After impressive performances from Florida’s men’s and women’s track and field teams last week at the Razorback Invitational, the Gators’ throwers are in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to compete in the Bayou Bengal Invitational today.
Heading into UF’s fifth meet of the 2018 indoor season, its men’s team sits comfortably at the top of the rankings at No. 1, while the women’s team remains at No. 5 for the second straight week.
Senior thrower Lloydricia Cameron is one of six Gators competing in Baton Rouge and is coming off a season-best shot put mark of 17.33 meters two weeks ago at the Clemson Invitational. However, Cameron is not content with where she is at this point in the season.
“I don’t feel like I’m fully there,” Cameron said. “But I feel like I’ll be ready for SECs and nationals.”
Redshirt junior AJ McFarland will also be competing today after breaking his own school record in the weight throw (21.74 meters) two weeks ago in Clemson. McFarland will be joined in the men’s weight throw by redshirt sophomore Anders Eriksson and freshman Thomas Mardal, who rank 17th and 19th, respectively, on the national descending order list.
Last week’s showing in Arkansas landed two Gators with SEC weekly honors.
Senior Keandre Bates was named Men’s Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday after posting the top triple jump mark in the nation at 16.48 meters. Bates also holds the country’s third-ranked long jump mark and is the only Division I jumper ranked in the top five nationally in both the triple jump and long jump.
Freshman Benjamin Lobo Vedel was named Men’s Freshman of the Week after he posted the fourth-fastest time in the nation (46.14 seconds) in his 400-meter debut. Vedel is the fastest freshman in the country by 0.27 seconds and is the fastest freshman in the SEC by 0.41 seconds.
Coach Mike Holloway said that his team’s progression over the past few weeks has been pleasing, but its mental preparedness moving forward will be the challenge.
“We’re at a tough part of the season,” Holloway said. “We don’t want to make the mistake of resting now.”
Follow Alanis Thames on Twitter @alanisthames and contact her at athames@alligator.org.
"Everybody believed. Everybody trusted," coach Mike Holloway said.
