While most seniors in high school are looking ahead to their graduation, Gators freshman Dedric Dukes is focusing on the Pepsi Florida Relays.
Dukes, who could still be finishing up his last semester of his senior year, decided to enroll early at Florida in January.
On Feb. 4, Dukes helped the Gators finish in second place in the 4x400m relay at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet in his first competition. Dukes also came in sixth place in the men’s 200m, missing the automatic qualifying mark by less than a second.
“It’s been pretty tough because of coming in out of shape, and it’s my first time running indoors,” Dukes said. “It was pretty hard to adjust to indoor because I’m so used to running outdoors.”
Despite joining the Gators only six days before their first indoor meet of the season, Dukes has shown that he can be a valuable asset on the team. His strongest contribution so far this year has been in the relays.
In addition to his performance at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet, Dukes helped contribute to a fourth-place finish in the 4x1600m relay at the SEC Indoor Championships and he helped UF finish third in the 4x400m relay last weekend at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.]
“I felt pretty good. I trusted in my coaching and training that everything was going to be good,” Dukes said. “I was a little bit nervous, but I just let everything happen.”
This weekend at Florida’s first home outdoor meet of the season, the Gators will need Dukes to continue his trend of being a strong leg for the relay teams. Dukes will be competing in the 4x200m relay and the 4x400m relay.
“We could push the stick a little bit better, and get the changes and hand-offs much, much better, which we’ve been working on this week,” Dukes said. “We have a lot more to work on, but I think we’ll do pretty good at the Florida Relays.”
The Florida Relays begin today at Percy Beard Track at 9 a.m. Sophomore David Levin and junior David Triassi will start things off for the men in the hammer throw, and freshman Manuela Burtsher will open for the women in the discus throw.
“It’s always an exciting time around here for the Florida Relays. Our athletes are excited and everybody associated with the program is excited about it,” coach Mike Holloway said. “It’s a chore putting the meet on, but it’s something that we really enjoy doing.”
