Florida’s track and field teams ended the Virginia Tech Elite Meet on Saturday with a record-breaking outing for two of its weight throwers.
On Friday, redshirt freshman AJ McFarland placed 10th with a mark of 18.98 meters in the men’s weight throw, his second collegiate competition. With that mark, McFarland moved to No. 6 on Florida’s all-time indoor top 10.
In the women’s weight throw, sophomore Lloydricia Cameron finished in ninth place with a best mark of 17.90 meters, while redshirt freshman Jontavia Dykes finished 11th with her 17.81-meter toss.
The Gators continued success on Saturday when Cameron placed second in the women’s shot put with a best mark of 16.30 meters, narrowly missing the 16.49-meter mark set by Tennessee’s Cassie Wertman. Cameron’s mark ranks No. 22 in the NCAA this season.
Now the Gators will have the week to prepare for their final two meets before the Southeastern Conference Championships: the Iowa State Classic and the Tyson Invitational, both of which start on Friday.
Florida found success at both meets last season. At the Iowa State Classic, then-senior Mark Parrish broke his own school record in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 13:41.87, while Jimmy Clark (14:04.53) and Eddie Garcia (14:14.84) landed in UF’s all-time top-10 list in the same race. Andres Arroyo and Ryan Schnulle also cracked the top-five of UF’s all-time record book in the 800-meter dash.
At the Tyson Invitational the Gators posted eight top-five finishes in field events while then-junior Kyra Jefferson set the NCAA and world-best time for 2015 in the women’s 200-meter dash by crossing the line in 22.81 seconds.
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.
