Top 10 Individual Performances of 2017-18

Sophomore Grant Holloway, a national indoor and outdoor champion in the high hurdles, was among the standout athletes during the 2017-18 athletic year.

Top 10 Individual Performances of 2017-18

Friday, July 6, 2018 | General, Chris Harry

Our annual look back at our choices for the most eye-popping moments for UF athletes.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida fans, like all fans, cheer on and celebrate the collective accomplishments of their teams.

But woven in the success of those teams are the individual achievements and spectacular performances that occur in the moment, under pressure, that fuel and push their teams and teammates in the pursuit of championships.

On Thursday, we saluted the team moments of UF's 2017-18 athletic calendar. Below, we look back on the men and women who wore orange and blue and — whether on that day or over the course of a season — made us say "Wow!"

There were many.

We narrowed it to 10 (kind of).

1
THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL GATOR SUPERSTAR

• First human to break 18 seconds in the 50 free
• First human to break 40 seconds in the 100 free
• Holds the @GatorsSwimDv record for most National Championships all-time with 10 @caelebdressel is the SEC Male Athlete of the Year 👏 pic.twitter.com/To4eaCyxUz
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) July 6, 2018

Think Usain Bolt on the water. That was Caeleb Dressel during his UF career, one that he capped off with a third CSCAA Swimmer of the Year Award after winning three individual sprint events (the 50-yard freestyle, 100 free and 100 butterfly), plus pitching in for a fourth leading off Florida's 200 free relay team in his final NCAA Championships meet. Dressel, the senior from Green Cove Springs, Fla., became the first in school history to win four events in a single NCAAs, and ran his career total to 10 national championships, three more than the next Gator in line: Ryan Lochte (2004-07). Dressel left Minneapolis with seven new All-America honors to end his career with a school-record 28 (one more than Shaune Fraser amassed from 2006-10), and left the natatorium buzzing in his wake. On the second day of the competition, Dressel became the first human ever to break 18 seconds in the 50 free, doing so in an astounding 17.81 seconds in the preliminaries. About eight hours later, Dressel beat that time in the finals, touching at 17.63 — thus shaving more than a half-second (0.57) off the previous record. On the final day, Dressel became the first swimmer at any level ever to break 40 seconds in the 100 free, doing so in a rip-roaring 39.90 seconds. That's pure smoke on the water. Dressel was announced Friday as the 2018 Southeastern Conference Male Athlete of the Year, just the fourth Gator to be so honored, joining Danny Wuerffel (1996-97), Lochte ('05) and Tim Tebow ('08-09). See you in Tokyo, young man.

2
CHEEZ HEADS GATORS ALL-TIME LIST OF PGs

Chris Chiozza leaves his homecourt for the final time after helping guide the Gators to a defeat of Kentucky on his "Senior Day."

Crunch the numbers of Chris Chiozza's basketball career and the fact he left as the program's all-time assists leader is pretty amazing. The manner in which he set the record was pure theater. When the Gators came to Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center on March 2 to face rival and 23rd-ranked Kentucky in the regular-season finale — on the wildly popular "Cheez's" Senior Day, no less — Chiozza had 547 career assists, which ranked just one behind all-team leader Erving Walker (2008-12). That Chiozza, the lightning quick kid from Memphis, Tenn., would get the record that day wasn't much in doubt. He averaged better than six a game during his first-team All-SEC senior season. That he was even in position to do so was the bigger story. Though Chiozza never missed a game during his four UF seasons, he started less than half (65) of his eventual 138 games, compared to 114 starts (and about 1,000 fewer minutes) for Walker. Yet, there was Chiozza, feeding a cross-court, in-transition dish to forward Keith Stone, who buried a 3-pointer to push the Gators to a double-digit first-half lead in what ended in a 80-67 victory that gave UF just its sixth sweep of the Wildcats in program history. At game's end, Chiozza left his home floor for the final time to a stirring standing ovation — with tears in his eyes — as he walked into an emotional embrace from Coach Mike White. Great stuff. Two weeks later, when his career ended against Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament, Chiozza's final stats showed 571 assists, plus 1,025 points (52nd all-time at UF), 191 steals (4th) and those 139 games (10th).

3
SINGER IN TUNE

Brady Singer was the second UF player to win the Dick Howser Trophy as college baseball's best player.

