After a long weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Florida’s men’s and women’s teams finished in second place at the 2023 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships.
The women's team earned 84 points and 10 medals, three of which were gold. The men finished with 73 points.
Junior Talitha Diggs took gold in the women’s 400-meter with a time of 50.15 seconds — an American record and the fastest time in NCAA history.
The Gators won four of their medals Friday. Senior Jasmine Moore won gold in the women’s long jump.
Moore’s distance of 6.91 meters was a personal best, the farthest mark in the National Collegiate Athletic Association this year and the second-best mark in NCAA history.
Junior Claire Bryant also took the podium in long jump, placing second with a distance of 6.57 meters.
Florida earned their first medal in the first event when redshirt senior Sterling Lester finished bronze in the pentathlon. She took second in the first race of the event, the 60-meter hurdles, but finished seventh in the next three events.
Lester finished first in the 800-meter and earned third overall.
The women’s distance medley relay, consisting of redshirt seniors Imogen Barrett and Gabrielle Wilkinson, senior Vanessa Watson and redshirt sophomore Vasileia Spyrou received second place and produced Florida’s only podium placement Friday.
Moore earned the women’s triple jump title with a mark of 14.09 meters.
Redshirt senior Jacory Patterson brought home two medals Saturday. Patterson produced the second fastest time in school history as well as his own indoor personal-best time in the men’s 200-meter.
Patterson received his second medal after he placed second in the 400-meter with the third-fastest time in school history — another indoor personal best.
Florida sophomore Sam Austin also earned silver in the men’s 800-meter and freshman Alida Van Daalen took second in the women’s shot put.
The Gators will next compete in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the NCAA Indoor Championships March 10 and 11.
Contact Namari Lock at nlock@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @Namari_L.
Namari Lock is a third-year journalism student and production staff member for The Alligator. She has previously worked as multimedia editor, opinions editor, graphic designer and as a general assignment reporter for the Metro desk. In her last semester at UF, Namari is making her Alligator Sports debut as track and field reporter.
