Track and Field Reporter Paul is a senior in his fourth semester on the track and field/cross country beat for The Alligator. In his free time, you can increasingly see him jogging around Gainesville or endlessly falling deeper down the rabbit hole that is track Twitter.
When Vance Nilsson arrived in Gainesville in the fall of 2024, it seemed destined that he would represent the next chapter in UF’s esteemed long hurdles history. In his senior season at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona, Nilsson essentially had a flawless resume.
Van Daalen’s victory was the highlight of a strong two days of competition for Florida’s women inside Hayward Field. The indoor and outdoor SEC champions finished second in the team race with 43 points, matching their placement from 2023 and 2024. This meet represented a 13-place and 25-point improvement from last season for the Gators.
Finishing in 48.06, Nilsson became the ninth-fastest performer in collegiate history and now sits second on the UF all-time list. After not even racing at the East Regional last season, the Nilsson that Florida fans expected when he came to Gainesville – the one that won the World Junior (under 20) title and set the high school 300-meter hurdles record in 2024 – had fully arrived.
When Haynes lines up inside Hayward Field at the University of Oregon for her semifinal on June 11, she’ll have the confidence of the two best races of her life in her back pocket. She said the nerves go away the instant she steps on the track. When the gun fires, all that Haynes can do is race with the aggression she’s proven she can and welcome the inevitable.
Across two days of competition in Lexington, the Florida women’s track and field team earned 16 bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, set to be held inside Hayward Field at the University of Oregon from June 10-13. The Gators will send 17 women’s entries in total, as sophomore Pauline Bikembo had already qualified in the heptathlon.
There were plenty of nice moments for the Florida men’s track and field team in Lexington, as the University of Kentucky played host to the NCAA East Regional. Across two days of competition, the Gators secured 11 bids – 10 individual and one relay – to the NCAA Championships, hosted in Eugene, Oregon, from June 10-13.
Despite being projected to finish eighth based on season performance lists entering the championships, head coach Mike Holloway’s group blew past that standing by five places and 28 points. Across 21 events from May 14-16, UF put up 78 points, good for a third-place team finish.
By nearly every conceivable metric, the Gators stepped up to the plate and delivered their best within the confines of Hutsell-Rosen Track from May 14-16. Florida sent athletes to Auburn in 16 events, and it scored in 13.
The Florida track and field team is geared up to compete in the 2026 SEC Outdoor Championships from May 14-16 at Hutsell-Rosen Track in Auburn, Alabama.
Palmer sits just over a month away from concluding his fourth track season at the helm of the Gators’ distance squad, having fueled an overhaul of the program’s storied all-time lists that was completed over the weekend at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Solutions by The State News