In a program that has assumed the national profile of Florida baseball, a case can be made that junior Brady Singer put together the most decorated season ever. First, his numbers. Singer, out of Eustis, Fla., went 12-3, with a 2.55 earned-run average, struck out 281 and walked just 71. Now, the accolades. Those stats earned him first-team All-America honors in all the major publications, but then came SEC Pitcher of the Year, Baseball America National Player of the Year and, finally, the coveted Dick Howser Trophy — joining Mike Zunino (2012) as the only other UF player so honored — as the overall best player in the country. What's next? The Cy Young Award? All this, plus hearing the Kansas City Royals call his name in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft (18th overall). Picking Singer for this spot was not an easy call, given the wealth of superlatives bestowed on the squad coached by Kevin O'Sullivan, who also had the SEC Player of the Year in third baseman Jonathan India (the No. 4 overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds) and the NCBWA Stopper of the Year in closer Michael Byrne. Their careers, of course, all ended in Omaha, Neb., as the Gators reached the College World Series for a school-record fourth straight year.

4
HAIL FELIEPE!

Tennessee tied the game at 20-all on a field goal with 50 seconds to play last Sept. 16. After the ensuing kickoff and touchback, Florida started on its 25 and three plays later had moved the ball just 12 yards to the UF 37 with three seconds to go. Time enough for some hope and a prayer. Redshirt freshman quarterback Feleipe Franks dropped, was flushed from the pocket, scrambled to some open space to his right, took two steps toward the line of scrimmage for momentum and chucked the ball as far as he could. Meanwhile, downfield (and inexplicably), sophomore receiver Tyrie Cleveland was running past the Volunteers' secondary. For some reason, the UT defensive backfield did not back its safeties into a prevent alignment. Instead, Cleveland turned on the burners, sprinted through the middle of the hashmarks and Franks' mighty heave sailed over the defense and dropped perfectly into the arms of the wideout, whose diving catch in the end zone as time expired gave the Gators one of the most thrilling, exhilarating finishes (and victories) in recent memory. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium erupted. The entire UF team dog-piled in the end zone. Final: Florida 26, Tennessee 20. Seemed like a pretty big deal at the time, as the Gators opened SEC play with a splash. They would win just three games in league play, however, and a coaching change came midseason. The Vols? They went 0-8 against the SEC and finished last in the East Division. But what a day, what a play, what a moment that was.

5
HE RAN IT BACK … AND HE'S COMING BACK

"I'm still in love with the team aspect of Florida track and field."@Flaamingoo_ is coming back, and he wants everyone to know why in this 📝https://t.co/v8kn7e4fw6
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) June 21, 2018

As a freshman, Grant Holloway announced himself to the track and field world by winning the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships and the 110 hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2018, as a sophomore, he won both again — a very big deal — and became just the fifth male to do so in the 60, helping the Gators win the team title for the first time since 2012. Holloway, out of Chesapeake, Va., also placed second in the long jump, thus becoming the first male in Division-I history to post top-two finishes in both the high hurdles and long jump. Two months later, Holloway defended his 110 hurdles title in 13.42, winning by one-hundredth of a second. He became the first male to go back to back in the event since former Gator Josh Walker did so in 2004-05, and just the second in collegiate history to repeat as champ in both the indoor and outdoor high hurdles. Florida finished second overall in the team outdoor standings. In addition to the titles, Holloway broke the 60 hurdles collegiate record and ran two of the three fastest 110 hurdles times in collegiate history, making him one of three finalists for The Bowerman, track and field's version of the Heisman Trophy, at season's end. On June 21, Holloway announced via a first-person letter on FloridaGators.com that he would return to UF for his junior season, rather than turn pro. That means we'll be tracking potential threepeats next season.

6
CLEAN SWEEP OF SEC SOFTBALL SUPERSTARDOM

Teammates Kelly Barnhill (left) and Amanda Lorenz (right) garnered SEC pitcher and player of the year honors.

When the 2018 softball season was over, the Gators (as they've done nine of the past 11 years) were left to process what happened at the Women's College World Series. That's always a good thing. On the way to Oklahoma City, the most enduring image of Coach Tim Walton's latest SEC championship run — UF became the first program since LSU (1999-02) to win the league crown four straight seasons — came May 26 when freshman Jordan Matthews sent her team back to OKC with a dramatic, two-out, two-strike walk-off three-run homer to win the decisive Super Regional Game 3 against Texas A&M (See Top 10 Team Moments from Thursday). Matthews heroics, however, would not have been possible were it not for the stellar, wire-to-wire seasons turned in by juniors Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill, who were named 2018 SEC player and pitcher of the year, respectively. Lorenz, from Moorpark, Calif., hit .417, with 11 homers, 61 RBI, a slugging percentage of .753, a team-high 70 walks and just 16 strikeouts. Barnhill, out of Marietta, Ga., went 29-3 and posted a 1.08 ERA, while striking out 324 over 214.1 innings and walking only 76. Pretty good duo to have back as seniors next, don't you think?

