Going into the NCAA Outdoor Championships, UF coach Mike Holloway has tried to make the Gators focus on one thing: themselves.
From June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa, the No. 2 Florida men’s team has the opportunity to become just the fourth team to sweep both NCAA track and field championships after winning the indoor title in February.
UF was in the same position last year, but fell by a single point to Texas A&M in the final meet.
“We’re just going to go in there and take care of Florida,” Holloway said. “The mistake that a lot of people make is we’re sitting around going Texas A&M has this and Florida State’s got that. But my job is to coach Florida, and I think everyone getting on the plane has a chance to score.”
With 17 chances to put points on the board on the men’s side — four more than last season — the Gators have already put themselves in a better position.
“We’ve won national titles with numbers that we’ve had and to have extra people it only makes things better and you can only look up and be extremely optimistic about the possibilities,” jumper Christian Taylor said.
The No. 17 women’s team will also be competing and has nine slots filled for the championships — the same number it had in 2010 when it finished in third.
Heading into the meet, Holloway said he’s realistic with which athletes can win and those who will just score. But Florida’s coach expects at least Jeff Demps, Will Claye and Taylor to compete for individual titles.
“It’s a blessing, and it shows the kind of talent we have on this team,” Holloway said.
