After several men’s and women’s track and field athletes put up career-best marks at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, others will look to do the same this weekend.
UF coach Mike Holloway selected a group of athletes to compete in Last Chance Meets Saturday in order to record qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships March 12-13.
The Gators will use this weekend’s meets to create the greatest number of lineup options possible for the championships.
“We don’t leave any stones unturned to get the best athletes to that meet,” Holloway said. “If you’re not at the meet, you can’t score points.”
Coming off its season-best time (11:47.95) last weekend, the women’s distance medley team competes at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The relay team was 21 seconds behind a NCAA provisional qualifying time and more than 42 seconds behind an automatic mark. It will feature a new lineup with SEC mile champion Charlotte Browning, Lanie Whittaker and Stacey Johnson.
Whittaker and Alishea Usery, the other leg in the distance relay, will compete individually in sprint events. Usery has reached provisional qualifying marks in the 60- and 200-meter sprints and will try to improve her 60 time this weekend. Whittaker, the fourth-place finisher in the 400 at the SEC meet with a time of 53.78 seconds, will look to cut a second off her time and secure an automatic qualifying mark.
The pair will also compete on the 4x400 relay team. That group also includes Danielle Williams and Ije Iheoma, and they will try to reach an automatic qualifying mark for the first time this season.
At the Virginia Tech Qualifier in Blacksburg, Va., SEC triple-jump champion Christian Taylor will compete in the long jump. He was disappointed with his third-place finish at the SEC Championship and expects to land an NCAA qualifying mark.
Florida’s top 60-meter dash runners will also compete in Blacksburg. Jeff Demps was .06 seconds away from NCAA mark last weekend and has the best chance of qualifying.
