Dendy, Zunic Capture Conference Titles on Day Two of SEC Outdoor Championships

Friday, May 15

Gainesville, FL

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

SEC Outdoor Championships

Dendy, Zunic Capture Conference Titles on Day Two of SEC Outdoor Championships

Saturday, May 16, 2015 | Track and Field

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Paced by a pair of Southeastern Conference titles on the men's side, the University of Florida men's and women's track & field teams sit first and ninth heading into the final day of the SEC Outdoor Championships. This week's meet is being held at the Mike Sanders Track and Field Complex in Starkville, Miss.

Five-time national champion Marquis Dendy picked up his seventh SEC individual title, having won four jumps titles indoors and now two outdoor championships. The Middletown, Del. product won Florida's seventh long jump crown, as he leaped a distance of 8.19 meters (26-10.5, +2.4W), which was a personal-best mark. In addition he is now tied for third all-time in UF history.

Dendy won his first SEC crown a season ago in the triple jump and will look to defend that title and give Florida six straight SEC outdoor triple jump champions tomorrow afternoon. The Gators last long jump champion was Will Claye in 2011.

The 2012 SEC javelin champion, Stipe Zunic has transitioned to the shot put quite well as he is now the two-time defending champion in the event. The Zadar, Croatia native won this year's crown with a toss of 19.95 meters (65-5.5). Zunic became the first Gator since Dock Luckie (1978-79) to win the shot put in back-to-back years at the conference meet.

In addition to Dendy in the long jump, KeAndre Bates placed third in the event jump with a personal-best and what now ranks as tied for sixth in UF history, 7.97 meters (26-1.75). On the women's side, Darrielle McQueen finished in seventh place with a personal-record leap of 6.26 meters (20-6.5).

Also in the field for the women, Taylor Burke finished third (1.80m/6-5.10.75) in the high jump, while Lloydricia Cameron and Jontavia Dykes placed fifth (50.72m/166-5) and 11th (45.05m/147-9) in the discus, respectively.

Capping off the day for the Gators was senior Mark Parrish as he recorded a runner-up finished in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with time of 8:59.06.

Florida qualified nine athletes, three men and six women, for finals following all of today's preliminary races. UF owns nine SEC outdoor championships, four on the men's side ('53, '56, '87, '10) and five in women's action ('92, '97, '98, '03,'09) and will look to add to that total tomorrow.

HEARING OUT HOLLOWAY

On Stipe Zunic and Marquis Dendy:

“Stipe (Zunic) and Marquis (Dendy) both put a little bit of a scare into us, as they each fouled on their first two attempts of the prelims. But, they are great athletes, competitors and have great coaches that helped them figure it out. Then they each came through in the finals and won SEC Championships. I'm looking for bigger things from both of them down the road, but I am very proud of what they accomplished today.”

On Mark Parrish in the Steeplechase:

“I thought Mark (Parrish) did a wonderful job, as it was a really windy day. Mark stayed with the pack early and then took the pace with about 1,000 meters to go. He then had a really good kick to finish the race. As a senior and one of our leaders on the team, it was good to see him go out and get eight big points for our team.”

On the Gators who qualified for tomorrow's finals:

“I think we had a really good day of qualifying. We had a little bit of a snafu in the 100-meter dash today, but that's my fault as I have to coach those kids better so that we're ready for that kind of thing in the future. Also, I want to mention Bridgette Owens breaking the school record today in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles. She's run under 12.80 this year a few times, as the school-record was 12.79, but it has always been wind aided. So for her to run 12.73 today and break the UF-record, I thought that was big. I'm just really proud of her and the whole women's 100-meter hurdles group. Overall, I am very pleased. I think we are ready to make a great championship run tomorrow afternoon.”

STIPE ZUNIC – 2015 SEC SHOT PUT CHAMPION

On winning his third-career SEC title:

“It's pretty cool that I have a javelin title and now two shot put championships. It's always harder to defend a title than it is to win it, so it feels good to be the best guy here. Even though it wasn't my best day, I was still able to throw a 19.95 (meters) and get the win, so that is something that I can take out of this. Today was really about just having some mental toughness.”

On fouling on his first two throws and rebounding to make the finals and win:

“It was an emotional roller coaster. I've never been in that situation before where I have to make the third throw correctly in order to move on, as I usually start out pretty strong. We are training really hard for NCAA's right now and today I was just a little off balance. Coach (Mike) Holloway came up and just told me that he and the other coaches are big believers in me. He also told me to just trust in God and go for it, so I cleared my mind and let God do the work through me.”

