After a half-hour rain delay that featured two PSAs from announcers alerting fans that a Ford Fusion and Nissan Maxima had left their lights on in the stadium parking lot, junior Lloydricia Cameron came through for the Gators.
Competing on day two of the SEC Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Columbia, South Carolina, Cameron led Florida with a first place finish in the women’s shot put with a throw of 16.92 meters.
The Miami native won the event by a considerable margin, topping the rest of her competition by at least 11.75 inches.
“Incredibly proud of Lloydricia,” coach Mike Holloway said in a release. “She’s had an up-and-down year with injuries … a lot of things going on. For her to come out here and get it done, on the biggest stage, great job by her. Her and Coach (Steve) Lemke have been putting a lot of work in, and I know they feel there’s a lot more there, but she’s the SEC champion.”
Cameron’s conference shot put title is just the ninth in school history.
She was also one of four Gators to post a top-three finish in a final competition on Friday. Freshman Clayton Brown came up two inches short of first place in the high jump, reaching 2.19 meters.
In the long jump, junior KeAndre Bates placed second overall with a jump of 8.03 meters. Freshman Grant Holloway was not far behind, finishing third with a mark of 7.97 meters.
Holloway, one of nine Gators to qualify for Friday’s final round, also took part in the 110-meter hurdles preliminary, where he finished third with a time of 13.65 seconds.
Sophomore Jack Guyton and seniors Rebekah Greene and Amber Johnson all posted qualifying times in Thursday’s 1,500-meter race.
In the 400-meter preliminary, the women’s team saw sophomore Sharrika Barnett qualify with a second-place mark of 52.29 seconds, while the men’s team watched sophomore Kunle Fasasi make the cut with a time of 45.95 seconds.
Senior Skylar Ross-Ransom (13.23 seconds) and freshman Brandee’ Johnson (13.39 seconds) are both moving on to the final round of the 100-meter hurdles. A 100-meter time of 10.22 seconds was good enough for sophomore Ryan Clark to advance.
Holloway, Guyton, Greene, Johnson, Barnett, Fasasi, Ross-Ransom, Johnson and Clark will all compete tomorrow in their respective final rounds.
As a school, Florida’s men’s team catapulted from one point to 23.5 on day two, boosting itself to seventh place in the conference championships standings. Meanwhile, the women’s team is tied for seventh with Missouri, having earned 13 points heading into the final day of competition.
Contact Andrew Huang at ahuang@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @AndrewJHuang.
UF sprinter Kunle Fasasi races in the 400-meter dash during the Florida Relays on April 1, 2016, at the Percy Beard Track.
