Because of the offseason layoff, a team’s opening meet of the indoor track and field season typically doesn’t foster record-setting performances. But UF shotputter Mariam Kevkhishvili is far from a typical athlete.
Kevkhishvili threw a personal-best 18.47m/60-7.25 at the season-opening Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky., to win the event and earn an automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA Indoor Championship. She was among three of the Gators’ first-place finishers in the two-day meet last weekend.
“This was a typical opening season meet,” UF head coach Mike Holloway said. “We did some good things, some bad things, but overall it was a good starting point.”
Kevkhishvili broke her own UF record and smashed the record for furthest throw inside Kentucky’s E.J. Nutter Fieldhouse.
The three-time NCAA champion, who also set the national record for her home country of Georgia, had been busy in international competition during the college offseason.
Holloway said her rapport with throws coach Steve Lemke also helped Kevkhishvili begin the season in dominating fashion.
“She’s unbelievable,” Holloway said. “(Today) we saw a byproduct of all her hard work.”
Joining Kevkhishvili in March’s NCAA Championships is the men’s 4x100 relay team. Tony McQuay, Calvin Smith, Jovon Toppin and Christian Taylor combined for a first-place finish in a time of 3:06:40.
“I expected them to run well,” Holloway said. “But our goal is still to be champions eight weeks from now.”
Smith, a 13-time All-American, added a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Pole vaulter Eric Foran also placed first for the Gators. The junior jumped 4.90m/16-0.75 and then beat Allan Brandon of Georgia and Logan Lynch of Michigan State by posting a 4.95 in a jump-off for his third career win.
The women’s sprinters, lead by Alishea Usery, put together a strong performance in Kentucky after a difficult 2009 season. Usery finished third in the 60-meter dash finals running a 7:41 and ran a 24.15 in the 200-meter dash to finish seventh. She ran the second leg in the team’s 4x400 team, helping them finish second in the event with a time of 3:39:96, their best time since 2005.
“I was impressed with their competitive nature,” Holloway said. “It was something we addressed and they did a good job.”
Holloway said he was also impressed by sophomore Gray Horn, who finished 17th in the shot put and 30th in the 60-meter dash semifinals.
Horn won the Gators’ first-ever SEC championship in the decathlon last outdoor season and should be a threat in the heptathlon and pentathlon at this season’s end.
