Five future Florida athletes in two sports advanced to high-level competitions over the weekend.
In track and field, incoming freshmen Connor Bandel and Noah Lyles both advanced to the International Association of Athletics Federations’ World Junior Championships — the pinnacle of competition for younger track and field athletes — with easy wins.
Bandel out-tossed the next-closest competitor by 13.3 feet in the discus throw to make team USA, while Lyles’ 10.08 mark in the 100-meter dash beat the runner up by nearly two tenths of a second.
Meanwhile, in gymnastics, three future Gators made the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials.
Amelia Hundley, Alyssa Baumann and Rachel Gowey placed sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively, in a preliminary competition, advancing to the final trials to be held on July 8 and 10.
Fifteen total gymnasts will compete in San Jose, California, for five available spots on the U.S. team that will go to the Rio Olympics.
Of the three future Florida freshmen, Hundley’s score of 115.550 was about one point away from fifth-place Madison Kocian at the preliminary event.
First place was claimed by heavy-favorite Simone Biles, who beat Hundley by about 10 points.
