Gator Country

Florida freshman Gray Horn competes in the long jump portion of the men's decathlon on Thursday at Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium / Gator Country photo by Casey Brooke Lawson

Freshman Florida decathlete Gray Horn on Friday became the first athlete in school history to win the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Decathlon Championship. The victory highlighted the second day of the 2009 SEC Outdoor Championships, hosted by the University of Florida at its Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.

Horn broke the freshman school record in the decathlon with a score of 7,389 points to eclipse Mike Morrison’s freshman school record. That total goes down as the fourth-best decathlon score in school history.

Horn captured the first two events of the day, winning the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.87 (+0.2), which matched his decathlon PR in that event. He followed that victory up with a first-place finish in the discus, using a career-best throw of 128-0/39.02m to extend his lead in the decathlon to 5,319-5,073 against Tennessee’s Michael Ayers. Horn then capitalized a collegiate-best leap of 15-11.00/4.85m in the pole vault to give him a lead of more than 200 points in the event. He then struggled to an eighth-place performance in the men’s javelin to fall behind Ayers 6,700-6,639. Horn would need to beat Ayers by approximately nine seconds in the 1,500m, the day’s final event, to capture the title. Horn turned in a collegiate-best time of 4:29.19 in the 1,500-meter run to capture the league decathlon championship. 

Through three events scored, the Florida men currently are in a tie for sixth place overall with 10 points. The Gator women currently are third in the meet through three events with 15 points.

In the 10,000-meter final, the Florida women earned 15 points with a trio of top-five finishes. Sara Petrick was third in a time of 35:15.39, Laura Garrow was fourth in 35:17.66, while Jacy Kruzel was fifth in 35:40.27.

Senior Carlos Phillips and junior Charlotte Browning each qualified for the finals of the 800-meter run. Phillips finished fourth in the prelims of the men’s 800m run with an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 1:48.83, while Browning was fourth in the prelims of the women’s 800-meter run in a collegiate-best and NCAA regional-qualifying time of 2:06.47.

Florida qualified two sprinters for the finals of the men’s 200-meter dash. Junior Calvin Smith was fourth in an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 20.86 (-0.9), while junior Jeremy Hall was sixth in an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 20.87 (-0.9)

Freshman sprinter Madison McNary was eighth in the prelims of the women’s 200-meter dash, advancing to the event’s finals with a time of 23.88 (+0.5), which matches her collegiate-best time in the event.

Freshman hurdler William Wynne was second in the prelims of the men’s 400-meter hurdles in an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 50.00 to advance him to the event’s final.

Photo Gallery: UF Track, SEC Championships, Day 1 & 2, 5/14-15/09

DIRECTORY OF GATOR COUNTRY PHOTO GALLERIES

About the author

jumper42

Casey Brooke Lawson earned a B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida in December 2008. Lawson was born in Sarasota, Fla., but now still resides in Gainesville, Fla. Lawson picked up her first camera before she could walk, and now, 24 years later, she has made a career of her first love. She has been working as a photojournalist for eight years. She began at her high school, Sarasota High School, interned with the Gainesville Sun, Sarasota Herald Tribune, The Independent Florida Alligator and Sports Illustrated. Now, Lawson is a regularly contributing photojournalist for Gator Country. Trained in sports photography by Gator Country's own Tim Casey, sports photojournalism has become one of Lawson's favorite parts of her job.

More Other Sports | RSS