Short sprinter Hakim Sani Brown sent quite a message in Thursday's 200 meters preliminary, and could do the same in the 100 this weekend.
6 Events to Watch at SEC Outdoor Championships
Friday, May 10, 2019 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arguably the best collegiate track meet of the year will be in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend. Readers will be surprised to learn it is not the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which are a month from now in Austin, Texas. This is Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships weekend, and the immense collection of elite talent makes Saturday's SEC Network television broadcast a can't-miss event for sports fans.
How good is the field? Six women's teams are in the top 10 nationally, including three of the top four teams and the Gators at No. 10. The men's competition features three of the nation's top five teams, with Florida entering at No. 4. Both Gators squads are the defending champions.
While NCAA Outdoors will feature all the nation's best, it takes a completely different kind of team to win an SEC title.
The national meet caters to top-heavy squads with the ability to score in just over a handful of events. (Florida's men, for example, scored in seven of the 21 events en route to back-to-back outdoor national titles in 2016 and 2017.) To win the SEC, though? Depth across all the sport's disciplines is paramount. Well-rounded teams often topple those relying on a couple stars and soon-to-be NCAA scorers.
Using the men's 100 meters, here is a visual aid highlighting the difference.
With 21 events on the docket, Gators fans who are not track and field diehards (welcome!), are probably wondering what the marquee competitions will be.
SEC Outdoors has plenty of appealing events for those hoping to see dramatic finishes. Unfortunately, this list sticks to events expected to air live during the television window – which means field events, often reduced to minute-long highlight packages throughout the broadcast, are not included.
For Gators fans, this will be disappointing, as Florida's national champion jumper Yanis David, impressive men's hammer throw trio, and NCAA scorers Clayton Brown and Jhonny Victor will rarely appear on the SEC Network.
Having said all that, here are six events to watch -- or set your DVRs for – during Saturday's SEC Network broadcast.
Men's 4x100 Relay – 6:05 p.m.
This should be the highlight of the entire meet. Ditto a month from now at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Florida and LSU are by far the top two teams. LSU leads the nation with a time of 38.41 seconds, while the Gators have improved each of the four times they ran this season and rank third nationally with a time of 38.52. The next-closest SEC team is Arkansas, at 39.40.
This race is a source of pride for both programs as well. Florida and LSU lead all of Division I with six NCAA 4x1 titles apiece since 2000.
The two faced off in Baton Rouge three weeks ago, with Florida's Raymond Ekevwo, Hakim Sani Brown, Grant Holloway, and Ryan Clark running away from the Tigers to win by nearly three tenths of a second.
Will things be the same Saturday? Viewers will not have to wait long, as this race opens the television broadcast.
Men's 110-meter Hurdles – 6:45 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 7 p.m.
This is do-it-all sensation Grant Holloway's signature event.
Holloway has won the last two NCAA titles (along with three in the 60-meter hurdles, the event's indoor variant) and won 2018's SEC crown with the second-fastest time in collegiate history. At the NCAA Indoor Championships two months ago, Holloway broke the American and collegiate records in the 60 hurdles, crossing in 7.35 seconds. The previous American record went unbroken for 32 years.
Also in that race, though, was Kentucky's Daniel Roberts, who clocked 7.41 seconds and ducked under the old collegiate record. Two weeks later, Holloway and Roberts squared off in the 110 hurdles at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville. Holloway won by just two hundredths of a second. And while Holloway's season best of 13.25 seconds ranks second in the world, Roberts ran 13.28 to take down reigning Olympic and world champion Omar McLeod at last month's Drake Relays.
South Carolina's Isaiah Moore will challenge them both, as his wind-aided 13.25 is tied with Holloway for the NCAA lead. LSU's Damion Thomas and Arthur Price enter the meet ranked sixth and seventh nationally.
What does it all mean? This is the greatest challenge Holloway has faced as a collegian, and he will need to be at his best to reclaim the SEC crown.
Fans of greatness need to tune in for this one.
Women's 400 meters – 7:15 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 8:45 p.m.
Florida senior Sharrika Barnett is the defending champion, as well as the national leader entering the meet.
The nation's top five runners all represent SEC schools. Six others sit inside the top 20, with one of them being Gators sophomore Taylor Manson.
