This Valentine’s Day weekend, athletes from Florida’s No. 1 men’s and No. 4 women’s track and field teams are splitting up between two meets: the Tyson Invitational and the Iowa State Classic.
The men competing at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, will be facing 13 teams from the top 25. Participating teams from the top 10 include No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 9 TCU.
The women will face stiff competition, too, against teams such as No. 1 Arkansas, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Kansas State and No. 12 Kentucky.
"As we move into the Tyson meet this weekend, where we are going to see some of the better teams and competitors in the country, we have to go in and match the intensity and the focus of the other teams and we will be fine," UF coach Mike Holloway said.
Notable athletes competing in Fayetteville include the relay team of seniors Kyra Jefferson, Claudia Francis and Robin Reynolds, who will represent Florida in the 400 meters. When the trio competed at the Rod McCravy Invitational on Jan. 23 with the help of sophomore Taylor Sharpe, it ran to the top spot in the NCAA and set the third-best 4x400 meter relay time in Florida’s history.
Shayla Sanders, who broke the school record she set as a sophomore in 2014 in the 60-meter dash during the Razorback Invitational, will also be competing.
Other notables include the relay team of freshman Kunle Fasasi, redshirt junior Eric Futch, senior Najee Glass and junior Nick Uruburu.
Freshman hurdler Shamaria Lovett starts the competition for the Gators today at 2:15 in the 400 meters.
The other half of the athletes will compete at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center. The men will be taking on eight teams in the top 25, including four teams from the top 10 in No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 4 LSU, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 10 Georgia.
The women will be taking on four top-10 teams in No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 8 Georgetown and No. 10 Wisconsin.
"The athletes that are going to the Iowa State meet are going there because the competition in their events — the 5K, the 3K, the mile, the 800 — are stronger in that competition (than the Tyson Invitational)," Holloway said on having to split his team up.
"It is not ideal. It is not something we like to do, but it is something that is a necessary evil if we want to be successful at the end of the season."
Contact Lauren Staff at lstaff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @lstaff27.
UF’s Najee Glass races the final leg of the 4x400-meter relay to close out the 2015 Florida Relays on April 4, 2015, at the Percy Beard Track.
