After qualifying individually for the NCAA Championship meet during his freshman year, Jimmy Clark had hoped this would be the year the team put all of the pieces together to become one of 30 qualifiers. It didn't happen.
“[Last year] was kind of bittersweet,” he said. “It was great knowing that I got another chance to compete at the NCAA Championships. But, at the same time, it’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to do it with my team.”
Clark and junior Mark Parrish were selected to represent the Florida men in Louisville, Ky., after the team finished fourth at the regional meet in Tallahassee, falling short of being a top-two automatic qualifier.
“Certainly they would like to have the entire men’s team there,” coach Paul Spangler said. “No doubt about that, but knowing Mark and knowing Jimmy, they’ll go out there and give 100% regardless.”
Clark finished just .3 seconds ahead of fellow sophomore Eddie Garcia, claiming the final bid to NCAA Championships. Despite the tight finish, Clark is not worried about any tension between them.
“We room together,” Clark said. “[He and I] are great friends, and we don’t have any ill feelings towards each other. No matter if he had beaten me or I (had beaten) him. We would have been happy for each other no matter what the case was. … Stuff like that, it puts you down, but at the same time, it keeps everyone hungry because we know what our goals are for the years to come.”
After struggling with illness earlier in the season, Clark peaked at the most opportune time, delivering his best race of the year at the NCAA Regional. Clark and his teammates hope the momentum from his strong finish will carry over into the upcoming track season, as well as into cross country in 2013.
“That’s a big thing because obviously you know you’re fit,” Parrish said. “As you get better and better throughout the races and you go to better and better races and you’re performing well at each of those, it builds up confidence. So, hopefully (we’ll) do well at this meet and confidence will be built up even higher going into indoor (track).”
Parrish hopes to garner All-America status by finishing in the top 40 at the NCAA Championships. Clark aims to improve upon his performance from a year ago, when he finished 191st overall.
“A good goal for me is finishing top 100,” he said.
The men’s 10K race will start at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday following the completion of the women’s 6K race at noon. The women have a top-10 finish in their sights after reaching the NCAA Championships for the sixth time in the past seven years.
“We’ve sacrificed so much,” junior Stephanie Strasser said. “We want to end on a positive note, and we have a big goal to accomplish. We just need to be focused and motivated to accomplish that goal.”
