Gator Country

Florida coach Mike Holloway talks with Kelli Wells (unattached) during the Gator Invite indoor track meet on Jan. 22, 2012, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

Florida head coach Mike Holloway was announced as the 2012 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year. Holloway received the USTFCCCA National Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year nod, his third consecutive, earlier this season.

In his tenth year as the Gators’ coach, Holloway guided Florida to their first NCAA outdoor track & field national team title in school history. The Gators scored 50 points for the crown, besting LSU by two points. Florida won the 4x400-meter relay, the concluding event, to leap over LSU in the final team standings. The Gators had been down to the Tigers by two points before the finale.

The Gators are the first team since the Arkansas Razorbacks (2003) to win both the indoor and outdoor NCAA titles. The Razorbacks won both in 2005 as well but the outdoor title was vacated. Only six programs have swept the indoor and outdoor NCAA titles on the men’s side (Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, SMU, Southern California and UTEP).

Florida won three event titles at the NCAA Championships. In addition to the 4x400-meter relay championship, which ran a world-leading 3:00.02 to clinch the NCAA title, junior Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.) claimed top honors in the 400 meters, the first-ever 400-meter title outdoors in Florida history, racing to an NCAA-leading 44.58.

Junior Omar Craddock (Killeen, Texas) won the triple jump and continued the Orange and Blue’s tradition in the event, claiming the Gators’ fifth consecutive victory in the triple jump and seventh straight overall (Indoor: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012; Outdoor: 2010, 2011, 2012).

Junior Jeremy Postin (Auburndale, Fla.) finished second in the hammer throw, junior Dwight Barbiasz (Milford, N.H.) took third in the high jump, sophomore Eddie Lovett (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles and sophomore Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia) claimed seventh in the javelin.

The NCAA Outdoor Championships will air on Saturday, June 16 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU, directly following a replay of the NCAA Indoor Championships beginning at 12 p.m. ET.

Courtesy UF Communications

More Other Sports | RSS