For the last three years Texas A&M has dominated the men’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, edging Florida by a combined five points. A slow start on the first day of competition Wednesday may prove costly for the Gators should the national title be decided by single digits again.
Florida had five Gators compete in preliminary rounds Wednesday. Of those five, only two advanced to the finals – junior Tony McQuay and senior Genevieve LaCaze.
McQuay had a strong start for Florida. He opened up in the 400 meters with a new outdoors personal record, beating his previous time of 44.68, which was set at the USA Championships.
His first-place finish easily advanced him to the finals in the 400m.
“Tony was phenomenal tonight,” coach Mike Holloway said. “He’s been training well and for him to come out and run the fastest time in the NCAA this year and the second-fastest in the U.S., I think it really gave us great momentum to start NCAAs. He works really hard and puts in the effort and today was proof of that.”
As the day went on, the performances began to fall short of expectations.
Despite finishing third in her heat, sprinter Lanie Whittaker placed 10th overall in the 400m. She was the first of the three to fall short of qualifying for the finals.
After running a personal best in the 100 meters at the Southeastern Conference Championships for a third place finish, sophomore Darshay Davis also fell short at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Davis finished last in the 100m with a time of 11.69.
Although she didn’t advance to the finals, Davis will have a chance to compete again tomorrow in the 200 meters.
Of all the Gators who didn’t advance to the finals, freshman Marquis Dendy was the closest. Dendy’s mark in the long jump was just over an inch short of qualifying for the finals. Like Davis, Dendy will be able to compete again in the NCAA Outdoor Championships, this time in the triple jump on Friday.
Senior LaCaze wrapped up the day for the Gators on a positive note. The USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year finished ninth overall in the steeplechase, which qualified her for the finals on Friday.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Genevieve tonight,” Holloway said.
“I really enjoyed watching her run tonight and I can’t wait to see her compete on Friday. She set a good tone for our women for the rest of the weekend.”
Although they had a rough start, the Gators have a big day of competition today. Florida is entered in ten events, which will give them plenty of opportunity to put some points on the board.
“[Thursday] is a big day for the Gators,” Holloway said.
“We have a lot of opportunities to qualify for finals and score points. We’ll be ready to compete on Thursday and I look forward to seeing what we bring to the track tomorrow. I think Tony and Gen’s performances really started us off strong on both sides.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Marquis Dendy competes in the triple jump at the the Tom Jones Memorial Classic on April 21, 2012.
