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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p dir="ltr"><span>UF thrower AJ McFarland knows the importance of every meet, regardless of when it occurs.&nbsp;</span>“I want to treat every meet like the postseason," he said.</p>
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UF thrower AJ McFarland knows the importance of every meet, regardless of when it occurs. “I want to treat every meet like the postseason," he said.

 

Sharrika Barnett reached the final straightaway clearly in first place.

The slowest part of the senior’s 400-meter run is the curves, so once she got to the final 100 meters, a first-place finish was imminent. When Barnett completed her lap at the Florida Relays almost a month ago on March 29, she held the fastest time in the nation at 50.69.

Barnett heads to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this weekend with the rest of the Florida track and field team to compete in the LSU Alumni Gold meet. She will not run her 400-meter this weekend. Instead, she will run the 200-meter dash to speed up her curves.

In the 200, there is less time to make up for a slow curve, so shooting out of the blocks and running the initial bend well is imperative to finishing competitively. Ideally, that will translate to her 400 runs.

“Since I’m running the 2 (hundred), hopefully it’ll speed up my 4 (hundred),” Barnett said. “I want to run the curve as fast as I can.”

Barnett said she plans to finish her run either in the high 22s or the low 23s. Even using the 200 as a training tool, that would be good enough to qualify her for NCAAs. The fastest 12 times from each region after conference championships run in the NCAA championships, and the fifth-fastest time currently in the nation is Alabama sophomore Tamara Clark at 22.99.

On the men’s side, UF currently sits at third overall nationally. It ended the Florida Relays with a forgettable performance. Yet, many of the male competitors scored competitively. Junior Grant Holloway set the fastest active 110-meter hurdle time in the world, and the men’s 4x100 team placed No. 3 nationally. However, those times were set despite noticeable mistakes. Holloway’s steps in the hurdles were slightly off and handoffs were not executed as they should be in the relay.

Now with three weeks of practice to take from, the men’s team has to use Saturday’s meet in Louisiana to return to normal form if it wants a national championship in June. The Gators have a meet every weekend until the season concludes, so both the men and the women, who currently sit nationally at No. 7, need to start this long stretch out the right way. Weight thrower AJ McFarland knows the importance of every meet, regardless of when it occurs.

“I just remember what my goals are,” McFarland said. “I want to treat every meet like the postseason.”

Follow Graham Marsh on Twitter @GrahamMarshUF and contact him at gmarsh@alligator.org.

UF thrower AJ McFarland knows the importance of every meet, regardless of when it occurs. “I want to treat every meet like the postseason," he said.

 

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