After injuring himself during the final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships, senior Gray Horn was finally about to make his comeback at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships this weekend. However, his road to the postseason is once again derailed.
On Monday, coach Mike Holloway told GTN’s Julie Quittner that Horn has been suspended.
“Gray will not be competing this weekend,” said Holloway to Quittner. “Gray’s been suspended from the team, not that I want to go into it right now, but he won’t be competing.”
Although it was not said, the suspension comes about three weeks after Horn was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
Horn was arrested by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office early on April 14 during Florida’s off weekend after failing a field sobriety test.
According to the arrest report, Horn was stopped for driving with his high beams on. Once he was pulled over, the arresting officer saw signs of intoxication and asked Horn to perform a field sobriety test. Horn recorded a blood alcohol content of a 0.128, which is above Florida’s legal limit of 0.08.
Then Horn admitted to consuming two alcoholic beverages and told the officer he was driving because he was the least intoxicated of his friends.
Throughout the incident, Horn remained cooperative with the officer.
The following weekend at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic, Horn went on to compete in the discus and javelin. That was his first time competing since his injury.
The SEC Outdoor Championships were going to be Horn’s first time competing in the decathlon this outdoor season. It was also supposed to be the three-time defending champion’s attempt at a perfect sweep of SEC Outdoor titles.
“Gray Horn has always done a great job of getting us going and getting the momentum going for us.” Coach Mike Holloway said previously.
The Gators will now leave for Baton Rouge, La., without their top heptathlon athlete.