MARQUIS DENDY – 2015 SEC LONG JUMP CHAMPION

On winning another SEC title:

“It feels really good. Being honest, I get more nervous during the SEC Championships than any other meet, and I don't know why. This is a type of crunch-time meet, so it feels good to come out here and continue my winning ways.”

FRIDAY PRELIM NOTABLES

· Taylor Tubbs, Lauren Perry and Macy Huskey all qualified for the women's 1500-meter run finals as recorded times of 4:23.45, 4:26.60 and 4:28.49, respectively. Huskey's mark was a personal record.

· Ryann McEnany (13.72, +1.9W), Tyjah Eady (13.86, +1.9W) and Ashley Favors (14.18, +1.9W) all set personal-best times in the women's 100-meter hurdles prelims.

· Bridgette Owens recorded the top time in the 100-meter hurdles with a SCHOOL-RECORD mark of 12.73 seconds (+1.5W).

· In the men's 400-meter dash prelims, Najee Glass and Gino Hall qualified for tomorrow's finals with times of 46.34 and 46.96 seconds, respectively.

· Robin Reynolds and Destiny Washington clocked times of 52.33 and 53.88 (PR) seconds to advance to tomorrow's women's 400-meter dash finals.

· In the men's 100-meter dash, Dedric Dukes qualified for tomorrow's 100-meter dash finals as he crossed the finish line in a personal-best and the eighth fastest mark in UF history, 10.17 seconds (+2.5W).

2015 GATOR SEC CHAMPIONS

Eddie Garcia: Men's 10,000-meter run (29:49.92)

Stipe Zunic: Men's Shot Put (19.95m/65-5.5)

Marquis Dendy: Men's Long Jump (8.19m/26-10.5, +2.4W) | PR | Tied for No. 3 all-time at UF | NCAA leader

TEAM STANDINGS THROUGH DAY TWO

Women

1. Arkansas, 58.50

2. Georgia, 46

3. Texas A&M, 37

4. Kentucky, 32

5. Alabama, 31.50

6. Missouri, 24.67

7. Mississippi State, 18

8. Auburn, 16

9. FLORIDA, 15

T10. LSU, 12

T10. South Carolina, 12

12. Vanderbilt, 5.33

13. Ole Miss, 4

Men

1. FLORIDA, 50

2. Georgia, 47

3. Arkansas, 36

4. Kentucky, 27

5. Texas A&M, 24

T6. Mississippi State, 16

T6. South Carolina, 16

8. Auburn, 15

9. Ole Miss, 14

10. Tennessee, 10

11. Alabama, 8

12. Missouri, 6

13. LSU, 4

2015 SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS | FRIDAY RESULTS

COMPLETE FRIDAY GATOR COMPETITORS
FIELD EVENTS
MEN'S LONG JUMP	1. Marquis Dendy (8.19m/26-10.5, +2.4W) \| PR \| Tied for No. 3 all-time at UF \| NCAA leader, 3. KeAndre Bates (7.97m/26-1.75, +3.0W) \| PR \| Tied for No. 6 all-time at UF
WOMEN'S LONG JUMP	7. Darrielle McQueen (6.26m/20-6.5) \| PR
MEN'S SHOT PUT	1. Stipe Zunic (19.95m/65-5.5)
WOMEN'S HIGH JUMP	3. Taylor Burke (1.80m/6-5.10.75)
WOMEN'S DISCUS	5. Lloydricia Cameron (50.72m/166-5), 11. Jontavia Dykes (45.05m/147-9)
TRACK EVENTS
MEN'S 1500M PRELIM	20. Charles Chambers (3:55.72)
WOMEN'S 1500M PRELIM	4. Taylor Tubbs (4:23.45) \| qualifies for finals, 10. Lauren Perry (4:26.60) \| qualifies for finals, 13. Macy Huskey (4:28.49) \| PR \| qualifies for finals, 12. Becky Greene (4:27.16), 27. Devin McDermott (4:38.91), 32. Shelby Hayes (4:44.35)
MEN'S 110H PRELIM	12. Moriell Pitt (14.10, +3.6) \| PR, 13. Caleb Chambliss (14.57, +1.5) \| PR, 15. Yanick Hart (32.80, +3.6)
WOMEN'S 100H PRELIM	1. Bridgette Owens (12.73, +1.5) \| No. 1 all-time at UF \| qualifies for finals, 15. Ryann McEnany (13.72, +1.9) \| PR, 16. Tyjah Eady (13.86, +1.9) \| PR, 20. Ashley Favors (14.18, +1.9) \| PR
MEN'S 400M PRELIM	5. Najee Glass (46.34) \| qualifies for finals, 9. Gino Hall (46.96) \| qualifies for finals, 11. Nick Uruburu (47.03)
WOMEN'S 400M PRELIM	1. Robin Reynolds (52.33) \| qualifies for finals, 7. Destiny Washington (53.88) \| PR \| qualifies for finals, 21. Julie Nunn (55.70)
MEN'S 100M PRELIM	6. Dedric Dukes (10.17, +2.5) \| PR \| Tied for No. 8 all-time at UF \| qualifies for finals, 13. Antwan Wright (10.37, +2.3), 20. Damien Daniels (10.70, +2.3) \| PR, 26. Tyler Osorio (10.81, +2.5) \| PR
WOMEN'S 100M PRELIM	14. Shayla Sanders (11.46, +1.2)
MEN'S STEEPLECHASE FINAL	2. Mark Parrish (8:59.06)