Barnett opened last year's outdoor season with a time of 50.93 seconds. Six weeks later, she broke a 13-year-old school record and won the SEC title in 50.69. Barnett opened her 2019 outdoor season with a time of 50.96, which leads the nation by six tenths of a second.
Will it be déjà vu at SECs for Barnett this year as well? There is every indication that should be the case, but the rest of the SEC's top five are within a second of her season best. This is no gimme for Barnett.
Men's 100 meters – 7:25 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 9:10 p.m.
The sport's spotlight event has a great field for SEC Outdoors, and Florida sophomore Hakim Sani Brown leads the impressive pack.
Sani Brown, a native of Tokyo, ranks fifth nationally and has many in Japan giddy about his medal chances for the 2019 IAAF World Championships and 2020 Olympics. He has already been a 100 meters semifinalist and 200 meters semifinalist at the World Championships, becoming one of the youngest in history to do so in 2017. Sani Brown needs to shave plenty of time off his personal records to turn his country's dreams into reality, though, he is closing in on the fabled 10-second barrier, just two months removed from his 20th birthday.
Teammates Raymond Ekevwo and Ryan Clark give the Gators a huge opportunity to pile up points they will need to retain the team title. Ekevwo ranks 10th nationally and third in the SEC, while Clark has made this final each of the last three years.
This event is big for Florida's team hopes, as well as its budding sprints star.
Women's 800 meters – 7:55 p.m.
Only one of the top nine seeds was knocked out of Thursday's preliminary, but the women's 800 final is going to be wide open.
Gators freshman Gabrielle Wilkinson snuck into the final on time, and she enters Saturday as the No. 4 seed.
Texas A&M's Jazmine Fray, the indoor collegiate record holder, leads all nine finalists by more than a second this year, but the five runners behind her are separated by just one second. Fray has the best fitness of anyone, on paper, and would benefit from a fast race. These races can are oftentimes tactical, though, which could bring almost any of the top six seeds into play.
Second-year assistant coach Chris Solinsky has done wonders for Florida's distance corps, highlighted by redshirt junior Jessica Pascoe's victory in the 10,000 meters Thursday night. Combine that with what Wilkinson has already done this year, and this race could be the first of many podium performances for the Wynnewood, Pa., native.
Men's and Women's 4x400 Relays – 9:30 p.m.
Every championship meet ends with the 4x400 relay, and the team title typically hinges on the outcome of the race.
Last year, Florida's women needed to finish ahead of LSU to clinch the team title, providing viewers with a tense three-and-a-half minutes of racing action.
Florida's top teams rank second (women) and fifth (men) nationally. The top four women's teams in the SEC – South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas – hold the same distinction in the national rankings. Four of the nation's top seven men's teams are set to face off, and all of them – LSU, Florida, Texas A&M and South Carolina – are less than five tenths of a second apart. The margin is wider on the women's side, but a little over two tenths of a second separate SEC leader South Carolina and Florida.
These should be two great races to cap a tremendous meet and determine which team gets to hoist a trophy inside the oval.
Have some popcorn ready.
How good is the field? Six women's teams are in the top 10 nationally, including three of the top four teams and the Gators at No. 10. The men's competition features three of the nation's top five teams, with Florida entering at No. 4. Both Gators squads are the defending champions.
While NCAA Outdoors will feature all the nation's best, it takes a completely different kind of team to win an SEC title.
The national meet caters to top-heavy squads with the ability to score in just over a handful of events. (Florida's men, for example, scored in seven of the 21 events en route to back-to-back outdoor national titles in 2016 and 2017.) To win the SEC, though? Depth across all the sport's disciplines is paramount. Well-rounded teams often topple those relying on a couple stars and soon-to-be NCAA scorers.
