Lately for Terrell Wilks, another week means another school record.
After notching an automatic-qualifying time in the Virginia Tech Qualifier on March 7, Wilks continued his record-breaking performances in last weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
In Texas, Wilks ran a 6.59 in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash and finished third in the finals of the event.
Wilks' school-record-setting performance in Texas helped UF's men to their best NCAA Indoors finish since 2005.
UF's men finished as runners-up with 36 points behind NCAA-champion Oregon, which had 54 points. The women's team finished the Indoor Championships tied for 12th place.
Wilks' 60-meter time was his new personal best and UF's new record for the event.
"While we are pleased with being second in the country, we are not satisfied," UF coach Mike Holloway said. "There's still work to do, and we still have the ability to get better. But we are very pleased with what's going on, and everybody is excited about getting outdoors and trying to get better."
Despite coming up one place short, UF's track and field program is moving in a positive direction, much to Holloway's pleasure.
"I don't think there's anybody in the program that wanted to be second, but second's better than third, and a lot of teams are aspiring to be second, so the program is definitely moving in the right direction," Holloway said.
Wilks' recent performances are a direct result of his hard work and may come as a surprise to some because of his late start in the sport.
He was a football and basketball player before he added track to his resume as a high school senior.
Subsequently, Wilks has had to put in extra work to hone his track and field skills.
"He's still learning the intricacies of running the sprints, and as he learns more, he catches on to things. He's just gonna get better and better," Holloway said.
"What people are seeing in the last couple weeks is just Terrell starting to really understand what it takes to be a good sprinter, and he now has the three fastest times ever run by a Gator in the 60, so we're pretty excited about that."
The outdoor season begins March 21 with the UCF Black and Gold Challenge in Orlando.