Saturday Schedule (all competitors' pended qualification from prelims)

1:00PM	WOMEN'S JAVELIN PRELIM & FINAL – Miller / Oniwinde
	Fawn Miller PR: 58.13m/190-8
	Kike Oniwinde PR: 47.14m/154-8

1:00PM	WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP PRELIM & FINAL – Brewer / McQueen / Warner
	Ciarra Brewer PR: 13.91m/45-7.75
	Darrielle McQueen PR: 12.70m/41-8
	Gissell Warner PR: 12.80m/42-0

1:00PM	MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP FINAL – Dendy / Bates
	Marquis Dendy PR: 16.57m/54-4.5
	KeAndre Bates PR: 15.52m/50-11

2:30PM	MEN'S POLE VAULT FINAL – Glasser / Amodio / Watkins
	Harry Glasser PR: 4.96m/16-3.25
	Anthony Amodio PR: 4.95m/16-2.75
	Jared Watkins PR: 5.20m/17-0.75

3:30PM	MEN'S DISCUS PRELIM & FINAL – Zunic
	Stipe Zunic PR: 58.31m/191-3

4:00PM	WOMEN'S SHOT PUT PRELIM & FINAL – Cameron
	Lloydricia Cameron PR: 14.77m/48-5.5

4:00PM	MEN'S HIGH JUMP FINAL – Victor
	Jhonny Victor PR: 2.09m/6-10.25

3:00PM	MEN'S 4X100M FINAL – Wright-Hall-Futch-Dukes
3:10PM	WOMEN'S 4X100M FINAL – Reynolds-Sanders-Gause-Jefferson
3:30PM	WOMEN'S 1500M FINAL – Tubbs / Perry / Huskey
3:50PM	WOMEN'S 100M HURDLES FINAL – Owens
4:00PM	MEN'S 400M FINAL – Glass / Hall
4:10PM	WOMEN'S 400M FINAL – Reynolds / Washington
4:20PM	MEN'S 100M FINAL – Dukes
4:40PM	MEN'S 800M FINAL – Schnulle / Arroyo
4:50PM	WOMEN'S 800M FINAL – Francis
5:00PM	MEN'S 400M HURDLES FINAL – Futch / Holmes
5:20PM	MEN'S 200M FINAL – Dukes
5:30PM	WOMEN'S 200M FINAL – Jefferson
5:40PM	MEN'S 5000M FINAL – Chambers / Clark / Garcia / Parrish
	Charles Chambers PR: he has not run the 5K at Florida outdoors, so it will be a PR
	Jimmy Clark PR: 13.58.24
	Eddie Garcia PR: 14:42.42
	Mark Parrish: 14:25.95

6:00PM	WOMEN'S 5000M FINAL – Tubbs / Brasure / Greene / Huskey / McDermott / Perry
	Taylor Tubbs PR: 16:27.66
	Devin McDermott PR: 17:20.54
	Macy Huskey PR: has never run 5K outdoors at UF, so her time will be a PR
	Lauren Brasure PR: has never run 5K outdoors (freshman), so her time will be a PR
	Lauren Perry PR: has never run 5K outdoors (freshman), so her time will be a PR
	Becky Greene PR: has never run 5K outdoors at UF, so her time will be a PR

6:25PM	MEN'S 4X400M FINAL – Uruburu-Dukes-Futch-Glass
6:35PM	WOMEN'S 4X400M FINAL – Reynolds-Jefferson-Gause-Francis
	KeAndre Bates PR: 7.62m/25-0