Senior Toby Ragland of Jacksonville had rounds of 68 and 65 for a seven-under-par 133 on the first day to lead the Florida Gators men’s golf team to a 10-shot lead after the first two rounds of the Sun Trust Gator Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
The Gators’ had totals of 11-under 269 in the morning and four-under 276 during a rainy afternoon for a 15-under total of 545 and a 10 shot lead over Mississippi (274-281—555). Duke was third at 563 (279-284), two shots ahead of Coastal Carolina (279-286) which was a shot ahead of fifth-place UCF (281-285).
Tennessee-Chattanooga (280-288—568) was sixth, a shot ahead of North Florida (285-284). Florida State was eighth at 10-over 570 (288-282), LSU was ninth at 13-over 573 (285-288) and Georgia State was 10th at 574 (286-288). Mississippi State (577), Wake Forest (580), Georgia Southern (582) and UAB (588) were 11th through 14th.
Florida’s opening 269 was the fifth-lowest team round in the tournament’s history. Senior Billy Horschel, who trails Ragland by two shots, shot a five-under 65 in the opening round. He was followed by Ragland and juniors Tyson Alexander of Gainesville and Tim McKenney of Scottsdale, Ariz., who all shot 68. Senior Will Strickler’s morning round of 71 was not used.
Ragland matched Horschel’s 65 during the rainy second round with the help of six birdies. Horschel and McKenney shot 70s and Alexander had a 71. Strickler had a 74. Horschel trails Ragland by two shots, McKenney is tied for seventh at 138 and Alexander is tied for ninth at 139.
Trailing Ragland and Horschel in third was Coastal Carolina’s Sam Lyons, who had rounds of 66 and 70 for 136, a shot ahead of Mississippi’s Sean Dale and Florida’s Mu Hu of China, who played as an individual and had rounds of 71 and 66 for 137. Florida had two other individuals competing – redshirt sophomore Andres Echavarria of Colombia was tied for 12th with rounds of 71 and 69 for 140, a shot ahead of Max Kieffer of Germany, who shot 68-73—141.
The final round is scheduled for Sunday morning.
TRACK AND FIELD: Florida tuned up for the upcoming Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships with a pair of NCAA automatic-qualifying marks, 16 provisional-qualifying marks and six individual victories in a pair of meets this weekend – the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the Iowa State Classic in Ames.
Junior Mariam Kevkhishvili of the Republic of Georgia won the women’s shot put with the third longest throw in the world this year – 56 feet, 10¾ inches, an automatic-qualifying mark – at the Iowa meet. Sophomore Keely Medeiros of Brazil finished third with a provisional toss of 51-8¼ and senior Beau Burroughs of Tampa also had a provisional-qualifying mark with a season-best 48-9¼.
A day after qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the long jump, freshman Christian Taylor of Fayetteville, Ga., had a career-best triple jump of 52 feet, 4½ inches, which also an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. Junior Shara Proctor of Anguilla had the second-best triple jump in school history with a collegiate best and NCAA provisional-qualifying triple jump of 43-5¾.
Senior Jeremy Criscione of Interlachen ran the fifth fastest 5,000 meters in school history, with a provisional-qualifying time of 14:09.05. Senior hurdlers Dennis Martin and Kallinka Pitt each had season bests and NCAA provisional-qualifying marks in the 60-meter hurdles. Pitt was timed in 7.81 while Martin ran 7.84. Freshman Alishea Usery ran the 200-meter event in a record 23.77. The women’s 4x400m relay team shaved more than three seconds off its season-best time to finish fourth overall in a time of 3:40.67.
Florida will compete in the 2009 SEC Indoors at Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 26-March 1.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The 10th-ranked Florida Gators dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 9 Southern California in the consolation draw of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Madison, Wis.
The Gators (4-3) had only five players available and had to forfeit the No. 6 singles match and could not field a No. 3 doubles, meaning it was down 1-0 in the team scoring and needed to win both doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Florida’s unranked team of Jessica Alexander and Anastasia Revzina beat USC’s Maria Sanchez and Alison Ramos, 8-1. But Florida’s Marrit Boonstra and Joanna Mather could not defeat USC’s Amanda Fink and Gabriela Niculescu, who prevailed 8-1.
Trailing 2-0 heading into singles play, Revzina upset Maria Sanchez, 7-5, 6-2. Boonstra then beat Sarah Fansler of USC, 6-2, 6-4, to make the team score 2-2. Alexander then knocked off Gabriela Niculescu, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to give Florida a 3-2 lead. But USC battled back for the team victory as Alison Ramos beat Barbara Pinterova, 6-1, 6-2, and NCAA singles championship semifinalist Amanda Fink scored a 6-0, 6-7 (7-3), 6-0 victory over Joanna Mather.
“I have never been more proud of a team than I am today,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We fought harder and battled every point and never gave Southern California an easy match. Joanna did everything she could on the court in the clinching match; she just faced an unbelievable player in Amanda Fink, who stepped up her game and let her experience take over at the end.”
Florida plays No. 13 Fresno State Sunday at 10 a.m.
MEN’S TENNIS: After suffering its first two losses of the season, No. 7 Florida bounced back with 4-1 victory over No. 18 Michigan in the consolation round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Chicago.
The Gators took the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. Antoine Benneteau of France and Joey Burkhardt of St. Augustine took out Michigan’s eighth-ranked doubles team of Jason Jung and Mike Srocynski, 8-3. Alex Lacroix of France and Carlos Cueto of Spain downed Drew Daniel and Chris Madden of Michigan, 8-4.
Sophomore Jeff Dadamo of Tampa gave Florida a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Michigan’s Chris Madden. Benneteau gave Florida a 3-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Srocynski. The Gators clinched the victory when Cueto beat Jung, 7-5, 6-4.
Florida plays Mississippi Sunday at 1 p.m.
GYMNASTICS: No. 9 Florida had its season-best team total Saturday in its 196.85-194.775 victory over Michigan State Saturday at the Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich. The victory improved Florida to 4-2, while MSU fell to 5-9.
Senior All-American Corey Hartung claimed her 14th career all-around title with a total of 39.45 points. Junior Maranda Smith was second at 39.35.
Sophomore Alicia Goodwin stuck a double front dismount to earn a 9.90 in the uneven bars. Three Gators shared second with 9.875 – Amanda Castillo, Hartung and Smith. Florida’s total on the bars was 49.325.
Florida’s Elizabeth Mahlich and Courtney Gladys shared the vault title with 9.85 efforts. Mahlich was performing in front of her family and friends from nearby Mason, Mich.
Smith used a collegiate-best 9.925 in the floor exercise to win. Hartung shared second at 9.875 with MSU’s Katlyn Roggensack and Emily Lopatofsky. The Gators then turned in their second-best 2009 balance beam, total with 49.175 points. Hartung was second to MSU’s Kelsey Morley, who won the event with a 9.975 effort that beat Hartung’s 9.90. Sinclair and Mahlich shared third at 9.875.
“We did a much better job with our consistency and fighting for every little tenth,” Florida coach Rhonda Faehn said. “We did have some little mistakes but we are definitely moving in the right direction.”
Florida entertains No. 5 Alabama in the O’Connell Center on Feb. 20.