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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p><span>Sophomore Marquis Dendy (far left) races in the 55m on Jan. 17 during the Gator Invitational in the O’Connell Center. Dendy is set to compete in the long jump on Saturday.</span></p>

Sophomore Marquis Dendy (far left) races in the 55m on Jan. 17 during the Gator Invitational in the O’Connell Center. Dendy is set to compete in the long jump on Saturday.

Coach Mike Holloway knew sophomore Marquis Dendy was fast when he recruited him.  

And during the Gator Invitational on Jan. 17 in the O’Connell Center, Dendy proved it.

For the first time since his sophomore year of high school, Dendy competed in the 55-meter race, finishing second with a time of 6.31 seconds.

“I think it surprised a lot of people,” Dendy said following the race.

Setting up in blocks isn’t Dendy’s forte. Instead, Dendy has made a name for himself at Florida in the pits. 

During his freshman campaign, Dendy claimed eight victories in jumps. His biggest win came at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 25, 2012 in Lexington, Ky. Dendy used an indoor personal-best mark of 8.06m (26-5.50 feet) to claim the long jump title.  

Although he has already succeeded in the long jump, he hasn’t seen the same results in the triple jump. Of his eight wins last year, only one came in the triple jump.

This year, Dendy is trying to improve his results in triple jump. At the Gator Invitational, he won first place with a mark of 15.33m.

According to Holloway, Dendy raced in the 55m last week to improve his marks in both the long and triple jump. However, Holloway sees potential for Dendy in sprints.

“It’s just part of his development as a jumper,” Holloway said. “When we signed him, we knew he had pretty good foot speed. Because of his health, we held him out of the sprints last year, but he’s healthy now, so we’re going to try to develop him in that area and see where it goes.” 

Dendy started practicing short sprints at the beginning of the fall semester. But a tweaked hamstring kept him away from the event until recently.

While preparing for the Gator Invitational, Dendy set up in the blocks only once during practice on Jan. 14. The next time he set up was during the preliminaries at the meet. Still, Dendy was pleased with his second-place performance and is excited to see how much he can improve in the event throughout the season.

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“Hopefully, I can keep running and dropping good times,” Dendy said. “Maybe I’ll run at [the SEC Indoor Championships], and if I qualify for [the NCAA Indoor Championships], I’ll definitely run it. [Holloway] is all about getting a good amount of points, so I think he sees me as a very good candidate in running three events. I think I can do it.”

The Gators will send 52 athletes to Fayetteville, Ark., today to compete in the Razorback Invitational. While Dendy competes in the long jump this weekend, he has his mind set on a specific mark  — 27.5 feet.

“My mom said if I jump 27.5, I get a car,” Dendy said. “I have the car picked out, she knows that car and has it saved on her phone. I’ve sent it to her multiple times, so I know I’ve just got to jump that.”

Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.


Sophomore Marquis Dendy (far left) races in the 55m on Jan. 17 during the Gator Invitational in the O’Connell Center. Dendy is set to compete in the long jump on Saturday.

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