Crushing the top time in the 5,000-meter event in UF history, Mark Parrish’s mark of 13:43.15 is more than good for the new record.
Competing at the Husky Classic at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle, Wash., Parrish finished in fifth place but topped the previous record set by Mike Mykytok on March 11, 1994, by almost 16 seconds.
“We’re extremely excited and pleased with Mark Parrish’s run,” coach Mike Holloway said. “To break the school record by some 16 seconds is an amazing run.
“That puts him right around seventh in the country right now, and that’s a big accomplishment for Mark and Coach Spangler.”
In addition to Parrish’s outing, freshman Taylor Tubbs and sophomore Julie Macedo competed in their own 5,000m run of their own.
Tubbs and Macedo both ran personal bests and ran the indoor race for the first time as Gators.
But Tubbs finished in eighth place with a time of 16:40.63 to crack into the UF record book for the seventh-fastest time in indoors history.
Holloway said he was really pleased with the job that Tubbs did as well and proud of Macedo for fighting off through some injury recently.
Parrish, Tubbs and Macedo were accompanied by another top performance from their teammate that was 1,451 miles away in Ames, Iowa, competing at the Iowa State Classic.
Junior sprinter Hugh Graham Jr., tied his career time in the 60-meter dash of 6.64 seconds in the prelims of the event to capture the top seed for the finals.
The Gators will continue competing at two different locations on Saturday.
Senior distance runner Cory McGee is independently competing at the Millrose Games in New York City, and running in the Wanamaker mile, which is known for the top mile runners in the nation.
Furthermore, the remainder of the team will take to the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas.
“We have some big events coming up tomorrow (Saturday) in College Station,” Holloway said. “The 3K and mile in Seattle and the 60 meter, 400-meter and 800-meter in Ames.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence
