Close, but no cigar.
That’s how coach Mike Holloway described Florida’s previous appearances at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“We’re going to try to do better this year outdoors,” Holloway said. “Our goal is to get better and better each week as we go along and to be at our best in the conference.”
In the last three years, the men came up short with two second-place finishes and a third-place finish. This season, the Gators will be looking to sprinter Tony McQuay to help change that.
During the NCAA Indoor Championships, McQuay proved he could perform well for the team under pressure.
“We had a little adversity during the competition with our senior leader Gray Horn going down with an injury,” Holloway said. “But Tony McQuay, Jeff Demps, Omar Craddock stepped up and won national titles for us.”
After Horn hurt himself during pole vault warm-ups, McQuay ran the 400m with a time of 45.77 to help lead Florida to its third straight indoor national title. Although the mark wasn’t a personal record, McQuay was still pleased with his winning performance considering that he hadn’t been running a lot during the indoor season.
With the indoor season now over, the defending USA champion couldn’t be happier about moving on to the outdoor season.
“Indoor kind of drains me,” McQuay said. “I have to hydrate a lot from being inside, and I easily get dehydrated. That’s been a problem with me — I don’t like to drink a lot of water — and that’s what causes problems with my hamstrings.”
McQuay also went on to say that another reason he doesn’t like running indoors is the banked tracks because it’s bad for his hips.
Looking at his performance this year, it’s hard to tell that McQuay favors outdoor running as much as he does. In addition to his indoor national title, he finished first in the 400m during both days of the Virginia Tech Elite Meet on Feb. 3-4.
With his performance during the indoor season, it’s no surprise that McQuay has a lot of confidence going into the outdoor season.
“Outdoors I’m more relaxed,” McQuay said. “I just know the track and I have a better feel for it.”
Although his confidence is high, McQuay is aware that winning the USA Championships last summer with an impressive 44.68 and the indoor championships less than two weeks ago has made him a target.
“I know I have some competition at the end toward nationals,” McQuay said. “A lot of people don’t run indoors, so I know there will be a lot more people outdoors.”