Using the men's 100 meters, here is a visual aid highlighting the difference.
| NCAA Top 8 | SEC Top 8 |
| 1. Divine Oduduru, Texas Tech – 9.94 | 1. Hakim Sani Brown, Florida – 10.06 |
| 2. Derek Kemp, South Carolina St. – 10.03 | 2. Kary Vincent, LSU – 10.07 |
| 3. Cravon Gillespie, Oregon – 10.04 | 3. Raymond Ekevwo, Florida – 10.12 |
| 4. Rodney Rowe, North Carolina A&T – 10.05 | 4. Jaron Flournoy, LSU – 10.14 |
| t-5. Devin Quinn, Illinois – 10.06 | 5. Akanni Hislop, LSU – 10.19 |
| t-5. Hakim Sani Brown, Florida – 10.06 | t-6. Mustaqeem Williams, Tennessee – 10.22 |
| 7. Kary Vincent, LSU – 10.07 | t-6. Jace Comick, Texas A&M – 10.22 |
| 8. Joseph Amoah, Coppin State – 10.09 | 8. Darrell Singleton, South Carolina – 10.23 |
| Florida points: 3 | Florida points: 16 |
With 21 events on the docket, Gators fans who are not track and field diehards (welcome!), are probably wondering what the marquee competitions will be.
SEC Outdoors has plenty of appealing events for those hoping to see dramatic finishes. Unfortunately, this list sticks to events expected to air live during the television window – which means field events, often reduced to minute-long highlight packages throughout the broadcast, are not included.
For Gators fans, this will be disappointing, as Florida's national champion jumper Yanis David, impressive men's hammer throw trio, and NCAA scorers Clayton Brown and Jhonny Victor will rarely appear on the SEC Network.
2️⃣0️⃣ points and an SEC 🏆?
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) May 9, 2019
2️⃣0️⃣ points and an SEC 🏆 😱#GoGators 🐊 #LessSaid pic.twitter.com/CNrfJ6XuNl
"FINALLY!"@Yaniis_Dav got her #NCAATF title, and the emotion after her final jump was 😱😱😱😱#WeBelieve pic.twitter.com/pakAsH39n3
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) March 11, 2019
Having said all that, here are six events to watch -- or set your DVRs for – during Saturday's SEC Network broadcast.
Men's 4x100 Relay – 6:05 p.m.
This should be the highlight of the entire meet. Ditto a month from now at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Florida and LSU are by far the top two teams. LSU leads the nation with a time of 38.41 seconds, while the Gators have improved each of the four times they ran this season and rank third nationally with a time of 38.52. The next-closest SEC team is Arkansas, at 39.40.
3⃣8⃣.5⃣2⃣ 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥@RaymondEkevwo, @Hakimsanib, @Flaamingoo_, and @clarknation14 just keep lowering that time!
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) April 27, 2019
That's No. 5 in SCHOOL HISTORY. #LessSaid pic.twitter.com/wNoOti5f8l
This race is a source of pride for both programs as well. Florida and LSU lead all of Division I with six NCAA 4x1 titles apiece since 2000.
The two faced off in Baton Rouge three weeks ago, with Florida's Raymond Ekevwo, Hakim Sani Brown, Grant Holloway, and Ryan Clark running away from the Tigers to win by nearly three tenths of a second.
Will things be the same Saturday? Viewers will not have to wait long, as this race opens the television broadcast.
Men's 110-meter Hurdles – 6:45 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 7 p.m.
This is do-it-all sensation Grant Holloway's signature event.
Holloway has won the last two NCAA titles (along with three in the 60-meter hurdles, the event's indoor variant) and won 2018's SEC crown with the second-fastest time in collegiate history. At the NCAA Indoor Championships two months ago, Holloway broke the American and collegiate records in the 60 hurdles, crossing in 7.35 seconds. The previous American record went unbroken for 32 years.
L E G E N D A R Y
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) March 15, 2019
Relive one of the greatest performances in @NCAATrackField history, as @Flaamingoo_ scores 27.5 points and completes the straightaway sweep.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #FBF pic.twitter.com/xeWddudLYJ
Also in that race, though, was Kentucky's Daniel Roberts, who clocked 7.41 seconds and ducked under the old collegiate record. Two weeks later, Holloway and Roberts squared off in the 110 hurdles at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville. Holloway won by just two hundredths of a second. And while Holloway's season best of 13.25 seconds ranks second in the world, Roberts ran 13.28 to take down reigning Olympic and world champion Omar McLeod at last month's Drake Relays.
South Carolina's Isaiah Moore will challenge them both, as his wind-aided 13.25 is tied with Holloway for the NCAA lead. LSU's Damion Thomas and Arthur Price enter the meet ranked sixth and seventh nationally.
What does it all mean? This is the greatest challenge Holloway has faced as a collegian, and he will need to be at his best to reclaim the SEC crown.
