With a little help from its national championship football team, the Florida track and field team went on to win six events and posted 20 NCAA regional-qualifying marks Saturday as the two-day 65th annual Pepsi Florida Relays concluded in James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
Freshman Jeff Demps, who missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team last summer just out of high school but settled instead for a BCS National Championship ring with his football teammates, anchored Florida’s 4×100-meter relay team that won in a time of 39.22 seconds.
Jeremy Hall, Calvin Smith, Terrell Wilks and Demps were so flawless in their handoffs of the baton that they received a standing ovation from their fellow athletes and the crowd while also beating runner-up Clemson by two-tenths of a second.
Demps, who had surgery to repair a groin muscle following Florida’s 24-14 victory over Oklahoma at Dolphin Stadium on Jan. 8 and spent eight weeks rehabbing the injury, got in a few practices with his teammates this week while also taking care of his duties for coach Urban Meyer. When spring practice ends with the Orange and Blue Spring Game on April 18, Demps plans to return to the track and compete in the 100 and 200 meters and on the 4×100-meter relay.
“The groin is feeling so much better,” Demps said. “This week I had some good practices and I came out here and performed well.”
Demps was disappointed he didn’t have enough training to compete in the 100-meter competition. “I wasn’t ready to run the 100 yesterday (Friday),” he said. “I haven’t developed my base yet.”
Florida track coach Mike Holloway, however, was plenty impressed with the entire team’s performance.
“That’s really no surprise to us,” Holloway said. “We have a lot of talented athletes and we expect to win those relays every time out. We’re pleased with our time today, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Florida also won the men’s 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:02.84, its sixth-fastest time ever. Members of the team were William Wynne, Calvin Smith, R.J. Anderson and Christian Taylor.
The Gators turned in 19 NCAA regional-qualifying marks on Saturday to give them a total of 39 for the weekend. Florida recorded numerous personal-best marks and times in nearly every event during the meet.
“I thought we were phenomenal this weekend,” Holloway added. “I thought our team showed a lot of maturity this weekend – they just came out and did their jobs. I think this weekend did a lot for our confidence in terms of them being able to see how good they actually are. What you saw out here today in the meet is just a result of the things we are doing everyday in practice.”
Each of Florida’s three competitors in the men’s javelin recorded NCAA regional-qualifying marks, led by freshman Ben Davies, who shattered the Gators’ freshman record in that event with a throw of 226 feet, 4 inches. Mario Ariet turned in a personal-best and regional-qualifying throw of 223-5 in the men’s javelin, while Doug Nelson also had a personal-best and regional-qualifying toss of 217-3.
Sophomore thrower Kemal Mesic of Sarajevo, Bosnia, registered the second-best men’s shot put throw in school history with a regional-qualifying mark of 63 feet, 9 inches en route to winning the event. Fellow thrower Beau Burroughs finished sixth in the event, also with an NCAA regional-qualifying mark of 57-8.
Junior Evelien Dekkers of The Netherlands won the women’s javelin for the second straight year with a regional-qualifying mark of 157 feel, 8 inches.
Calvin Smith won the men’s 200-meter dash in a time of 20.68 followed by Wilks, who was second in the event in a provisional-qualifying time of 20.72.
Junior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili of Tbilisi, Georgia, recorded a personal-best throw of 59 feet, 2¼ inches to win the women’s shot put. Each of the three Gators that participated in the event recorded personal bests and NCAA regional-qualifying marks, as Keely Medeiros was fifth with a throw of 52 feet, 3¾ inches, while freshman Fidela James finished sixth with an effort of 49 feet, 6¼ inches.
Junior Shara Proctor of Anguilla, who posted an NCAA provisional-qualifying effort in the women’s long jump on Friday, also qualified regionally in the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 1¼ inches to finish second in the event.
Freshmen Madison McNary and Alishea Usery each recorded regional-qualifying times in the women’s 200meters. McNary finished in 23.88 seconds, while Usery was clocked in 23.96.
McNary and Usery joined Danielle Williams and Ije Iheoma for the women’s 4x100m relay, which was sixth overall in a time of 45.30.
The track team travels to Auburn on April 18 for the Auburn Invitational. Florida is the host of the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 14-17.