Altitude was a factor in Albuquerque, N.M., for the NCAA Indoor Championships as the No.1 Gators track and field team had their ups and downs through Day 1.
The men’s and women’s teams sit behind Stanford in overall team standings as the men rest in fourth place with 13 points behind Stanford with 14, but the women are in second with 19 compared to Stanford’s 22.
The distance runners took a toll during the day’s events by the 5,352 feet above sea level altitude, but the sprinters seemed not to be effected.
Florida sprinter Dedric Dukes was a pure example of that.
The Miami, Fla., native rebounded in the 200-meter finals finishing first in Section 1 of the finals, and overall in second with a time of 20.34 after not defending his 200m Southeastern Conference title.
Duke’s time of 20.34 was the seventh-fastest performance in collegiate history, and the second-fastest time in the world in the event.
The junior sprinter’s running mate Arman Hall who is the SEC 200m titleholder just missed the podium.
Hall clocked a 20.55 second finals time to finish behind Carvin Nkanata of Pittsburgh by three hundreths of a second..
Dukes (8) and Hall (5) snagged a combined 13 points for the Gators men’s team.
Senior hurdler Eddie Lovett remains en route to defend his NCAA title in the men’s 60-meter hurdles after finishing first place in Heat 2 of the prelims with a time of 7.57 second run.
As for the women’s day, the 200m finals highlighted the teams standings earning 14 points overall.
Three Gators qualified for the finals as Kyra Jefferson (22.79), Destinee Gause (23.23) and Shayla Sanders (23.56) aided Florida in first place team standings through the event.
Jefferson was in position to win a NCAA title as her main foe Dezerea Bryant from Kentucky’s time of 22.69 finished in first place overall.
More action is to come in the final day of the nationals indoors, as some top-ranked Gators look to defend their NCAA individual titles, while others seek to capture their first.
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence
