On Friday, Florida track and field head coach Mike Holloway was not particularly pleased with his teams’ performances on day two of the Southeastern Conference Championships. On Saturday, he rained in the praise as much as it was pouring in Knoxville, Tenn.
“I thought we had a very good day today,” he said. “I was very, very proud of our team’s effort. I talked to the team this morning and told them that it was very important for them to engage in the meet, after what happened yesterday, and I thought we did a great job of that today. We are in the mix to compete for a title on both sides tomorrow and it’s going to come down to the team that wants it the most. There are a lot of really good teams and talented athletes in this league, but we also have a great team and some very talented athletes.”
One of those very talented athletes Holloway spoke about was senior jumper Shara Proctor, who won her second-consecutive SEC Outdoor Title in the women’s long jump, and became just the sixth multiple-time winner of the event.
Proctor won the event with a jump of 6.69 meters, a collegiate-best jump for her.
“I’m a senior and this is my last SEC Championship, so I had to go out with a bang,” she said. “That’s my bang. Ten points for the team, that’s ten points on the board. I’m grateful to do that for my team.”
Proctor’s ten points were just the beginning for the women’s team as they gained 30.5 team points on the day and jumped into second place, just two points behind Arkansas.
The women’s team earned 14 points when runners Julie Northrup and Genevieve LeCaze finished second and third, respectively, in the steeplechase. Northrup ran a personal-record time of 10:23.53 – the second-fastest time in school history.
Reigning SEC Female Freshman of the Week, Ashley Miller, placed second in the discus earning Florida eight points, while sophomore Keely Medeiros also scored for the team placing sixth.
The men’s team was led by the exciting performance put on by jumper Christian Taylor who placed second in the long jump with the second-best leap in school history. The sophomore jumped 8.19 meters, more than a foot-and-a-half better than his previous personal-best. Junior thrower Kemal Mesic also finished second in an event, the men’s shot put, scoring eight additional points for the team.
The Gators men’s team currently sits in fourth place, tied with Ole Miss with 35 team points, just ten points off the lead.
America’s fastest sprinters recovered from a subpar Friday and put themselves in prime position to score some serious points Sunday afternoon. All-American Calvin Smith expectedly qualified for the finals in the 400-meter dash, and freshman Tony McQuay will join him after running a disappointing 200-meter dash on Friday and not qualifying for the finals.
Jeff Demps ran the fastest 100-meter dash of the day with a time of 10.18, cruising into the finals. Junior Terrell Wilks also qualified for the finals.
As for the rain, Saturday’s action was delayed nearly four and a half hours because of it and severe lightning. Completion was suspended at 6:06 p.m. and did not resume until after 10:30 p.m.
The 2010 SEC Outdoor Championships concludes action on Sunday.
