After two days of competition at the Razorback Invitational, the Gators wrapped up a memorable weekend filled with record-breaking performances from members of both the No. 1 men’s team and the No. 6 women’s team.
On Saturday, six Gators recorded times or marks that ranked inside the top 16 of the NCAA Indoor times.
In the first event of the day, freshman Magnus Pettersen, redshirt freshman Jack Beitter, redshirt sophomore Carlos Miranda and redshirt sophomore Charles Chambers placed in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, for the Gators in the men's 3,000-meter event.
In the men’s 400-meter dash, Florida junior Eric Futch (47.53), sophomore TJ Holmes (47.77) and junior Nick Uruburu (48.24) finished in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.
On the women’s side, senior Shayla Sanders broke her own school record in the 60 meters with a time of 7.17 seconds.
“It started from prelims, I had to go out and I had to make a statement,” Sanders said in a video posted to UF’s Track and Field’s Twitter account. “I just went out there and was like, ‘this is my race.’ Coach Holloway told me to stay focused and that is what I did.”
Sanders' teammate, senior Claudia Francis, also had an impressive showing on Saturday. Francis broke her indoor personal record by almost three seconds in the 400 meters, posting a time of 52.88 seconds, a top-five Division 1 and world time.
Sophomore Darrielle McQueen posted a mark of 13.36 meters in the triple jump, the second-best jump in Division 1 this year.
In addition, freshman Kunle Fasasi ran a season-best time of 46.68, equaling the 2016 No. 8 time in the world.
“The key, for me, is that we have to just keep getting better,” UF coach Mike Holloway said in a release. “I just have to see some leadership qualities come out of people. We have to get back (to Gainesville), keep training, get focused, and start understanding we can’t give away opportunities like this.”
Next on the schedule for the Gators is the Virginia Tech Elite next Friday in
Blacksburg, Virginia.
“We’ve got to remember who we are and how we do things,” Holloway said. “I’m not concerned at all. We are going to be fine.”
Contact Lauren Staff lstaff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Lstaff27.
UF junior sprinter Shayla Sanders.
