As a running back on the Florida football team, Jeff Demps is used to playing in front of 90,000 people, but this weekend, a crowd of 5,000 will be something special.
One of the most talented athletes on the UF track and field team, Demps competes in tiny track facilities in relative obscurity compared to the nations’ largest football stadiums.
But when the Gators host the 66th Florida Relays at Percy Beard Track, beginning Friday, they’ll get a capacity crowd of their own.
For the No. 1 men’s and No. 4 women’s track teams this is not only an opportunity to go up against some of the NCAA’s most talented athletes but a chance to show their friends, family and fans they are among the best in the nation.
After growing accustomed to performing in quiet stadiums with sparsely-filled bleachers, the Gators will get to see the crowds and experience the support usually reserved for UF’s more high-profile teams.
“The crowd is different,” Demps said. “The football players and other athletes come out to support you. Instead of people just sitting and watching, you’re going to have people cheering for you. There’s going to be a lot of noise.”
Home Cookin’
After a long indoor season spent traveling across the country and two outdoor meets on the road, the relays will be Florida’s first home meet in 2010.
The meet is a highlight of the outdoor collegiate track season and is grouped with the Penn Relays and Texas Relays as the most prestigious in the country.
Started in 1939, the meet has been held every spring except for a five-year hiatus during World War II and a year off in 2006 due to renovations at the track facility.
A creation of former UF track coach Percy Beard, the namesake of the school’s track, the two-day event features nearly 3,500 athletes. Among those are post-collegiate athletes and several-hundred high school student-athletes from more than 50 schools from around the state.
The main draw of the event is the collegiate competitions Friday and Saturday afternoon. Seven Southeastern Conference schools, nine schools from Florida and teams from as far away as Cal-State Fullerton and Buffalo make up a group of nearly 50 squads that will travel to Gainesville for the meet.
UF coach Mike Holloway said the agreeable weather, top-notch facilities and effort of UF’s athletic staff to make this as strong a meet as possible brings teams to Gainesville year after year. Consequently, the relay draws some of the best athletes and biggest crowds.
“It’s a chance to showcase to the Gator community so I always get excited about that,” Holloway said. “There’s a lot of people in this community who put it on their calendar and go to it every year.”
Sophomore distance runner Genevieve LaCaze said the passionate crowd support gave her extra inspiration last season in her first Florida Relays, where she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finished third in the 1,500-meter.
“I couldn’t believe how exciting it was to have people cheering for you,” she said. “To have fans here encourages you to put on a show and make them want to come back again.”
While the UF’s athletes are excited about the opportunity to host a meet and compete before their home fans, Holloway has kept the team focused on the SEC and NCAA Championships at season’s end.
“People expect us to do well,” Holloway said. “We’re not trying to prove how good we are. We’re just trying to get a little bit better.”
Geared for Success
The men are coming off a national title at the NCAA Indoor Championships while the women, fourth at the NCAA meet, brought home a title at the SEC Indoor Championships. Both teams are expected to contend for the SEC and NCAA titles in the outdoor season.
Along with a lineup of talented athletes, chemistry has been one of the keys for the Gators’ success. In most meets, when fans won’t be as plentiful as this weekend, UF’s most fervent supporters can be found wearing jerseys.
“I think its amazing, this ‘Orange and Blue’ atmosphere,” LaCaze said. “I’ve noticed it with football in the fall, and it carries over to the track.”
Nowhere is this team camaraderie more important than in the 4x100-meter relay. The four-person event requires each athlete to receive or exchange a baton within 100 meters.
That means chemistry is a must, though taking a handoff should be natural for Demps, who will anchor the 4x100.
“You have to trust your teammates that they’ll put the baton in the right spot,” Demps said. “The 4x100 runners should have one of the best relationships on the team.”
The Gators took the 2009 NCAA Championship in the event, and Demps, Jeremy Rankin, Jeremy Hall and Terrell Wilks expect to defend their title in 2010.
“I think the biggest thing about (defending the championship) is the added pressure it gives everybody and the will to do better,” Wilks said. “That comes with being great and it also shows respect. There’s nothing better than being respected.”
Along with the quartet in the 4x100, the Gators feature one of the nation’s best 4x400 groups with R.J. Anderson, Tony McQuay, Christian Taylor and Calvin Smith.
Anderson, Jovon Toppin, Preston Wilson and Carlos Phillips will compete in the sprint medley relay and allows UF to show off one of the nation’s most talented group of sprinters.
Team to Beat
The 4x100, only offered in the outdoor season, gives the men’s team another event where it’ll be a postseason favorite, enhancing the Gators’ chances of translating their indoor title into outdoor success. The outdoor season also features the steeplechase, a strength of the women’s team.
The distance runners scored the majority of the points in UF’s SEC title, and they should only be better in the outdoor season.
“We want to help the team out a lot and we want to be depended on,” LaCaze said. “It’s a good feeling to know we can help out the team.”
LaCaze won’t have a chance to defend her steeplechase win from last year’s Florida Relays, but she’ll run the 1,500-meter and distance medley relay. Senior Julie Northrup and freshman Callie Cooper will run the steeplechase instead.
Five Gators will compete in the 1,500, including freshman Mandy Perkins. Perkins won the event last weekend at the UCF Invitational and was able to keep up with LaCaze and defending indoor 1,600-meter champion Charlotte Browning in practice leading up to the Florida Relays.
“Tuesday practice was the best we’ve looked as a team,” LaCaze said.
The women’s team also has senior shotputter Mariam Kevkhishvili, who will compete for the first time outdoors after winning every event she participated in during the indoor season, including the SEC and NCAA Championships.
Senior Shara Proctor will look to improve on her third-place finishes in the long and triple jumps at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
With two teams that have championship aspirations, an early season meet like the Florida Relays is used primarily to prepare the athletes for postseason.
But with a crowd of 5,000-plus, it’s anything but normal.
