Junior Tony McQuay is most known on the track for his performances in the 400m. That’s why Friday’s win in the 400m at the Pepsi Florida Relays didn’t come as much of a surprise to most.
However, McQuay typically doesn’t compete in outdoors until later in the season. Last year McQuay didn’t compete until May 7 at the Seminole Twilight Invitational, five days before the 2011 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships.
“I wasn’t planning on doing it; it was kind of a last second thing,” McQuay said. “I don’t usually run this early in the season, but I was happy with the time.”
Still, that wasn’t the biggest surprise for him this weekend. For McQuay, it was finding out at the 8 a.m. pre-meet Saturday that he would be competing in the 4x100m later that day.
“Right after, my coach called me to the side and asked me how I was feeling. I told him ‘I’m feeling pretty good, what’s up?’ He was like ‘I need you to run the [4x100], one of our teammates is having some problems,’” McQuay said. “So I had to step up to be there for him.”
McQuay and his teammates Jeff Demps, Leonardo Seymore and Dedric Dukes finished the 4x100m in 38.91. Although they got second place overall, they were the top collegiate team in the race.
“I was kind of nervous because I was running against some professionals,” McQuay said. “But I said ‘I’ll step in and do what I have to do to get it done.’”
McQuay finished out the meet in the 4x400m. Although the sixth place finish wasn’t as impressive as the 400m or 4x100m, McQuay still performed well by advancing his team from second to first during his leg of the race.
As McQuay prepares for his next meet, the Tom Jones Memorial Classic, he only plans on changing his training a little.
“I want to do a little bit more speed more now that I got the 4x100 out of the way,” McQuay said. “I know that I can do a little bit more speed work at practice. Other than that, I don’t want to change too much in my training.”
Friday’s events brought seven wins to the Gators, and on Saturday they were able to add two more with the women’s 4x800 and sprint medley race.
“If we can all perform at the level we performed at (this weekend for the rest of the season), it makes me really pleased at what I saw today,” coach Mike Holloway said. “From top to bottom, it was a fantastic day for the Gators.”