Fans of greatness need to tune in for this one.
Women's 400 meters – 7:15 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 8:45 p.m.
Florida senior Sharrika Barnett is the defending champion, as well as the national leader entering the meet.
The nation's top five runners all represent SEC schools. Six others sit inside the top 20, with one of them being Gators sophomore Taylor Manson.
Barnett opened last year's outdoor season with a time of 50.93 seconds. Six weeks later, she broke a 13-year-old school record and won the SEC title in 50.69. Barnett opened her 2019 outdoor season with a time of 50.96, which leads the nation by six tenths of a second.
Will it be déjà vu at SECs for Barnett this year as well? There is every indication that should be the case, but the rest of the SEC's top five are within a second of her season best. This is no gimme for Barnett.
Men's 100 meters – 7:25 p.m.
Prelims: Friday, 9:10 p.m.
The sport's spotlight event has a great field for SEC Outdoors, and Florida sophomore Hakim Sani Brown leads the impressive pack.
Sani Brown, a native of Tokyo, ranks fifth nationally and has many in Japan giddy about his medal chances for the 2019 IAAF World Championships and 2020 Olympics. He has already been a 100 meters semifinalist and 200 meters semifinalist at the World Championships, becoming one of the youngest in history to do so in 2017. Sani Brown needs to shave plenty of time off his personal records to turn his country's dreams into reality, though, he is closing in on the fabled 10-second barrier, just two months removed from his 20th birthday.
Teammates Raymond Ekevwo and Ryan Clark give the Gators a huge opportunity to pile up points they will need to retain the team title. Ekevwo ranks 10th nationally and third in the SEC, while Clark has made this final each of the last three years.
Everybody is finding out why that 4x1 is MOVIN' this year 👀👀👀@Hakimsanib - 10.06 [+2.2]@RaymondEkevwo - 10.12
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) April 27, 2019
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #LessSaid #TheHolloWAY pic.twitter.com/9WffHIfXKg
This event is big for Florida's team hopes, as well as its budding sprints star.
Women's 800 meters – 7:55 p.m.
Only one of the top nine seeds was knocked out of Thursday's preliminary, but the women's 800 final is going to be wide open.
Gators freshman Gabrielle Wilkinson snuck into the final on time, and she enters Saturday as the No. 4 seed.
Texas A&M's Jazmine Fray, the indoor collegiate record holder, leads all nine finalists by more than a second this year, but the five runners behind her are separated by just one second. Fray has the best fitness of anyone, on paper, and would benefit from a fast race. These races can are oftentimes tactical, though, which could bring almost any of the top six seeds into play.
Second-year assistant coach Chris Solinsky has done wonders for Florida's distance corps, highlighted by redshirt junior Jessica Pascoe's victory in the 10,000 meters Thursday night. Combine that with what Wilkinson has already done this year, and this race could be the first of many podium performances for the Wynnewood, Pa., native.
Men's and Women's 4x400 Relays – 9:30 p.m.
Every championship meet ends with the 4x400 relay, and the team title typically hinges on the outcome of the race.
Last year, Florida's women needed to finish ahead of LSU to clinch the team title, providing viewers with a tense three-and-a-half minutes of racing action.
Florida's top teams rank second (women) and fifth (men) nationally. The top four women's teams in the SEC – South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas – hold the same distinction in the national rankings. Four of the nation's top seven men's teams are set to face off, and all of them – LSU, Florida, Texas A&M and South Carolina – are less than five tenths of a second apart. The margin is wider on the women's side, but a little over two tenths of a second separate SEC leader South Carolina and Florida.
| Men's 4x400 Relay SEC Rankings | Women's 4x400 Relay SEC Rankings |
| 1. LSU – 3:02.88 | 1. South Carolina – 3:27.53 |
| 2. Florida – 3:03.25 | 2. Florida – 3:27.76 |
| 3. Texas A&M – 3:03.30 | 3. Alabama – 3:28.60 |
| 4. South Carolina – 3:03.33 | 4. Arkansas – 3:30.37 |
| 5. Arkansas – 3:07.37 | 5. Kentucky – 3:30.81 |
These should be two great races to cap a tremendous meet and determine which team gets to hoist a trophy inside the oval.
Have some popcorn ready.
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