7
SHE LED, THEY FOLLOWED

Senior middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan collected just about every individual piece of superlative hardware in women's college volleyball in 2017, while leading the Gators to the NCAA title match.

Last year, UF claimed an astounding three Honda Award winners — which honors the best female athlete in each collegiate sport — and equaled the most by any one school since award's inception in 1976. In 2018, the Gators had one Honda recipient: volleyball's Rhamat Alhassan, the middle-blocking standout who willed her team to its first NCAA final in 15 years. Alhassan, the 6-foot-5 senior from Glenarden, Md., was a first-team All-American and the 2017 SEC Player of the Year after becoming just the second D-1 player ever to tally at least 1,250 kills, 605 blocks and .420 hitting percentage for a career. She left UF ranked first all-time in blocks (674) and block assists (584) — as well as the Gators' and SEC's first volleyball Honda winner — but she'll likely be remembered most for being in the middle of that magical run to a conference co-championship, through the NCAA Tournament, and all the way to the national championship match, where Florida fell to Nebraska 3-1. Along the way, Alhassan was a beaming, energizing force who made everyone better and thrilled the passionate followers of the program.

8
COACH CALLED HIS SHOT, ZHANG HIT THE SHOTS

Sophomore Andy Zhang made a prophet out of Coach J.C. Deacon by winning, not just one, but two of the final three tournaments he played in.

When Andy Zhang arrived from Reunion, Fla., by way of China in the fall of 2016, he did so as an anointed freshman prodigy, having become — four years earlier, at the age of 14 — the youngest player in PGA history to qualify for the U.S. Open. Zhang's rookie college season was up-and-down, with his best performances yielding a couple top-10 finishes. His sophomore season was more of the same (a career-best third place finish being the highlight), but Zhang was undeterred. In fact, he announced in April that he planned to turn pro following the season. That was about the same time his coach, J.C. Deacon, told FloridaGators.com he sensed something big brewing for Zhang, and predicted a tournament title was coming. And so it was, in the last week of April, that Zhang won the SEC Tournament in a playoff, then two weeks later shot a blistering minus-13 over 54 holes to win the NCAA Kissimmee Regional medalist honors and pace the Gators to the tournament title in shooting a team record 42-under.

9
PERFECTION x 2

Senior Alex McMurtry, a pillar of consistency and stardom since her freshman season, became the 10th gymnast in collegiate history to record a so-called "Gym Slam." What is that, you ask? It's a perfect score of "10" on all four events (vault, bars, beam, floor) over the course of a career. McMurtry, from Midlothian, Va., nailed her only missing 10, on the beam, from her anchor position in the third rotation of Florida's win over No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 26 at the sold-out O'Dome. That 10, by the way, came about 45 minutes after nailing an earlier 10 on the vault. Yes, two perfect routines the same night. In the 46-year history of Florida gymnastics, 14 different Gators had tallied perfect 10 scores (including eight by the incomparable Bridget Sloan). McMurtry, however, became the first on that very elite list to ever bang two in the same meet. Incredible.

10
THANK YOU, GREGG

Words cannot thank you enough for the last 20 years, Coach Troy! We wish you the best in your retirement!

You'll be a Gator for life! 🐊https://t.co/zVtUeXQU15 #GoGators #GatorsAlways pic.twitter.com/UKTfJX22Mk
— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) April 25, 2018

The state of Florida swimming in the 1990s, frankly, was in shambles. Once among the nation's preeminent programs, UF's women finished 20th and 15th, respectively, at the NCAA Championships over a two-year stretch, while the men checked in at 26th and 17th. Enter Gregg Troy, by way of the prestigious Bolles School in Jacksonville. The pool tide turned instantly, and over the next 19 years Troy oversaw 43 NCAA individual champions, 1,145 All-American honors, 10 SEC men's titles, two women's titles, plus a women's national title, and 47 Olympians. On April 25, the 67-year-old Troy announced he was stepping down after his nearly two decades poolside. He'll remain in Gainesville and maintain his ties to the Gator Swim Club high-performance side, as he trains athletes — including Dressel and Lochte — for the 2020 Games in Japan. Troy's spot was taken by splitting the position and elevating his two longtime associate head coaches, Anthony Nesty and Jeff Poppell, to men's and women's coaches, respectively.