While it was a great accomplishment, the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championship was just an appetizer for the outdoor season.
This weekend the Gators track and field teams are prepared for the entrée and ready for the opportunity to taste the dessert.
Both the men and women’s teams begin their NCAA championship ambitions today when they participate in the three-day NCAA Preliminary Rounds in Greensboro, N.C.
Hot off its first SEC Outdoor Championship since 1987, the men’s team enters the meet as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. The women’s team, which finished a close second to LSU at SEC’s, also enters the meet ranked in the nation’s top 10, sitting at number six.
Florida head coach Mike Holloway, recently named SEC Men’s Head Coach of the Year, said he was proud of both teams at SEC’s, and that both are ready to compete and qualify this coming weekend.
“We just got to do what we’ve been doing,” he said.
Unlike the previous seven years, the 2010 campaign is the first season for the NCAA Preliminary Rounds. The NCAA moved from the four-region format to the two regionals, East and West.
North Carolina A&T University is hosting the East Regional, while the University of Texas at Austin is hosting the West Regional.
There are no winners this weekend, only qualifiers.
The fields of each individual event consist of 48 athletes with the top 12 advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The top 12 teams also advance from the 24 teams competing in each relay.
The Florida men enter the preliminary rounds leading the East Region in six different events: Kemal Mesic in the shot put, Calvin Smith in the 400-meter dash and the top 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay teams. Christian Taylor, recently named SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year, is the East Regional’s top long jumper and top triple jumper.
The women’s team leads the East Regional in three different events led by SEC Female Field Athlete of the Year Mariam Kevkhishvili in the shot put. Charlotte Browning in the 1,500-meter run and Shara Proctor in the long jump also lead the region in their respective events.
After the SEC’s were marred with inclement weather and long delays, Holloway said he expects much of the same this weekend during the preliminary rounds.
“It always rains,” he said. “I haven’t checked it [weather], but I always expect it to rain.”
