Three weather delays washed away most of Florida’s second day at
the NCAA Outdoor Championships, but not before the Gators punched
three more finals berths and a first-time All-American honor.
Sophomore Jeremy Postin collected the distinction after a hammer
throw toss of 66.20m/217-2, good for eighth place. Postin came into
the event seeded 10th and garnered one point for the No. 2 Gators
men’s team to keep them in ninth place.
The
hammer throw ended as the only men’s event that was scored on
Thursday. The decathlon and long jump were cut short, postponed
until Friday.
“It
has been a great championship all around for us so far, and we’ve
done well,” UF coach Mike Holloway said. “I am very proud of Jeremy
Postin. He did a great job to make the final and score a point for
the Gators. Will Claye is sitting in third in the long jump and he
had a big jump today. We did face a little bit more adversity
today, and we just have to find a way to come out tomorrow and
overcome it.”
Claye is heading into his final attempt with a best leap of
8.20m/26-11 (+0.4), while decathlete Gray Horn slipped to
fifth-place in the second day of multi-events with 6,543 points.
Horn has two more events — the javelin and 1,500-meter run — to
improve his standing.
The
lone men’s qualifier on the day was distance runner Dumisane
Hlaselo, who placed 13th in the semifinals of the 1,500-meter
run.
On
the No. 17 women’s side, the Gators are out of the top-30 team
standings after failing to notch a single point through five scored
events.
The
squad did lock up two qualifying marks on Thursday as distance
runners Genevieve LaCaze (steeplechase) and Cory McGee (1,500-meter
run) both finished in 10th-place in their respective events.
LaCaze’s time of 10:04.68 in the steeplechase broke her own school
record she set at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds two weeks ago.
“The first thing at the NCAA meet is that you have to take care of
today, so that you can make it to the final,” UF assistant coach
Todd Morgan said. “I thought she did a great job and she has really
improved tremendously in the steeple. She has worked really hard at
getting better, especially with the water jump. What we saw today
was the culmination of a lot of hard work.”
