Freshman Florida jumper Christian Taylor won the school’s second Southeastern Conference Indoor men’s long jump title in the past three years and the Gator men and women currently stand in second and sixth place, respectively, Saturday after the second day of the 2009 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by the University of Kentucky at its E.J. Nutter Fieldhouse.
Florida recorded 16 NCAA provisional-qualifying marks and advanced 14 runners to the finals of their respective events Saturday, a day in which the majority of running events consisted of the preliminary rounds leading up to Sunday’s finals. Several of the field events concluded on Saturday, while the remainder will be contested on Sunday.
“In order for us to be able to score points on Sunday, we had to take care of business today,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “I thought our men’s team did a wonderful job of that and our women had a few bumps in the road, but overall they did a great job.”
Arkansas leads the men’s competition with 37 points, while the Gators are in second with 33 points and Tennessee is in third with 32. The Razorbacks also hold the lead on the women’s side with 45 points, while LSU is second with 32. Florida is in sixth place with 18 points.
Taylor, who entered the meet with the nation’s best mark in the men’s long jump at 26-3.75, posted a winning leap of 25-3.50 on his final attempt Saturday to capture the league crown and highlight a successful day by the Gators.
Fellow freshman Gray Horn (Wapakoneta, Ohio) came just shy of setting the freshman school record in the men’s heptathlon, finishing second overall with a final tally of 5,586 points, an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark
Junior jumper Shara Procto finished second in the women’s long jump on Saturday afternoon with a leap of 20-8. Proctor’s runner-up finish came on her second attempt of the evening and was an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark.
Sophomore thrower Kemal Mesic was third in the men’s shot put with a provisional-qualifying toss of 59-6.75, while senior Beau Burroughs was sixth in the event with an NCAA provisional-qualifying throw of 58-11.25.
Freshman distance runner Genevieve LaCaze shattered her previous collegiate-record time in the women’s 3,000-meter run, finishing in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 9:25.10 against a difficult field.
Senior pole vaulter Natalie Moser finished fourth in the women’s pole vault event with a vault of 13-1.50, while Frankie Hammond finished third in the men’s high jump with a leap of 6-11.
MEN’S GOLF: The Florida men’s golf team shot a one-over 289 in the second round of the Puerto Rico Invitational at the Rio Mar Resort in San Juan and was in seventh place as a team. Senior Billy Horschel shot a four-under-par 68 in the second round and is tied for sixth at five-under-par 139 for the tournament. Florida’s two-round total of 577 (+1) is three shots out of sixth place.
Horschel, a three-time All-American, led the team for the second-straight day. Junior Tim McKenney improved his first-round score by six strokes, shooting three-under par 69. He is tied for 22nd at even-par 144 for the tournament.
The remaining three players in the lineup struggled on Saturday. Junior Tyson Alexander and freshman Mu Hu each shot four-over par 76. Senior Toby Ragland shot six-over par 78. Alexander is tied for 40th at three-over par 147 after 36 holes. Hu and Ragland share a tie for 57th at 150 (+6).
Georgia shot an amazing 18-under-par 270 in the second round and has a two-round total of 553 (-23) heading into Sunday’s final round. Texas’ Dylan Fritelli remains atop the individual leader board after shooting an impressive eight-under-par 64 in the second round. Fritelli is 13-under (131) for the tournament.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The University of Florida women’s tennis team managed to win its last two matches with only five scholarship players, but was unable to pull out a third as the Gators lost to Florida State, 5-2, on a windy Saturday at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
The loss was Florida’s first to the 24th-ranked Seminoles (7-2) in the 49-match series history, as well as it snapped a 24-match win streak against instate opponents.
“We were very good in doubles and I was happy to see that, but they were tougher than we were in singles,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said. “They handled the weather conditions much better than we did and that’s unfortunate. This is certainly a teaching moment and hopefully we can learn from today in a hurry with the conference schedule starting next week.”
The Gators (6-4) next turn their attention to the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule, as Florida opens its league slate on Friday at No. 20 Kentucky, before facing No. 16 Vanderbilt in Nashville on Sunday.
Florida actually earned the first point of the dual match after winning the doubles matches on courts No. 1 and 2.
The Seminoles evened the score at 1-all after walk-on Lauren Wolken lost her Gator debut at the No. 6 position. Junior Marrit Boonstra continued her torrid pace at the No. 1 singles position, winning her ninth consecutive match by taking down 23rd-ranked Katie Rybakova, 6-4, 6-2. Boonstra’s decision was unfortunately the only singles win for Florida, as the Seminoles captured the remaining matches to earn their first-ever victory in the series.
FLORIDA STATE 5, FLORIDA 2
Doubles
1. Jessica Alexander/Anastasia Revzina (UF) def. Jessica Sucupira/Lauren Macfarlance, 8-5.
2. Marrit Boonstra/Joanna Mather (UF) def. Noemie Scharle/Federica Suess, 8-4.
3. Bonny Davidson/Katie Rybakova (FSU) def. Barbara Pinterova/Lauren Wolken, 8-5.
Singles
1. (7) Marrit Boonstra (UF) def (23) Katie Rybakova, 6-4, 6-2.
2. (48) Noemie Scharle (FSU) def. (45) Anastasia Revzina, 6-2, 6-2.
3. Lauren Macfarlane (FSU) def. Joanna Mather, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
4. (81) Federica Suess (FSU) def. Jessica Alexander, 6-2, 6-2.
5. Ania Rynorzewska (FSU) def. Barbara Pinterova, 6-4, 7-5.
6. Jessica Sucupira (FSU) def. Lauren Wolken, 6-2, 6-0.