On the final day of the USATF Outdoors Championships, Florida added three more World Championships qualifiers, upping the school’s total to 14.
Eric Futch was crowned with the American 400-meter hurdles title after running a top-ranked time of 48.18 seconds. Futch is also the two-time reigning champion in the event.
Not far behind was TJ Holmes, who beat his previous personal-best by 0.66 seconds with a third-place, 48.44-second effort.
Former Gator Kerron Clement also competed in the event, finishing seventh after clocking 48.91 seconds.
Futch joins Clement (2005, 2006, 2016) as the only Gators to win the American crown in the 400-meter hurdles.
The men’s long jump finals also featured three Gators, but only Marquis Dendy made the cut for the World Championships. Dendy, a member of the Florida track and field team from 2012-2015, finished second behind a jump of 8.39 meters.
Dendy has now earned a spot on the Team USA roster for three straight years.
Will Claye, a member of the Gators team from 2010-2011, finished 10th with a jump of 7.82 meters.
Junior KeAndre Bates took sixth place with a mark of 8.14 meters.
In the women’s 200-meter semifinals, Kyra Jefferson finished sixth out of 16 with a qualifying time of 22.95 seconds. In the final round Jefferson improved her time to 22.68 seconds, but only finished fifth overall.
The top three athletes in each event earn a spot on the world team if they meet the IAAF World Championships qualifying standards.
Freshman Grant Holloway took a similar path, qualifying in the men’s 110-meter hurdles semis with a fourth-place time of 13.55 seconds. He would come up short in the final round, however, finishing fourth again after completing the event in 13.39 seconds.
Both Jefferson and Holloway were less than one tenth of a second from qualifying for the worlds team.
Contact Andrew Huang at ahuang@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @AndrewJHuang.
UF hurdler Eric Futch races during the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 10, 2016, in Eugene, Oregon.
