School
records fell by the wayside on Friday, as junior sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter
Garden, Fla.) ran a school-record, personal-best and collegiate-leading 6.52 in
the men’s 60 meter preliminaries to highlight a solid opening day of the 2012 NCAA
Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Boise State University.
Demps,
whose previous career best was set at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships,
looked smooth the entire race, easily finding his spot in the finals with a chance
to three-peat as the 2010 and 2011 men’s 60 meter NCAA Champion. Demps’ time
ties for the eighth-fastest 60 meters time in NCAA history.
“I
thought we had a great day,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “Our
goal coming in was to qualify everybody and we qualified all but one of the men
and all but one of the women. Overall, we had a phenomenal day. Anytime you
come out with two school records and Gray’s leading the competition, you can’t
be anything but pleased.”
Seven
Gators total qualified, as junior sprinter Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach,
Fla.) set a new facility record and season best in the men’s 400 meters with a
time of 45.85, an NCAA-leading time.
“As
Tony would tell you, it’s primetime,” Holloway commented. “Tony always shows up
when the lights come on for the big meets. I’m sure Tony and the rest of our
team will tell you that today was just a prelude of what we’ve got to do
tomorrow.”
Sophomores
Eddie Lovett (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Sean Obinwa (Tampa,
Fla.) qualified for their respective events, as Lovett turned in a
personal-best and school-record-tying 7.66 in the men’s 60 meter hurdles, while
Obinwa finished in 1:48.82 to qualify for Saturday’s final. Sprinters Lanie
Whittaker (Miami, Fla.) and Ebony Eutsey (Miami, Fla.) both
qualified for the women’s 400 meter final on Saturday, coming in sixth (53.16)
and seventh (53.29), respectively.
“I’m
really impressed with Lanie and Ebony, because they’re both Florida girls and
they’re not used to running indoors,” Holloway said. “For them to come in here
and do what they did, I think it gives them confidence not only for indoors
next year, but for outdoors this year. They both have a chance to come out big
and be All-Americans.”
Senior
thrower Kemal Mesic (Sarajevo, Bosnia) competed in the final meet of his
collegiate career, setting a new Florida school record and personal best with a
toss of 20.44m/67-0.75, finishing third.
“I
know Kemal would have liked to finish better but it was the best throw of his
life,” Holloway said.
Senior
multi-event athlete Gray Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio) leads the way in the
men’s heptathlon, finish the first day of competition with a total of 3,357
points through four events. Horn began the day with 60 meters, coming in fourth
with a time of 7.00 for 882 points. The Ohio native earned his best finish of
the day, leaping to a third-place finish in the long jump with a mark of
7.60m/24-11.25.
The
shot put proved to be the best event of the day for Horn, as the senior turned
in a career-best toss of 13.88m/45-6.50 to finish fourth in the event. In the
high jump, Horn cleared 1.99m/6-6.25 but to maintain his overall lead,
Georgia’s Cory Holman, Boise State’s Kurt Felix and Wisconsin’s Japheth Cato
couldn’t clear higher than 2.08m/6-9.75. All three missed at 2.11m/6-11 to
preserve Horn’s lead, and the senior will head into Saturday with the lead with
three events remaining.
The
Gator women’s distance medley relay, composed of Agata Strausa (Riga,
Latvia) – also a Saturday qualifier in the women’s mile, Alishea Usery (St.
Louis, Mo.), Shelby Hayes (Winter Park, Fla.) and Cory McGee (Pass
Christian, Miss.), finished fifth with a time of 11:08.60, in a tight race that
the Gators led for over 75 percent of the event.
I’m
proud of the women’s DMR for being All-Americans and finishing fifth overall,”
Holloway noted. “I know they wanted to run better and they didn’t run quite as
fast, but it was a tactical race and it went well.”
The
Gators return for the final day of the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships with nine
point-scoring opportunities on the men’s side and seven for the Florida women.
“Tomorrow
is our big day,” Holloway said. “Each and every one of our athletes will show
up tomorrow and do work.”
