By Chris Raleigh
The Gators, riding the momentum of men’s indoor track and field championship and a strong showing at last weekends’ UCF Invitational, are set to play host to their premier event of the season at home at the 67th Pepsi Florida Relays today and Saturday.
“It’s the 67th running of the event and it is always a pretty special thing,” Florida coach Mike Holloway said. “The big thing for us is that we just kind of want to get our feet wet and get the outdoor season kicked off.”
For the Gators and many other teams in the southeast, the Pepsi Florida Relays starts off the outdoor season.
The Florida men’s team, with the preseason #1 outdoor track and field ranking, has a trifecta of athletes starting their title defense at the Florida Relays.
Junior sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.), junior jumper Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.), and the men’s 4×100-meter relay team will be looking for a strong meet to build momentum towards the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Demps, Taylor, and Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.), are also on the watch list for the Bowerman, the highest award in collegiate track and field.
For Holloway though, the focus is on the team bringing an outdoor national championship back to the Univ of Fla.
“We don’t have any plans on picking up and more silver trophies,” he said referring to last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships. “We’ve lost two national championships by a total of three points, and we get back to work.”
In the 72 years since its inception, the Florida Relays has grown in both stature and size. Previously regarded nationally as the first major event of the collegiate outdoor track and field season, the Relays once swelled from a one-day inaugural event featuring slightly more than 200 athletes to a four-day extravaganza that attracted more than 3,000 athletes from the high school, collegiate and international ranks.
Gates open at 9 a.m. each day for the meet, with events beginning at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and $1 for UF students with a valid UF student ID per day.