Junior distance runner Genevieve LaCaze (Queensland, Australia) set the Florida school record in the women’s steeplechase Friday and the Gators advanced 10 more athletes to the NCAA Finals site in Des Moines, Iowa, to cap off a successful second day at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds at Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at E.C. Billy Hayes Track on the campus of Indiana University.
The 10 Florida athletes that punched their tickets to Des Moines on Friday include: Will Claye (men’s triple jump), Jeff Demps (men’s 100m), Genevieve LaCaze (women’s steeplechase), Tony McQuay (men’s 400m), Keely Medeiros (women’s shot put), Fawn Miller (women’s javelin), Sean Obinwa (men’s 800m), Jeremy Postin (men’s hammer throw), Christian Taylor (men’s triple jump) and Terrell Wilks (men’s 100m). On the weekend, the Gators have qualified 15 athletes for Des Moines.
Florida on Friday also advanced six qualifiers in the running events to the next round of those respective competitions.
“Overall, I thought we did a great job of qualifying and starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “I was pleased with the energy and effort that I saw from our team today. We just have to continue to be who we are and do what we do and we’ll be fine. Tomorrow, we just have to continue to execute at a high level, like we have done all weekend.”
Florida faced a bit of adversity on Friday, but, overall qualified very well for both Des Moines and the final day of the NCAA Preliminary Rounds. Freshman sprinter Ebony Eutsey (Miami, Fla.) qualified for the semifinals of the women’s 400-meter run, but was disqualified for running outside her lane coming around the final curve. Sophomore jumper Omar Craddock (Killeen, Texas), who has been valiantly battling a bruised heel for the past month, fought hard, but was unable to qualify for the finals of the men’s triple jump.
“I am not really disappointed in anything,” Holloway said. “I feel bad for Ebony Eutsey – she gave a great effort in qualifying and just got DQd, but she’s young and that’s something she’ll learn from. We knew coming in that Omar was a little banged up. All we could hope is that he could get through and he just wasn’t able to do that today. That’s part of athletics. Somebody else has to step up and we saw some of that today with Blake Heriot advancing to the next round of the 200 and Jarius Cooper and William Wynne advancing in the hurdles. We’re going to rally around Omar and do this as a team and as a family, as we always do.”
LaCaze shattered her own personal-best time and the Florida school record in the women’s steeplechase event. LaCaze clocked a time of 10:05.92 to advance to the NCAA Finals site, breaking the UF school record of 10:07.25, set by Lindsay Sundell in 2007. It is a personal-best time of more than six-and-a-half seconds, as LaCaze ran her previous personal-best time of 10:12.33 at the Penn Relays Carnival earlier this season.
Florida’s Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) and Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished 1-2 in the qualifying round of the men’s triple jump. Taylor was first with a leap of 17.62m/54-10.25 (+0.4), while Claye was second with a mark of 16.52m/54-2.50 (-0.4). Craddock turned in a gritty performance battling through a bruised heel, but placed 20th overall with a leap of 15.08m/49-5.75 (+0.8) on his first attempt.
Freshman thrower Fawn Miller (Stoneboro, Pa.), the 2011 Southeastern Conference women’s javelin champion, punched her ticket to the NCAA Finals site in her event, placing ninth overall in the qualifying round with a toss of 46.83m/153-8 .
Sophomore thrower Jeremy Postin (Auburndale, Fla.), Florida’s school-record holder in the men’s hammer throw, advanced to Des Moines by placing sixth in the qualifying round with a toss of 65.42m/214-7.
Junior thrower Keely Medeiros (Blumenau-SC, Brazil) advanced to the NCAA Finals site for the third consecutive season, placing sixth in the qualifying round of the women’s shot put with a toss of 16.89m/55-5.
Sophomore sprinter Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.) advances to the semifinals of the men’s 400-meter dash to be contested in Des Moines, Iowa, placing third overall in the quarterfinals with a time of 45.93.
Sophomore middle-distance runner Sean Obinwa (Tampa, Fla.) advances to the semifinals of the men’s 800-meter run, clocking a time of 1:49.26 to place ninth overall in the quarterfinal round.
Each of Florida’s two 100-meter dash runners advanced to the semifinals of that event, which will be contested in Des Moines, Iowa. Junior sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) had the top time in the quarterfinal round at 10.19 (+0.8), while senior sprinter Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) was eighth overall in 10.40 (+1.1).
Florida advanced three runners to the quarterfinal round of the men’s 110-meter hurdles. Freshman Eddie Lovett (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was fifth overall in a time of 13.95 (-0.4), sophomore William Wynne (Marietta, Ga.) was 15th in a time of 14.24 (-1.3) and senior Jarius Cooper (Palm Coast, Fla.) was 18th in a time of 14.33 (-0.4). The quarterfinal round is slated for 7:20 p.m. ET Saturday.
Wilks and freshman sprinter Blake Heriot (Gahanna, Ohio) each moved on to the quarterfinal round of the men’s 200-meter dash. Wilks was fifth in the first round with a time of 21.05 (+1.4), while Heriot was 20th in a time of 21.30 (-0.1). Freshman sprinter Darshay Davis (Mirimar, Fla.) had the 10th-best time in the first round of the women’s 200-meter dash, advancing to the quarterfinals in a time of 23.75 (+1.1).
The final day of the NCAA Preliminary Rounds begins at 11 a.m. ET Saturday Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at E.C. Billy Hayes Track on the campus of Indiana University.
