Florida Men's XC Turns in Second-Place Finish at SEC Championships; Women Fourth at League Meet

Friday, November 1

Gainesville, FL

9:00 AM

Florida Gators

SEC Championship

Florida Men's XC Turns in Second-Place Finish at SEC Championships; Women Fourth at League Meet

Friday, November 1, 2013 | Cross Country

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida junior Jimmy Clark turned in a fifth-place 8K finish on the men's side (23:57.03) and senior Agata Strausa clocked a fourth-place and personal best 6K race (20:17.79) for the Gator women to lead UF's cross country teams to second (96) and fourth-place finishes (150), respectively, at the 2013 SEC Championships at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course Friday.

In addition to Strausa's personal best performance, freshman Carlos Miranda clocked a lifetime-best mark in his first SEC Championships as the men's squad made it 17 straight years of top-five finishes, 12 of those top-three finishes. Florida last finished second on the men's side in 2011. For Florida's women, the fourth-place finish Friday was the Gators' 10th straight season as a top-five finisher at the league championships.

Five Florida student-athletes earned 2013 All-SEC honors: Jimmy Clark (First), Mark Parrish (Second), Eddie Garcia (Second), Carlos Miranda (All-Freshman), Agata Strausa (First)

SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS NOTABLES

· Junior Jimmy Clark ran the fifth-fastest 8K for a Gator at a SEC Championship Friday, turning in UF's top individual finish (5th place). Clark's individual finish was the highest for a Gator since 2011 (Parrish, 3rd)

· Senior Agata Strausa's PR was the second-fastest SEC Championship 6K for a Florida women's runner (20:17.79)

· With Strausa's fourth-place finish, UF has now had a top-five individual finisher at SECs for six straight seasons

· Strausa (20:17.79) and freshman Carlos Miranda (24:55.40) both topped their marks from October 19th's Wisconsin adidas Invitational (Strausa 20:18, Miranda 24:59)

· Clark was an All-SEC honoree for the second time as a Gator (2011, 2013), while senior Mark Parrish picked up All-SEC accolades for the third time donning the Orange and Blue (2011, 2012, 2013). Junior Eddie Garcia picked up All-SEC accolades for the second time after being SEC All-Freshman in 2011

· Strausa made it two-straight years of All-SEC First Team honors after finishing sixth in 2012

· Freshman Amber Johnson ran her first collegiate 6K at Friday's SEC Championships

· For the first time since 2002, the Orange and Blue played host to the league championships in Gainesville

· Arkansas won both the men's and women's SEC team titles Friday

· Arkansas senior Kemoy Campbell downed the Mark Bostick Golf Course 'course' record (previously 23:34), and set a new SEC Championships record with his individual mark (22:58.73)

SPANGLER SPEAKS
Florida assistant track and cross country coach Paul Spangler

On the women's team finish:

"Certainly one of our goals for the women was to come in and contend for a title. Hats off to Arkansas, they ran really well. We had a fourth place finish – certainly not where we wanted to be. Agata Strausa ran great, I thought she did a phenomenal job. We just have to refocus and get ready for regionals. It's similar to our guy's team last year; they didn't have a great conference meet, but refocused and ran great at regionals. We have to do the same. We'll need to fine tune a few things between now and then and get ourselves in a position to get the women back to nationals.”

On the men's team finish:

"Our goal coming in was to win. Arkansas is pretty good, and they showed that today. Our guys, as a whole, did a really nice job. Jimmy (Clark), Mark (Parrish) and Eddie (Garcia)were all All-SEC, Carlos All-Freshman and JL Hines had his first race in awhile off an injury and I thought he did a great job. Eddie has had a breakthrough year. I'm very pleased with the guys. Again, we'll refocus now and get ready for regionals with the goal of getting the men's team back to nationals.”

UP NEXT
Florida will have two weeks to prepare for the 2013 NCAA South Region Championships, hosted this year in Tuscaloosa, Ala. For all information leading up to Regionals, stay tuned to www.GatorZone.com/crosscountry.

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RESULTS

Gator Men (Complete Results)

5. Jimmy Clark, 23:57.03 – All-SEC First Team

8. Mark Parrish, 24:01.40 – All-SEC Second Team

13. Eddie Garcia, 24:21.64 – All-SEC Second Team

29. Carlos Miranda, 24:55.40 – All-SEC Freshman Team | PR

41. JL Hines, 25:10.47

53. Harsha Torke, 25:34.39

94. Mac Reynolds, 26:40.45

99. Mark Mutz, 26:56.84

Gator Women (Complete Results)

4. Agata Strausa, 20:17.79 – All-SEC First Team | PR

16. Cory McGee, 21:01.16

30. Julie Macedo, 21:30.55

37. Taylor Tubbs, 21:41.30

67. Shelby Hayes, 22:17.79

72. Macy Huskey, 22:23.40

97. Amber Johnson, 23:21.99

99. Brittany Koziara, 23:27.25

Men's 8K Team Scores: 1. Arkansas 31; 2. Florida 96; 3. Georgia 101; 4. Missouri 107; 5. Kentucky 173; 6. Auburn 175; 7. Tennessee 187; 8. Texas A&M 187; 9. Mississippi State 229; 10. Ole Miss 242; 11. Alabama 251; 12. LSU 356; 13. Vanderbilt 369.

Women's 6K Team Scores: 1. Arkansas 32; 2. Texas A&M 123; 3. Kentucky 134; 4. Florida 150; 5. Vanderbilt 161; 6. Alabama 174; 7. Missouri 178; 8. Tennessee 179; 9. Ole Miss 190; 10. Mississippi State 191; 11. Georgia 224; 12. South Carolina 294; 13. Auburn 309; 14. LSU 460

Men's All-SEC First Team

Kemoy Campbell, Arkansas

Stanley Kebenei, Arkansas

Solomon Haile, Arkansas

Lucas Baker, Georgia

Jimmy Clark, Florida

Ty McCormack, Auburn

Peter Okwera, Tennessee

Men's All-SEC Second Team

Mark Parrish, Florida

Kane Grimster, Auburn

Gabe Gonzales, Arkansas