Mike Holloway Participates in NCAA Press Conference
Friday, March 11, 2011 | Track and Field
In advance of his team's participation in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Florida head coach Mike Holloway participated in the NCAA Press Conference on Thursday afternoon at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
A transcript of Holloway's participation in the event is included below:
Opening statement … “We're very excited about being here. On the men's side, we have a very broad-based team. We've got three guys in the triple jump, a guy in the long jump, a shot putter, a heptathlete, and on the track we've got a guy in the high hurdles, two in the 60, a guy in the 200, a guy in the 400, a guy in the mile and a 4x4. We feel like we've got a pretty broad-based team on the men's side. We've worked really hard to try to put that group together. On the women's side, we've got a miler in our young freshman Cory McGee, and we also have a 4x4 that we think will be very competitive for us also. It has been a very good indoor season for us to this point and we're very excited about being here and competing in front of a nice crowd. We are going to put our best foot forward and see how it turns out this weekend.”
On how the makeup of this year's men's team compares to last year's … “Our team is very similar to last year, but I think that we're a little different in that it's the first time we've had a contender in the middle-distance area. We have a pretty good miler [Dumisani Hlaselo]. I would say we're very, very similar to last year, we're just a little stronger in the triple jump than we were a year ago, as well as the long jump and the middle distances, but we're still the same kind of team we were last year.”
On what can be done to bring greater awareness to the sport of track and field … “I think we've got to do something to attach more of a team aspect to what we do. Too often, when those in the media talk to us, you talk to us about our individuals. I know everybody up here is preaching team and I think that's why we're successful, because we do that. I think the more we can get that concept out to the masses, the better we are going to be and the better people are going to receive us. Generally, track and field becomes popular in this country during the Olympic years and other than that it's not. Then, all of a sudden, it's the United States team competing against the world. If we find a way to get that message out to the masses in terms of what we do with our teams, I think it would be a great thing.”
The NCAA Indoor Championships take place Friday and Saturday at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute information, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
