As a team, UF didn't blow the competition away, but Mariam Kevkhishvili single-handedly did while securing her place in the NCAA Indoor Championships.
In only the first indoor meet of the season, Kevkhishvili threw the shot put 55 feet, 10.5 inches to clinch first place and her spot in the year-end championships.
Coach Mike Holloway was not surprised.
"We expect that from Mariam," Holloway said. "She's the defending NCAA champion and comes into the season the No. 1-ranked girl in the country, so we expect her to do things like that."
Keely Medieros also performed well in shot put. Medieros threw the shot 51 feet, 2.25 inches to claim third place.
Another outstanding performer on the women's side was freshman Alishea Usery, who placed fourth in the 400-meter dash, clocking 54.77 seconds.
"Alishea is a very talented young lady, and we expect big things out of her," Holloway said.
Usery shed almost a full second off her high school time in her first college performance, Holloway said.
In other women's events, Jenna Utecht placed fourth in the high jump, Madara Apine and Michelle Jenije placed fifth and seventh respectively in the triple jump, and Madison McNary claimed seventh place in the 200-meter dash. McNary also placed eighth in the 60-meter dash.
On the men's side, junior Calvin Smith anchored UF's sprint corps and captured first place in both the 400- and the 4x400-meter relay.
"He's one of the top four or five guys in the country, and we expect him to be one of our team leaders this year so we thought he did a great job this weekend," Holloway said.
Smith's senior teammate, Carlos Phillips, claimed eighth place, and R.J. Anderson grabbed the tenth spot in the 400.
Other first-place honors went to long-jumper Christian Taylor, who jumped 25 feet, 4 inches, and shot-putter Kemal Mesic. Mesic threw the shot 62 feet, 0.50 inches.
William Wynne ran 7.88 seconds and claimed fifth in the men's 60-meter hurdles while Dennis Martin (7.89 seconds) took the sixth spot.
In the 800-meter run, Ethan Philpot was fourth with a time of 1:52.90, Terrell Wilks was ninth in the 200-meter dash and Gray Horn tied for seventh in the men's high jump.
UF didn't turn heads but put out a solid performance.
"It's an early season meet, and we use (Southeastern Conference) games to see where we are in terms of competitive spirit," Holloway said. "Everybody trained really hard last week, so it wasn't like we went with very fresh legs. A big part of being a champion in track and field is having a lot of heart and a lot of desire, so we challenged our kids to go in this weekend - knowing they were a little tired - and compete hard."
