Olemomoi Takes Silver on Day One of SEC Championships

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Florida Gators Track and Field completed day one of competition at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday in Lexington, Ky. The Gators saw three athletes score team points in the day's six event finals, while four more earned spots in Saturday's event finals.

Highlights
Distance
In the Women's 10,000m, Hilda Olemomoi earned her second SEC Silver medal of the 2025 slate, adding to her runner-up finish in the 3000m at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Trans-Mara, Kenya native trailed a stride behind Arkansas's Paityn Noe until the final three laps of the 25-lap bout, but the Razorback's strong final 1200m proved enough to take the title. Olemomoi still finished an impressive 15 seconds ahead of third-place Sydney Thorvaldson. Her runner-up finish earned eight team points for the Gator women.

Olemomoi's 33:15.52 time stands as the No. 4 10,000m time in Florida's program history, and the No. 35 time in NCAA this season.

Throws
Imani Washington placed seventh in the Women's Hammer Throw final, earning two more points for the women's team. Her personal best 61.83m [202' 10"] mark came on her sixth and final throw.

Leikel Cabrera Gay, in his championship meet debut, finished fourth in the Men's Javelin Final. His fourth throw of 76.16m [249' 10"], scored the first five points for the men's team. The Cuban native will look to improve on his debut postseason performance in the coming weeks, as he appears primed for a strong campaign at the NCAA Championship meets, currently holding the No. 8 Javelin mark in the nation.

Freshman Aiden Broussard also posted a strong performance in his championship meet debut, reaching the Men's Javelin final throws and ultimately finishing ninth.

Mid-distance
Florida posted excellent times in the 800m prelims, sending three of six entered athletes to the event finals on Saturday. On the women's side, Jess Edwards ran an exceptional race and a particularly impressive final 200m, kicking late to finish in 2:05.84. She finished eighth across all heats and took the final qualifying spot by time in Saturday's title race. She finished just ahead of teammate Layla Haynes, who finished tenth and just barely on the other side of the bubble.

It was a similar story in the Men's 800m preliminaries, as Miguel Pantojas and Gavin Nelson finished with nearly-identical 1:48.61 and 1:48.72 times respectively. The duo finished seventh and eighth, taking the final two qualifying spots in Saturday's title race.

Sprints/Hurdles
Freshman Vance Nilsson qualified for the 400m Hurdles Final, finishing second in heat two with a 50.99-second performance. His new personal best was the eighth-fastest time in the field. He will be one of only two underclassmen in the final.

Fellow rookie Jaden Wiley ran an exceptional 200m in the preliminary round, delivering a personal-best 20.32-second clip to finish second in heat two. Unfortunately, he finished a miniscule .003 seconds behind Arkansas's Connor Washington, falling just short of qualifying for the event final.

Notably, Wiley has set personal bests in an incredible six-straight races, spanning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m events, a testament both to his individual growth and the prowess of Florida's coaching and training staff.

Looking ahead
Florida will continue competition tomorrow, with five more event finals slated for day two.

Friday's schedule will be altered to evade impending weather. Per the most recent update from the SEC, running events are now slated to begin at 2:15 p.m. (up from 5:00 p.m.), field events will begin at 1:00 p.m. (up from 3:30 p.m.) and Multi events will see only their final events moved, with the Decathlon 1500m pushed back to 4:45 p.m. and Heptathlon 800m delayed until 2:45 p.m.

Live Results from Saturday's action can be found here. Links to SEC Network + live broadcasts can be found here (11:00am) and here (5:00 p.m.). Broadcast times are subject to change. Stay tuned to @GatorsTF on X for the most current broadcast times.

SEC Outdoor Championships Results – Florida Gators Participants
Thursday, May 15, 2025

Event	Entries – Time or Mark//Place in Heat (overall)	Notes
W Hammer Throw FINAL	Imani Washington – 61.83m [202' 10"]//7th	PB, 2 team points
W Javelin FINAL	Evelyn Vanzwieten – 45.96m [150'9"]//15th Elaina Perkins – 45.27m [148'6"]//16th
W 800m Prelims	Jessica Edwards – 2:05.84//3^rd (8^th) Layla Haynes – 2:06.18//3^rd (10^th)	Qualified by time
M 800m Prelims	Miguel Pantojas – 1:48.61//2^nd (7^th) Gavin Nelson – 1:48.72//3^rd (8^th) Joe Wester – 1:52.22//6^th (25^th) Ryan Maseman - DNF	Qualified by time Qualified by time
M Javelin FINAL	Leikel Cabrera Gay – 76.16m [249'10"]//4th Aidan Broussard – 65.30 [214'3"]//9th	5 team points PB
W 200m Prelims	Gabrielle Matthews – 23.27//5^th (23^rd)
M 200m Prelims	Jaden Wiley – 20.32//2^nd (10^th) Garrett Fox – 20.87//3^rd (23^rd)	PB
M 400mH Prelims	Vance Nilsson – 50.99//2^nd (8^th) Jarrell Jimenez – 52.63//4^th (14^th)	PB, Qualified by finish
W 10000m FINAL	Hilda Olemomoi – 33:15.52//2nd	SEC SILVER – 8 team points

Gators Calendar

Olemomoi Takes Silver on Day One of SEC Championships

Players Mentioned

Aidan Broussard

Leikel Cabrera Gay

Jess Edwards

Garrett Fox

Layla Haynes

Jarrell Jimenez

Ryan Maseman

Gabrielle Matthews

Gavin Nelson

Vance Nilsson

Hilda Olemomoi

Miguel Pantojas

Elaina Perkins

Evelyn Vanzwieten

Imani Washington

Joe Wester

Jaden Wiley

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