In the landscape of collegiate track and field, the University of Florida is colloquially known as “Jumps U.” In jumps coach Nic Petersen’s 12-year tenure at UF, his athletes have totalled 21 NCAA titles and littered their names all across the collegiate record books. On Friday night in Fayetteville, junior Anthaya Charlton made an emphatic statement that she’s next in line.
On her first attempt of the season, the 21-year-old Bahamian soared out to a distance of 6.98 meters. This jump is not only the best in the NCAA this year, but the best in the world so far, as well as a Bahamian national record and the second-best indoor long jump performance in collegiate history.
She only took one more attempt before retiring for the evening, which turned into another impressive leap of 6.85m. Her second-best jump was still a distance that only nine other collegiate women have managed to surpass indoors.
Charlton is by no means a stranger to the national stage, having finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last June, but a performance of this caliber sets her on another level.
Another Gator that appears to have taken their performances a step up this season is redshirt senior Jenoah McKiver. He made waves two weeks ago at the Corky Classic with a world best in the 600-yard race. On Saturday afternoon, he picked up right where he left off in his primary event, the 400m.
Running out of lane six, McKiver came through the bell in first, but it was the strength he showed over the final lap that propelled him to his finishing time of 45.19 seconds. Just like Charlton, this marks the best performance in the world so far in 2025. The run also moved McKiver up the program all-time list, as he’s now the fifth-fastest Gator ever in the indoor 400m.
About two-and-a-half hours later, McKiver took to the track once again to anchor the Gators’ 4x400m relay team to another win in 3:03.78. After getting the baton in second, McKiver bided his time over the first lap before unleashing a devastating final 150 meters on his way to a 44.18-second split, one of the fastest in world history. Through four races this season, McKiver has seemed untouchable on the track for the Gators.
Junior Wanya McCoy also picked up right where he left off two weeks ago, this time with a dominant performance in the 200m. McCoy got out of the blocks well before gliding away from the competition over the final 50 meters en route to an NCAA-leading time of 20.45 seconds. It’s not just the fastest time by a collegian this year, but also the second-fastest time in the world so far in 2025.
McCoy is already the third-fastest man in the NCAA over 60m this year with his 6.53-second clocking from the Corky Classic in January, and he’s now posted two solid 4x400m splits as well. After securing four All-American nods in 2024, the Bahamian star has set himself up well for an even more successful 2025.
Alongside McCoy, Florida had three other 200m runners win their heats. Sophomore Malique Smith-Band and freshman Jaden Wiley found their way into the top 10 overall on the day with times of 21.03 and 21.14, respectively. Freshman Nicholas Spikes, who won the first heat in 21.43, finished 17th overall.
The Gators’ weight throwers had impressive showings on Friday afternoon as well. Sophomore Imani Washington opened her indoor season with an eighth-place finish in the women’s competition, but four of her five legal marks were better than her personal best coming into the meet. By the end of the competition, she had improved her personal best from 18.43 meters to 19.02 meters. On the men’s side, the duo of John Luke Witte and Jacob Lemmon continued to climb in the UF record books. Witte finished third with a season-best of 21.85 meters, while Lemmon came fifth with a season-best of 21.34 meters.
Returning to the meet where the program record was set last season, an all-new women’s distance medley relay squad took to the track Friday night aiming for the mark of 10:52.06. Juniors Tia Wilson, Gabrielle Matthews and Beth Morley put the Gators in a good position after three legs, but it was Hilda Olemomoi’s anchor 1600m leg that stole the show.
After receiving the baton in fourth place and nearly two seconds back of the next closest team, the junior from Kenya quickly closed the gap. Olemomoi was able to overtake Arkansas’s runner, whom she was over six seconds behind at the exchange, but Oregon and LSU were able to hold on, leaving Florida to settle for third. Despite only being able to move up one spot, Olemomoi had the fastest 1600m split by over a second, completing eight laps of the track in 4:30.32. As a whole, the team came up agonizingly short of the program record, crossing the line in 10:52.08.
Wilson and Morley came back on Saturday and etched their names into the UF history books over the mile. Running in heat five, Wilson completed the first mile race of her career in 4:36.43. This made her the seventh-fastest woman in program history, but she was bumped down to eighth a few minutes later when Morley crossed the finish line in 4:32.88, making her the fourth-fastest Gator ever.
In the women’s 3000m, redshirt senior Allison Wilson and freshman Reagan Gilmore raced to a 1-2 finish in the second heat. Wilson finished in first, shaving time off her personal best with a finish of 9:20.29. With this new time, Wilson is within hundredths-of-a-second of securing a top 10 3000m time in program history. Meanwhile, Gilmore finished in 9:23.61.
Junior Demaris Waters and freshman Vance Nilsson had a successful day in the 60m-hurdles, as both men advanced to the final, where they finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Nilsson, who won the World Junior (under-20) Championship in August in the 400m-hurdles, set a personal best in the prelims of 7.87 seconds.
Next up on Florida’s schedule is a return trip to Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 14 and 15. Before then, Olemomoi will head to New York City next Sunday to race the 3000m against a professional field at the historic Millrose Games. She’ll be chasing Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State’s collegiate record of 8:35.20, set at the Millrose Games in 2023.
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney
Paul is a junior sports journalism major who is covering the track and field beat in his first semester with the Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys watching commentary Youtube channels and consuming every medium of track and field content imaginable.
