The UF men’s track and field team fell from first to second in the rankings this week despite picking up 12 wins at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic. However, the drop did not affect sophomore Stipe Zunic’s performance.
During the Gators’ first day of the Drake Relays, Zunic grabbed yet another title in the javelin throw (74.61m/244-9).
“Stipe truly gets better and better every week,” coach Mike Holloway said. “Love seeing his transformation from last year to this year and his connection with Coach (Steve) Lemke only gets stronger. They’re really meshing well and working hard on getting better every day.”
Zunic’s win on Friday gave him his fifth consecutive win in the javelin throw. His performance has helped him continue his perfect season.
"This feels great,” Zunic said. “Last year when I was here, the weather was also bad with the windy conditions. I went to the finals and only threw 61 meters. Finally, I have started to learn to throw in all wind conditions and it feels really good to be a winner here.”
There wasn’t only an improvement between last year’s Drake Relays and this year’s meet. During Zunic’s freshman year, he only had one first-place finish in six events.
In addition to showing progress in his finishes, he has also improved the distances of his throws. Last season, Zunic threw an average of 70.84 meters, but this season he is averaging nearly five meters more at 75.03 meters.
These improvements have moved him up in the rankings as well. Zunic went from being ranked 12th last year to being currently ranked third.
Zunic wasn’t the only Gator to have a solid performance Friday. Florida had four top-five performances in the preliminaries for running events.
Today the Gators will be competing in 12 races to wrap up the meet.
“Across the board, we had a good day today,” Holloway said. “One thing we need to work on is execution. We’re hoping for better weather, but regardless of the weather, we can’t waste opportunities. We need to come out and find a way to get better and compete hard against the best.”
