SEC Shot Put Champion Stipe Zunic Makes Noise at European Indoor Championships
Thursday, March 5, 2015 | Track and Field
PRAGUE -- With just a week to go before the No. 1 Gator men's track and field squad hits the road for Fayetteville, Ark., and the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, senior thrower Stipe Zunic is keeping the pedal to the medal through the final stretch of his most successful indoor season at Florida. After winning the SEC Championship and breaking a 17-year-old Meet Record (20.41m/66-11.5) Feb. 27, Zunic boarded the plane for Prague for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Competing in the shot put for his native Croatia, Zunic broke his own school record Thursday with a 20.67m/67-9.75 PR heave in qualifying to advance to Friday's 11:30 a.m. (ET) finals round second overall at the O2 Arena.
In addition to a University of Florida indoor record, the mark was a new Croatian National Record, broken and re-established by Zunic himself just a month ago with his previous school-record performance of 20.61m/67-7.5 from the Doc Hale VT Elite Meet in Blacksburg Feb. 7.
Zunic ranks second in the NCAA in the shot put entering next week's NCAA Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
Also notable, former Gator Kemal Mesic (19.04m/62-5.75) competed in Thursday's qualifying round and finished 20th in the field for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Gator fans can follow Zunic's progress in finals of the shot put Friday here.
LINKS
· WATCH: Stipe Zunic's SEC Championship Throw
· 2015 SEC Indoor Championships Recap: No. 1 Men Win SEC Title, No. 3 Women Runners-Up
· VIDEO: SEC Indoor Individual Champions Interviews
· READ: Antonya English -- For Gators' Holloway, it's all about staying on track
· VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Holloway Monday Press Conference
2015 EUROPEAN ATHLETICS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
· Follow on Twitter: @Euro_Indoors & @EuroAthletics
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