Gators Venture North for Final Championship Tune-Ups

Friday, February 9

Clemson, SC

Florida Gators

Tiger Paw Invitational

Taylor Manson will have her second run with Florida's nation-leading 4x400 relay team Saturday.

Gators Venture North for Final Championship Tune-Ups

Thursday, February 8, 2018 | Track and Field

Florida will face competition from several ranked teams at two meets this weekend

By: Zach Dirlam

CLEMSON, S.C. – Florida, once again the clear-cut No. 1 men's team and back to No. 6 on the women's side of the USTFCCCA National Team Rankings, heads to Clemson's Tiger Paw Invitational and the Iowa State Classic Friday and Saturday for its final championship tune-ups.

The Gators will square off with student-athletes from numerous ranked teams at both meets.

Two of the best matchups the vweekend are likely to feature three-time national champion KeAndre Bates and two-time national champion Grant Holloway. In the long jump, Bates, the reigning indoor national champion, will face Texas A&M's Will Williams, who took runner-up honors at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships. The two rank third and tied for fifth, respectively, on this season's national descending order list. The 60-meter hurdles should be equally entertaining, as Holloway, the reigning national champion and current national leader, faces Alabama's Ruebin Walters, who ranks second in the country. The two also finished first and second in the 110-meter hurdles at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, with Holloway winning by five hundredths of a second.

Both of Florida's nation-leading 4x400 relay teams will take the track as well. The men's and women's quartets ran their nation-leading times at the Clemson Invitational three weeks ago, with the former running the eighth-fastest time in collegiate history.

The top women's competitors will be Sharrika Barnett (200 meters), Lloydricia Cameron (shot put), and Darrielle McQueen (long jump and triple jump)

While Barnett will run the 200 and anchor the 4x400 relay Saturday, she ranks fourth nationally in the 400 meters. Cameron ranks sixth in the nation and should see her strongest competition to date, while McQueen enters the weekend ranked seventh in the long jump and 16th in the triple jump—both of which could feature as many as six of the top 10 jumpers in the country.

TIGER PAW INVITATIONAL MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)

Live Results (Adkins Timing Associates)
Venue: Clemson University Indoor Complex
Nationally-Ranked Competing Teams: Alabama (No. 5 men; No. 17 women); Auburn (No. 24 men); Georgia (No. 2 women; No. 3 men); Kentucky (No. 5 women; No. 18 men); Mississippi State (No. 20 women); South Carolina (No. 19 women); Southern California (No. 4 women; No. 15 men); Tennessee (No. 18 women); Texas A&M (No. 4 men; No. 8 women); Virginia Tech (No. 9 men)

*Friday, February 9 (unless denoted otherwise,* all events are finals)**
Time	Gators – Event
12 p.m.	Amanda Froeynes; Brandee' Johnson; Timetria Mitchell; Nikki Stephens – Women's 60-meter Hurdles (prelims)
12:50 p.m.	Cory Poole – Men's 60-meter Hurdles (prelims)
2:15 p.m.	Ryan Clark; Michael Timpson Jr. – Men's 60 meters (prelims)
2:30 p.m.	KeAndre Bates; Enzo Hodebar – Men's Long Jump
	Lloydricia Cameron – Women's Shot Put
3 p.m.	Froeynes; Johnson; Mitchell; Stephens – Women's 60-meter Hurdles (semifinals)
3:40 p.m.	Grant Holloway; Poole – Men's 60-meter Hurdles (semifinals)
3:55 p.m.	Elisabeth Bergh – Women's Mile
4:30 p.m.	Froeynes; Darrielle McQueen; Stephens – Women's Long Jump
4:35 p.m.	Sam Ahrenholz; Marshall Dillon; Jack Rogers – Men's Mile
5 p.m.	Clark; Timpson Jr. – Men's 60 meters (semifinals)
5:15 p.m.	Lauryn Ghee; Taylor Sharpe; Destiny Ward – Women's 400 meters
5:55 p.m.	Froeynes; Johnson; Mitchell; Stephens – Women's 60-meter Hurdles
6 p.m.	Holloway; Poole – Men's 60-meter Hurdles
6:10 p.m.	Jabari Hill; Cole Johnson; Chantz Sawyers – Men's 400 meters
7 p.m.	Clark; Timpson Jr. – Men's 60 meters

*Saturday, February 10 (unless denoted otherwise, all events are finals)*
Time	Gators – Event
11 a.m.	Amanda Froeynes; Nikki Stephens – Women's High Jump
	KeAndre Bates; Enzo Hodebar – Men's Triple Jump
	Lloydricia Cameron; Jontavia Dykes; Amara Wiggan – Women's Weight Throw
12 p.m.	Mike Harris – Men's Pole Vault
12 p.m.	Elisabeth Bergh; Abbie Harrelson – Women's 800 meters
12:20 p.m.	Kyren Hollis; Justin Pacifico – Men's 800 meters
12:40 p.m.	Sharrika Barnett; Taylor Manson – Women's 200 meters
1:20 p.m.	Ryan Clark; Kunle Fasasi; Benjamin Lobo Vedel – Men's 200 meters
1:30 p.m.	Clayton Brown; Jhonny Victor – Men's High Jump
	Darrielle McQueen – Women's Triple Jump
	Anders Eriksson; Thomas Mardal; AJ McFarland – Men's Weight Throw
2:30 p.m.	Brandee' Johnson-Manson-Lauryn Ghee-Barnett [A]; Stephens-Destiny Ward-Taylor Sharpe-Froeynes [B] – Women's 4x400 relay
3 p.m.	Fasasi-Grant Holloway-Chantz Sawyers-Lobo Vedel [A]; Jabari Hill-Clark-Hollis-Cole Johnson (Pacifico) [B] – Men's 4x400 relay

IOWA STATE CLASSIC MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)

Live Results (PrimeTime Timing)
Live Streaming (FloTrack – Paid subscription required)
Venue: Lied Recreation Center (Iowa State University)
Nationally-Ranked Competing Teams: Alabama (No. 5 men); Arizona State (No. 25 women); Baylor (No. 16 women); BYU (No. 12 men); Georgetown (No. 25 men); Georgia (No. 2 women; No. 3 men); Indiana (No. 11 men; No. 23 women); Iowa State (No. 21 women); Kentucky (No. 5 women; No. 18 men); Michigan (No. 20 men); Minnesota (No. 10 women); Ole Miss (No. 11 women); Penn State (No. 7 men); Stanford (No. 8 men); Syracuse (No. 19 men); Villanova (No. 24 women); Wisconsin (No. 15 women)

*Friday, February 9 (unless denoted otherwise,* all events are finals)**
Time	Gators – Event
1:30 p.m.	Morgan Hull – Women's 5,000 meters (Section 1)
2:20 p.m.	Magnus Pettersen – Men's 5,000 meters (Section 2)
8:30 p.m.	Jack Guyton – Men's 3,000 meters (Invitational)
8:45 p.m.	Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell; Lauren Perry – Women's 3,000 meters (Section 2)

*Saturday, February 10 (unless denoted otherwise, all events are finals)*
Time	Gators – Event
2:05 p.m.	Jack Beitter – Men's Mile (Section 3)