Just like on the track, UF’s the long-distance runners have much farther to travel this weekend for their meet than everyone else.
The jumpers, sprinters and throwers will be back in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the second time this season on Friday and Saturday for the Tyson Invitational. The distance runners will travel to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic.
In 2017 and 2018, senior Yanis David was the NCAA indoor runner-up in the triple jump. David will make her 2019 chase-for-gold debut in that event in Fayetteville. She will also compete in the long jump, where her mark of 6.45 meters is tied for the national lead.
Junior Grant Holloway set the NCAA 60-meter hurdles record last year at the meet. He will defend the title this weekend to defend his No. 1 national ranking in the 60-meter hurdles as well as the 60-meter dash.
Holloway made the Bowerman Men’s Watch List for the 10th straight time. The Bowerman is an award given annually to the top male and female collegiate track athletes in the country. Holloway has a plethora of impressive statistics to his name, including a 60-meter dash time of 6.51 seconds, which broke former UF football player and track runner Jeff Demps’ seven-year school record.
Holloway is the only athlete to ever record a 60-meter hurdles time of 7.50 seconds or better, a 200-meter dash time of 21 seconds or faster and a long jump distance of eight meters or longer.
Redshirt junior Jessica Pasco will headline the distance meet for the Gators. Pasco broke the school’s 5,000-meter record by more than 24 seconds in December. She is ranked No. 12 nationally in the 5,000 meters and will compete in the 3,000-meter in Iowa.
Follow Graham Marsh on Twitter @GrahamMarshUF and contact him at gmarsh@alligator.org.
UF hurdler/sprinter/runner Grant Holloway made his 10th consecutive appearance on the Bowerman Men's Watch List.