Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The flag drops on the 2022-23 athletic calendar Tuesday when the football and soccer teams, both under new head coaches, open their respective training camps, with volleyball joining the fray next week. But the way University of Florida athletes have been in the news — and oftentimes on medal podiums — the last couple months, it feels like they're still competing in '21-22. 

Offseason?

What offseason? 

What Gators, both past and present, did during the World Track and Field Championships at Eugene, Ore., late last month practically seemed like an extension of the most dominant season of Coach Mike Holloway's dominant UF tenure. It also gave us pause to put together a recap of this summer of success for a heaping helping of Gators who either took part in competition outside the collegiate arena or whose careers took next-level steps. 

To review: 

BASEBALL  * Wyatt Langford, after being named an All American in five different publications (including a first-teamer by D1Baseball) was named to the 2022 Baseball Collegiate National Team. 

* Four members of the '22 squad were taken in the MLB Draft, led by outfielder Sterlin Thompson, who became the highest drafted UF outfielder in program history (17th-highest overall) when the Colorado Rockies plucked him with the 23rd selection. Also taken: left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco (Round 2, Pittsburgh); outfielder Jud Fabian (Round 2, Baltimore); right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat (Round 3, New York Mets). Right-handed pitcher Nick Pogue signed a post-draft contract with Washington. 

* Infielder Colby Halter and left-handed pitcher Phillip Abner were named to the Cape Cod League all-star squad. 

BASKETBALL * After a solid rookie NBA season, Oklahoma City guard Tre Mann, the team's first-round pick in the 2021 draft, had a terrific turn during the summer league in Las Vegas, averaging 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists over three games. The Thunder love what they have in the 22-year-old former first-team All-SEC guard. 

* Mann was one of four players with UF ties to get some summer reps. Forward Anthony Duruji, who wrapped his career in '22, played for the Atlanta Hawks, while forward Kevarrius Hayes, who last was on the floor for the Gators in 2019, saw action for Denver. And then there was point guard Andrew Nembhard, who played his first two seasons at UF before transferring to Gonzaga and starting there the last two seasons. Nembhard was taken with the first pick of the '22 second round by Indiana and after impressing the team during summer league (6.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists per), was signed to a fully guaranteed three-year, $6.4 million contract, the largest contract ever given a second-round selection. 

* First-team All-SEC point guard Kiarra Smith, despite suffering a season-ending knee injury in the conference women's tournament, was selected in the third round of the WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun. Smith (aka "Kiki"), who averaged 14.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game, underwent surgery in April and is back to training and working on the court. 

GOLF  * Senior Fred Biondi, fresh off a first-team All-America and All-SEC junior season, qualified and played in the U.S. Open, and became the first Brazilian to play in the Arnold Palmer Cup, a collegiate version of the Ryder. Biondi helped Team International to victory. 

* Annabel Fuller, a senior from Great Britain, played in the U.S. Women's Open (the second major of her career) and was selected to play for the European side of the Curtis Cup, another Ryder Cup knock off for collegiate players. It marked the third time Fuller had been selected to the team of Great Britain and Ireland golfers. 

* Junior teammate Maisie Filler not only played in her second LPGA event, the ShopRite Classic in New Jersey, but made the cut.  

GYMNASTICS  * Kayla DiCello, an incoming freshman from Boyds, Md., won a gold medal on floor in the Pan American Championships at Rio de Janeiro, while helping the U.S. team capture the silver.

* Sophomore Leanne Wong won the U.S. Classic all-around and balance beam, plus shared the vault title in the event held Saturday in Salt Lake Valley, Utah. She became the first woman in history to follow an NCAA season by winning the U.S. Classic. 

LACROSSE  * Junior attack Danielle Pavinelli joined Gator alum Haley Hicklen on Team USA at the World Cup in Birmingham, Ala., both named to the Sixes Team coached by UF's Amanda O'Leary. Team USA claimed the silver medal.

* Three former UF standouts — Shayna Pirreca, Sydney Pirreca and Mollie Stevens — started their professional seasons with Athletes Unlimited last week. Former Florida assistant Nicole Levy is coaching in the league, as well. 

SOCCER  * Former forward Deanne Rose and Adriana Leon were back with the Canadian national team that played for the CONCACAF title, as well as a berth in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Canada lost 1-0 to the US, but still has a chance at an Olympics play-in spot later. CONCACAF stands for the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, by the way. 

SOFTBALL * Current UF standout Charla Echols, set to enter her fifth-year senior season, joined former All Americans Amanda Lorenz and Michelle Moultrie in winning the gold medal with the 15-player U.S. Women's National Team and became world champions at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Ala. UF coach Tim Walton served as an assistant on the team.

* Junior Avery Goelz and Christina Wellen competed for the Lakewood Ranch Rodeo in the Florida Gulf Coast League and helped lead their team to a FGCL title. Goelz, who ended her sophomore season with the Gators on a hot streak and carried that momentum over into the summer league, batted .459 (34-of-74) at the plate with 24 runs scored, seven doubles, nine RBI and was 11-for-11 on stolen bases. Wellen, primarily a pinch-runner for the Gators as a redshirt-freshmen in '22, gained valuable experience at the plate and also utilized her speed by going 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts for Lakewood Ranch. 


SWIMMING & DIVING 

TRACK & FIELD  * First came the US outdoor championships in June at Eugene, Ore., which was followed by the World Championships at the same venue. Gators figured prominently in both meets. 

* Sophomore Talitha Diggs, who helped lead UF to both the women's indoor and outdoor team titles by winning the 400 meters at both meets, claimed the U.S. title in the women's 400. Diggs then watched minutes later as senior Champion Allison clocked the 10th-fastest time ever in the men's 400, to take second.

* Jasmine Moore, another sophomore, became the first American woman to qualify for the World Championships in both the long jump and triple jump. 

* Junior Anna Hall, with a resume that already included 2022 NCAA champion in the heptathlon, added U.S champion to her file. Hall went on to the World's and earned a bronze medal in the event, with her 6,755 points the third-most tallied by an American. 

* Allison placed fourth in the 400 meters at Worlds, but earned a gold medal as part of the U.S. men's 4x400 relay team. Diggs was 10th in the 400, but ran the opening leg on the U.S. gold-winning 4x400 team. 

* Junior Joseph Fahnbulleh, barely a month removed from his stirring sprint sweep of the 100 and 200 meters at the NCAA championships, placed fourth in the 200 while representing Liberia. 

* And then there was Grant Holloway. Three years since dominating NCAA hurdle events as a Gator and not quite a year since a crushing silver-medal finish at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Holloway reclaimed his crown as the world fastest hurdler by defending his 2019 title in the 110 hurdles. The victory followed his win at the indoor world championships in the 60-meter hurdles.  


VOLLEYBALL  * Three Gators were named to U21 Team USA and competed at the Pan American Games. That trio — Merritt Beason, Bre Kelley and Alexis Stucky — not only made up a quarter of the American's 12-player squad, but was instrumental in leading the US to the gold medal, with Beason, a sophomore from Gardendale, Ala., named tournament MVP. 

* Beason, Kelly, Gabrielle Exist and Elli McKissock were named to the USA Women's Collegiate National team. 

* Sofia Victoria earned Best Scorer for Team Puerto Rico at the NORCECA Final Four Women's Qualification Tournament. 


Compiled by Sullivan Bortner, Herb Brooks, Katie Callahan, Mary Howard, Matthew Hutchison, Denver Parler, Jared Rigdon and Nick Yuska.