Gray Horn’s life revolves around competing in the decathlon.
The UF track and field athlete will get to compete in part of one this weekend.
The sophomore and the rest of the No. 3 men’s and No. 9 women’s track and field teams will compete in the Texas A&M Challenge on Friday and Saturday.
It will be the second meet of the indoor season for most of the team, but the first for the long-distance squads and the first chance for Horn to compete in the heptathlon.
“I’m expecting a big performance,” Horn said. “Sophomore year is usually a big breakout year.”
Horn emerged on the conference scene with his first-place finish in the decathlon in last year’s Southeastern Conference Championship — the first time a Gator won the event.
The competition-obsessed Horn is expected to be another big contributor this season, starting with the Texas A&M Challenge, as he prepares to defend his title in the postseason meets.
This weekend’s meet features nine of the nation’s elite teams, three each from the Pacific-10 Conference, Big 12 Conference and SEC.
Unlike most regular-season meets, this competition features team scoring by conference, with the schools from each league combining their team-point totals to determine the winning conference.
“Its exciting because it’s No. 2 (Oregon), No. 3 (UF) and the defending champs (Texas A&M),” Horn said. “There’s a lot to prove in this meet, and I’m looking forward to the good competition.”
The Ducks’ Ashton Eaton, the defending national champion in the decathlon, stands as Horn’s biggest rival in the heptathlon.
But UF coach Mike Holloway said he’s more concerned about how his teams perform than with helping the SEC win the early-season meet in College Station.
“We’re not sitting together with the other coaches to plan strategy,” Holloway said. “I’m focused on the Gators.”
Florida will team up with Arkansas and South Carolina, the Pac-10 will feature Oregon, Stanford and Washington State, and Texas, Baylor and the host Aggies will represent the Big 12 in the meet.
