With one day remaining in the 2013 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, the Gators find themselves in a familiar spot.
Florida’s men and women are currently second and fourth, respectively. Both trail Arkansas – mirroring the final results from this season’s conference indoor championships in Fayetteville, Ark.
On Saturday, the third day of competition, the Gators scored a handful of points but didn’t have any event victories.
Sophomore Marquis Dendy nearly won the men’s long jump, which would have made him the 2013 indoor and outdoor conference champion. Dendy set an all-conditions, personal-best distance of 8.29m, but was beaten on the final jump of the event by LSU’s Damar Forbes, who jumped 8.34m. Dendy’s jump is third best in the world, while Forbes’s is the new world leader for this year.
“I’m very pleased with the efforts of some of our athletes today,” coach Mike Holloway said. “It was a great competition in the men’s long jump today, and Marquis got beat by the better guy today. It’s the furthest he’s ever jumped outdoors, and I’m very proud of him.”
Also scoring points for the Gators in Saturday’s final events were Kaitlin Davis in the women’s discus throw, Lorraine Graham and Ciarra Brewer in the women’s long jump, Taylor Burke in the women’s high jump, Stephanie Strasser in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase and Mark Parrish in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
Gators competed in multiple preliminary events on Saturday as well.
Ugonna Ndu and Eddie Lovett each showed strong performances in their respective hurdle events. Ndu followed Friday’s personal best performance in the women’s 400m hurdles with a personal best in Saturday’s 100m hurdles with a time of 13.14 seconds. Lovett won his heat in the men’s 110m hurdles and qualified for tomorrow’s final event with a time of 13.56 seconds.
“I’m very pleased with Ugonna and Eddie in the hurdles today,” Holloway said. “Ugonna is having an incredible final showing at SECs and I’m very proud of the way she’s gone out and competed so far this weekend.”
From Saturday’s eight preliminary events that Florida competed in, it sends 11 athletes from six events to the final day of the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships. The Gators have their work cut out for them, as the women and men are 24 and 10 points, respectively, behind leader Arkansas.
Sophomore jumper Marquis Dendy competes in the long jump at the SEC Indoor Track Championships on Feb. 23 in Fayetteville, Ark. Dendy qualified for the men's triple jump in next week's NCAA Outdoors Championships.
