Omar Craddock had a near perfect season last year.
In addition to being part of Florida’s NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championship teams in 2012, Craddock swept both the Southeastern Conference and NCAA individual titles in triple jump for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Craddock then finished fourth at the 2012 Olympic trials for triple jump with a mark of 16.55 meters, missing out on a trip to London by 1 meter.
After Craddock made a name for himself during his junior campaign, he will start the 2013 season the on The Bowerman Watch List and at the top of competitors’ target list.
“A lot of people have been training to come get me, and they’re coming to get this team because we won three [national titles] in a row indoors and finally won one outdoors,” Craddock said. “It’s a lot of pressure, but you just have to be able to humble yourself and be ready to go and compete.”
While Craddock dominated in triple jump, he came up short in the long jump. The senior used the offseason to try to improve his marks in the event.
Craddock said he’s gotten faster and reaches less because of his improved technique.
“Now that I’m on the watch list for The Bowerman, I know I really have to do something with this long jump if I want to really contend and try to win this award,” Craddock said.
As the No. 2 men’s and No. 5 women’s teams head to the Crimson Tide Indoor Opener on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala., Craddock is hoping to set a new indoor personal record in long jump. His current personal best is 7.49m, which he set at the Texas A&M Challenge in 2012.
Still, Craddock is more focused on how the team performs, especially the freshmen.
“The first meet is just for the team,” Craddock said. “I just want to see how the young guys and young women do. I’m excited to see what happens.”
While the men won both NCAA titles, the women notched only the SEC indoor title in 2012. Florida returns 37 athletes on the women’s side. The women also boast the nation’s No. 3 freshman class.
“Our team is very talented all around,” Lanie Whittaker said. “We can possibly win it — SECs and Nationals. It’s finally our turn. We were battling injuries last year, but this year is the girls’ time to shine.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
UF sprinter Omar Craddock runs.
