When Eddie Lovett came into the 2014 indoor season, one thing was on his mind above all: Being consistent to become the first conference hurdler to four-peat in the 60-meter hurdles.
Lovett did just that as the senior clocked a 7.67 second run to win the finals of the 60mH to help UF claim its second individual title at the Southeastern Conference Championships.
“Winning four in a row is something that I never really thought about,” Lovett said. “I never really thought about. I never really tried to put that pressure on myself, but just these last two years my coach and I really talked about staying undefeated and that is what I did. “
The four-time champion has owned the event since his freshman year to make history, and helped the men’s team claim second place at SECs overall with 106 points behind Arkansas with 121.
Joining along side Lovett’s historic day were Arman Hall, Ciarra Brewer, Cory McGee and the women’s 4x400, which were all SEC title holders in different events.
The women’s 4x4 is what would decide it all for the women’s team standings as more than a 30-minute delay occurred to announce the standings.
After the delay, SEC officials penalized and disqualified Texas A&M (96.5) and Florida (102) became the 2014 women’s SEC Indoor champions.
On the final leg of the race Texas A&M’s Olivia Ekpone elbowed Florida’s Ebony Eutsey creating a disturbance in the final turn.
UF’s Robin Reynolds, Kyra Jefferson, Destinee Gause and Eutsey ran with a time of 3:30.16 a new school record, and captured the women’s eighth SEC title, which was the third in the last five years for the women.
“We have talked a lot about the ladies stepping up and being a top five program in the country and we made steps towards that tonight,” coach Mike Holloway said. “We have to get ready for nationals in two weeks, but when you think about all those records in one meet, it’s pretty special.”
In the men’s 200-meter Hall claimed the men’s SEC title running a 20.59 second run, as that time was the sixth best performance in the world currently.
The sophomore also partook in the men’s 4x400-meter race and anchor legged the teams second place finish behind Texas A&M for a time of 3:03.50.
Holloway said Hall had a great weekend for obviously having a lot of success winning the Cliff Harper Trophy.
Najee Glass, Hugh Graham Jr., Dedric Dukes, and Hall now hold the new school record in the 4x4.
In the women’s triple jump, Brewer leapt her way to a SEC title with a season-best 13.59-meter jump.
In addition on the women’s side, the Gators took first place and are back-to-back SEC champions in the distance medley relay.
Rebekah Greene, Loreal Curits, Agata Strausa and Cory McGee outran their competition and easily took the victory with a time of 11:08.11.
With the Gators finishing in first (women’s) and second place (men’s) in the SEC, what’s left now of the indoor season is nationals, which is two weeks away.
“Obviously it was very exciting for the women’s team to win their first championship in a couple of years,” Holloway said. “I think the biggest thing we saw from our teams is we fought hard all weekend. We competed with pride, passion and determination.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence
