Florida’s Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.), Dumisani Hlaselo (South Africa) and Cory McGee (Pass Christian, Miss.) each have earned weekly honors from the Southeastern Conference for their strong performances this past weekend, the league offices in Birmingham, Ala., announced Tuesday afternoon.
Claye was named the SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week for the second time this season, Hlaselo was named the SEC Men’s Runner of the Week and McGee was named the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week for the second time this year.
Claye turned in NCAA automatic-qualifying marks in both the men’s triple jump and the men’s long jump this weekend at the prestigious Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville , Ark. He charted the eighth-best mark in the world in the men’s triple jump and the 16th-best mark in the world in the men’s long jump this weekend. Claye recorded a nation-leading and American-leading mark of 17.02m/55-10.25 to win the men’s triple jump on Saturday, while recording the eighth-best mark in the NCAA this season in the men’s long jump (7.95m/26-1).
Claye is one of only two athletes in the nation this season to be automatically qualified in the men’s long jump and men’s triple jump. His long jump was the fifth best in UF school history, while his triple jump was second-best all-time at Florida.
Hlaselo became the first athlete in Florida school history to run a sub-4-minute mile, clocking an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 3:56.84 at the FloTrack Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., this past weekend. He shattered a 33-year-old UF school record of 4:00.34 set by Wesley Maiyo in 1977.
Hlaselo’s mile time went down as the top time in the SEC this season and the No. 4 time in the NCAA this year. It is also currently the No. 8 time in the world this season. He accomplished his feat against a difficult field that included the current world-leader Chris Solinski of Nike and the nation’s second-ranked collegian Miles Batty of BYU.
McGee recorded the fastest time in the nation by a freshman this season in the women’s mile at the FloTrack Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., with a personal-best and NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 4:36.53. She currently leads the SEC and ranks fourth in the nation in the women’s mile. McGee also holds the No. 17 time in the world so far this season in the women’s mile.
McGee is one of only four women in the nation so far this season to have automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile. She is one of only three women in UF school history to run a sub-4:40 mile and currently ranks third all-time in program history. McGee is the only freshman in the nation this season to rank among the top five nationally in any of the middle-distance or distance events (800m-5,000m).
Florida returns to action Feb. 25-27, when it travels to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships.
