It was throw number five of the men’s hammer throw final.
Anders Eriksson’s body quickly whirled around and around before he released his grip and sent the metal ball soaring through the air and bouncing onto the green grass for second place.
After Day 1 of the SEC Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee, UF’s men’s track and field team is in second place while the women’s team sits in the No. 9 spot.
UF opened its outdoor postseason with its men ranked first in the USTFCCCA National Team Rankings-- they’ve been No.1 in the NCAA all season -- and with the women sitting in ninth place.
Eriksson (ranked third in the NCAA) topped off a week in which he won SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year with a silver medal in the men’s hammer throw final behind Georgia’s No. 2 ranked thrower Denzel Comenentia. The junior snatched the lead from Eriksson after his third attempt of 74.33 meters, and he did not relinquish it, finishing with a top throw of 75.92 meters for the conference title.
However, Eriksson collected eight points for UF’s men, and his throw of 74.19 meters surpassed his own school record for the third outing this season, this time by 61 centimeters.
Freshman Thomas Mardal and redshirt junior AJ McFarland added seven more points for Florida’s men after finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the hammer throw.
Freshman Amanda Froeynes competed in the first four events of the women’s heptathlon, which will continue on the second day of competition, and sits fourth overall behind personal bests in both the high jump and 200-meter. The Tonsberg, Norway, native is the third-ranked heptathlete on Florida’s All-Time Outdoor Top Ten list and sits at No. 18 in the NCAA this season.
Redshirt freshman Jessica Pascoe lifted the women to a top-ten spot to close Day 1 after finishing seventh in the 10,000-meter run. Her time of 36:01.52 was the fastest by a Gator in the event since 2015.
The remaining events of UF’s postseason opener consisted of preliminary races in which several athletes qualified for finals in their respective events.
Junior Kyren Hollis was one of three Gators to compete in the 800-meter prelims, and he was the only one to clock a time fast enough (1:49.90) to earn the chance to compete on Sunday for the SEC title. Sophomore Justin Pacifico’s time of 1:51.38 and freshman Abbie Harrelson’s time of 2:12.83 on the women’s side were not enough to advance to Sunday’s final.
Sophomore Brandee’ Johnson and freshman Nikki Stephens also recorded qualifying times after they finished third and fourth, respectively, in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
Johnson’s time of 58.01 and Stephens’ season- best time of 58.28 were enough to advance the two to Sunday’s final, which will feature the No.1 400-meter hurdler in the nation, Kentucky’s freshman Sydney McLaughlin, who finished first overall in the prelims.
And freshman Cory Poole qualified for the men in the 400-meter hurdles with his first place time of 50.42. He was seven- hundredths away from reaching his season best time of 50.35, which he recorded at the Florida Relays on March 29.
None of UF’s runners advanced to the 200-meter final as junior Ryan Clark’s 10th place time of 20.73 was two spots away from qualifying and freshman Bria Mack’s finish of 23.66 was not fast enough to earn a top- eight spot needed to advance.
Day 2 of the SEC Outdoor Championships will feature sophomore Grant Holloway, junior Yanis David and seniors KeAndre Bates and Darielle McQueen in the long jump finals as well as senior Lloydricia Cameron in the women’s shot put.
SEC Network +/ ESPN Watch will begin streaming at 10:15 a.m.
You can follow Alanis Thames follow her on Twitter at @alanisthames or contact her at athames@alligator.org.
Redshirt junior AJ McFarland placed sixth in the hammer throw at the SEC Outdoor Championship. His teammates, freshman Thomas Mardal and redshirt sophomore Anders Eriksson, finished fifth and second, respectively.
