, Ark., is that's where the SEC Championships will be held this year and I'm always excited to go there. It's a great facility and it's great competition. It's a great distance carnival type of environment out in Washington this weekend for our distance runners and the Iowa State facility is great for throwing. We need to put our athletes in a position to qualify and we're excited about them going out and putting their best foot forward.”
The Gators enter the Tyson Invitational with three of the top six triple jumpers in the country. Junior jumper Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.) leads the nation with a mark of 16.86m/55-3.75, while junior Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) ranks second in the country and sophomore Omar Craddock (Killeen, Texas) is sixth in the nation. Each of those three have automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and will participate in both the long jump and triple jump this weekend.
Sophomore sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) is currently second in the nation in the men's 60-meter dash after opening his season last weekend at Virginia Tech with an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 6.57.
A wide variety of Gators will be using the weekend as an opportunity to improve their marks in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Arkansas will play host to the 2011 SEC Indoor Championships Feb. 25-27 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, 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.
