Although Florida’s No. 10 men’s team finished in fourth place, and the No. 3 women in a tie for fourth, junior Andres Arroyo made a splash in the men’s 800-meter dash at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Arroyo’s time (1:46.20) was good enough for second place, and broke former Florida and Olympic runner Mark Everett’s 26-year-old school record, set back at the 1990 SEC Indoor’s, Florida’s oldest indoor record prior to Saturday.
“I know he took second place, but he broke a school record (held) by an Olympian. I’m really proud of him and the weekend he had,” UF coach Holloway said in a release. “It was good to see him go out and run well. He was happy and really pleased with the way it turned out.”
The men’s team was able to collect just one title in the 400 meter relay. The relay team made up of freshman Kunle Fasasi, senior Arman Hall, redshirt junior Eric Futch and senior Najee Glass ran to a time of 3:04.02, edging out second place Tennessee (3:07.07).
“I think the biggest thing with those four guys is that, at the beginning of the year, we thought we had a special group,” Holloway said. “This is the first time they’ve all been able to get together and run it healthy. For them to do that … I thought that was phenomenal. I challenged them before the race to go out there and put up a special time.”
Junior Yanick Hart, who had a big Day 1, also saw success in the 60-meter hurdles, coming in second with a time of 7.71, a personal record.
In the 400-meter dash, Hall (45.79) and Glass (46.31) took second and sixth place, respectively.
Hall would go on to match his own personal record (20.55) with a third place finish in the 200-meter dash, while freshman Ryan Clark (20.98) took sixth place.
Hall (2014, 2016) became one of just three athletes since 2007 to score in both the 200 meters and 400 meters at multiple SEC Indoor Championships.
Clark also took sixth place in the 60-meter dash, becoming just the third freshman since 2010 to score in both the 60 meters and 200 meters.
On the women’s side, sophomore Darrielle McQueen and freshman Yanis David place second and third in the triple jump with best marks of 13.61 and 13.38 meters, respectively. In the process, McQueen and Yanis became the fourth pair of teammates since 2002 to score in both the long jump and triple jump at the SEC Indoor Championships.
Senior Shayla Sanders was the runner-up in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.25 seconds, the highest finish by a Gator in the event since 2007. Senior Kyra Jefferson (22.76) took second in the 200-meter dash, while redshirt freshman Jontavia Dykes took fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 19.27 meters.
The Gators will have until March 11 to train and get healthy, when the athletes who qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships will travel to Birmingham, Alabama.
“After this meet, we’ve shown we are a pretty good nationals team,” Holloway said. “ We will have to get back and see who gets into the (NCAA Indoor Championships). I think we’re pretty solid where we need to be.
“Now that we’re there, we have to get them right, prepared mentally and physically, and make sure they’re good with that.”
Contact Lauren Staff at lstaff@alligator.org and follow her on twitter @Lstaff27.
UF track and field coach Mike Holloway talks with mid-distance runner Andres Arroyo on the final day of the 2015 Florida Relays on Saturday at the Percy Beard Track.
