BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Florida Gators track team finished off a very competitive weekend Saturday afternoon in the Virginia Tech Elite Meet at Rector Field House, one that left head coach Mike Holloway very impressed.
“You’re never going to have that perfect day, but today was a very, very good day,” Holloway said. “We had a lot of really good things this weekend and that’s just indicative of the effort and hard work of the University of Florida track and field team. Looking across the board, I am very proud of our team and our performances today.”
During the two-day event, the Gators recorded seven event victories, four NCAA automatic-qualifying marks and 12 NCAA provisional-qualifying marks and times.
Senior jumper Shara Proctor turned in her second school record and NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of the weekend, claiming the women’s triple jump with a personal-best leap of 45 feet, 6½ inches. Proctor’s jump goes down as the eighth-best women’s triple jump in collegiate history and is the best in the nation so far this season.
Senior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili shattered her personal best and the school record in the process, turning in the No. 3 mark in collegiate history in the women’s shot put with a toss of 60 feet, 10¾ inches. It was her 10th straight indoor victory.
“It was the first time all season that she’s had some competition and there was someone who had the potential to beat Mariam,” assistant coach Steve Lemke said. “She needs that opportunity to have her feet in the fire.”
Sophomore thrower Keely Medeiros posted a personal-best throw of 53 feet, 9¼ inches to finish third.
Sophomore jumper Christian Taylor, the defending NCAA indoor champion in the men’s triple jump, qualified for this year’s NCAA indoor meet with an automatic-qualifying mark of 53 feet, 4¼ inches to claim the event on Saturday.
Freshman Omar Craddock, who joined the Florida track and field team at the start of the 2010 spring semester, had a personal-best leap and an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark for the second week in a row when he finished third in the triple jump with a leap of 51 feet, 9 inches.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team won its race in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:07.79. The quartet of Lamarr Davis, Tony McQuay, Jovon Toppin and Calvin Smith benefitted from a great second leg by Toppin and a great finish by Smith.
McQuay also posted an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 21.18 to finish second in the men’s 200 meters.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team posted a season-best time and the school’s fastest since the 2005 season at 3:39.93. The quartet consisted of Alishea Usery, Danielle Williams, Michelle Stegall and Lanie Whittaker.
Junior thrower Kemal Mesic was the top collegian in the men’s shot put with an NCAA provisional-qualifying throw of 62 feet, 3 ¾ inches.
High jumpers Frankie Hammond and Bryan Turner each recorded collegiate-bests in the event. Hammond was second with an NCAA provisional-qualifying leap of 7 feet, ¼ inch, while Turner was fifth at 6 feet, 8¼ inches.
Alishea Usery won the women’s 200-meter dash invitational in a time of 24.11. Whittaker was fourth in 24.24.
Florida returns to action next weekend when it sends split squads to the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, and the Washington Invitational in Seattle.