Florida Gators

DES MOINES, Iowa – Trust was all TJ Holmes needed to make his second consecutive World Championships. Easier said than done, though.
 
Every so often, the strong-willed Holmes thinks about adjusting race models and training plans put together by Florida head coach Mike Holloway, who trains the 400-meter hurdler with a group of professionals in Gainesville. Holloway battled with Holmes the last four years to smooth out his race. Too often, Holmes blazed through the backstretch and had nothing left for the last 100 meters.
 
Holmes evened his race out in 2017, when he set a massive personal record and qualified for his first-ever World Championships with a third-place finish at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Holloway demanded the same execution Saturday evening at Drake Stadium.


 
"It's frustrating with TJ weekly, daily, hourly," Holloway joked. "He's just such a competitor, and he has no fear. I have to dial that in. I had to be very aggressive and make him understand what he needed to do. He looked at me and said, 'Coach, I got you.'"
 
Just like 2017, Holmes trusted. And the result was even better this time around. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native captured his second consecutive USATF Outdoors silver medal and punched his ticket for Doha, Qatar, the host city for September's World Championships.
 
No 400 hurdler finished on the medal podium at three consecutive USATF Outdoors since Olympic bronze medalist Bershawn Jackson did it four straight times from 2008 through 2011. The feat is even more impressive when one considers Holmes transferred to Florida prior to the 2015 season with a personal record of 49.90 seconds. His best time once his collegiate career concluded at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships was 49.10.
 
Holmes' last three USATF Outdoors medal times? 48.44 in 2017, 48.51 in 2018, and 48.58 this year. He also ran 49.00 in cool, rainy conditions to finish fifth at the 2017 World Championships.


 
"It's a testament to his work ethic," Holloway said. "It's a testament to his ability to be coachable."
 
Holmes had every excuse to go rogue Saturday. This season was a struggle on the professional circuit. After an opener of 49.25 in Sweden, Holmes finished seventh in Norway and fifth at the annual Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto, Calif., running times closer to his pre-Florida self.
 
After running at, as Holloway retells it, world-record pace for the first four hurdles of Friday's semifinal, Holmes was determined to listen Saturday. Repeating that mistake would keep him off Team USA. Holloway's instructions were to get out strong, then relax until 200 meters into the race, and once presumed frontrunner Rai Benjamin came up alongside him, hit the gas and go with him.
 
Everything went according to plan, but Holmes had to fend off practically the entire field in a dramatic finish.
 
Holmes came off hurdle No. 8 in a tie for third place. Same thing as he came off hurdle No. 9, only this time NCAA Outdoor Championships runner-up Norman Grimes pulled even, and 2016 Olympian Byron Robinson was just hundredths behind them. Benjamin pulled away from the field, meaning five men were running nearly neck and neck for the two remaining World Championships berths. Robinson faded a bit before the final hurdle, No. 10, but David Kendziera charged into his place, just behind Holmes and three others who nearly hurdled in unison.
 
Six men. Forty meters to the finish. An all-out sprint for two tickets to Doha.
 
"When I saw guys coming up … I usually don't feel other guys coming up because I'm out in front," Holmes said. "Since I tried what Coach (Holloway) said, it worked fine. I knew I had a lot left to sprint home."
 
Holmes won the mad dash for second, holding off bronze medalist Amere Lattin by eight hundredths of a second. The gap between Holmes and fifth place? Eleven hundredths. A blink of the eye. That was the difference between competing at Worlds instead of watching from Gainesville.
 
"The year hasn't been going according to plan," Holmes said afterward. "But the more I run, the faster I get. Once I go back home and train, run a couple more meets, I'll be sharp and ready for Worlds."
 
Unfortunately for Holmes, one of his training partners will not be with him. Kerron Clement, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in the event, finished eighth Saturday. Prior to this year, Clement qualified for the last 10 global championships. His spirits undeterred in the interview room, Clement gushed over Holmes' performance.
 
"I'm so proud of him," said Clement, his face lighting up. "I hope he gets on the podium this time, because he fell short in 2017. Hopefully he can take that legacy of Gators being on the (U.S.) team every single year. I'll pass that torch onto him. I'm really, really excited for him."
 
Holmes' new season-best time ranks sixth in the world, and one of the men ahead of him scratched out of USATF Outdoors, meaning he will head to World Championships in the same position he finished two years ago. It may take a sub-48-second race for him to make the podium, but Holmes doesn't worry about his competition. The only battle he needs to win in Doha will be with himself, the exact same one he won Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"I know (Coach Holloway) knows what's best for me," Holmes said. "As long as I listen to him, I'll be fine."


USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)

• Live Results / Start Lists (Flash Results)
• Complete Schedule
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• FEATURE – Gators Triple Jumpers Steal the Show Once Again
• Venue: Drake Stadium (Drake University – Des Moines, Iowa)

 

Thursday, July 25 (only finals listed – see Day 1 Recap for complete results)
Event	Place, Gators (Years Competed) – Time / Mark [Wind] | Notes
JT (W)	4. Avione Allgood (2017-18) – 55.29 meters (181 feet, 4 inches) | Season-best mark

Friday, July 26 (only finals listed – see Day 2 Recap for complete results)
Event	Place, Gators (Years Competed) – Time / Mark [Wind] | Notes
TJ (M)	2. Will Claye (2010-11) – 17.70 meters (58 feet, 1 inch) [+2.3] | World Championships qualifier; also broke facility record with two wind-legal jumps of 17.68 meters (58 feet, 0.25 inches)
	3. Omar Craddock (2010-13) – 17.55 meters (57 feet, 7 inches) [+1.2] | World Championships qualifier
	5. KeAndre Bates (2015-18) – 16.85 meters (55 feet, 3.5 inches) [+2.3]
	Christian Taylor (2009-11) – FOUL | Wild card qualifier for World Championships (reigning gold medalist); passed final five attempts

Saturday, July 27 (* - denotes preliminary; ^ - denotes semifinal; other events are finals)
Event	Place, Gators (Years Competed) – Time / Mark [Wind] | Notes
200m (W)*	10. Kyra Jefferson (2013-17) – 23.26 [-2.8] | Advanced to semifinals (automatic)
	21. Robin Reynolds (2013-16) – 23.79 [-1.4]
100mH (W) ^	13. Bridgette Owens (2014-15) – 13.39 [-1.8]
110mH (M)*	6. Grant Holloway (2017-19) – 13.56 [-2.0] | Advanced to semifinals (automatic)
400mH (M)	2. TJ Holmes (2015-17) – 48.58 | World Championships qualifier; season-best time
	8. Kerron Clement (2004-05) – 50.08
LJ (W)	14. Darrielle McQueen (2015-18) – 6.24 meters (20 feet, 5.75 inches) [+1.3]

Sunday, July 28 (unless denoted otherwise, all events are finals)
Time	Gators (Years Competed) – Event
6:14 p.m.	Kyra Jefferson (2013-17) – Women's 200 meters (semifinals)
6:28 p.m.	Grant Holloway (2017-19) – Men's 110-meter Hurdles (semifinals)
7 p.m.	KeAndre Bates (2015-18); Will Claye (2010-11) – Men's Long Jump
8:20 p.m.	Grant Holloway (2017-19) – Men's 110-meter Hurdles
8:43 p.m.	Kyra Jefferson (2013-17) – Women's Nike 200 meters

 
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators; #PushTheButton; #TheMissionContinues; #WeBelieve; #LessSaid