Jimmy Clark does not let anything slow him down.
The junior suffered a quad injury during a running accident prior to the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Oct. 19, forcing him to wait on the sidelines while the rest of the team prepared for the meet.
But despite missing several workouts while healing from the injury, Clark ran a personal-best race on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis., finishing 30th out of 288 runners with a time of 23:52 — the 10th fastest 8K in Florida history.
The only Gator to top Clark in Wisconsin was senior Mark Parrish, who broke the school’s 8K record at the meet.
“To come off injury and be able to be right where I was at earlier this season was great,” Clark said.
“It was exactly what coach (Paul Spangler) wanted out of me and what I wanted out of myself. It was great just to be able to come in behind [Parrish] and to lead the team to a successful race.”
Clark is now turning his attention to Friday’s Southeastern Conference Championships on the Mark Bostick Golf Course, hoping to help the team improve from its fifth-place finish last season.
“I’m just going to do whatever Coach needs me to do to help the team out and get a win,” he said.
The SEC Championships will be the second time the Gators run on their home course this season. They hosted the Mountain Dew Invitational on Sept. 14.
Clark was the top runner in that race with a time of 23:53.78.
“It was great earlier this season to get a win on the course, to preview the course,” Clark said. “We’re excited.”
Hines likely to return for SECs: After sitting out of both the FLRunners.com Invitational and the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, junior JL Hines is expected to run at the SEC Championships on Friday.
“(The next couple days) are going to be a good indicator on whether he’ll be able to run,” Spangler said. “But I’m pretty optimistic JL will be able to run.”
Hines ran in the first two races for Florida this season. He finished fourth for UF and sixth overall at the Western Carolina Invitational with a time of 15:23.11 in the 5K race on Aug. 30. He was also the fourth Florida runner to cross the finish line at the Mountain Dew Invitational, completing the race in 24:40.75.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126.
Jimmy Clark (1734) runs at the Mountain Dew Invitational on Sept. 14 in Gainesville.
