Sophomore jumper Marquis Dendy is the new 2013 world leader in men’s long jump.
Jumping a distance of 8.25m, Dendy also set a meet record for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships and earned 10 crucial points in a Florida event victory.
“Every day in practice it was just approaches, approaches, approaches, then today I came out and executed like I do in practice,” Dendy said. “I just wanted to go out there, put my foot on the board and compete hard for my team.”
Along with Dendy, senior thrower David Triassi was Florida’s other winner on Saturday. With a distance of 21.59m in the men’s weight throw, Triassi earned the Gators 10 points.
Fellow senior thrower Jeremy Postin came in second in the men’s weight throw, which earned Florida 18 points combined in the event.
“I came into today really relaxed. I wanted my last one (SEC Indoors) to be my best one. I knew that if I didn’t throw a PR on my first throw, there was no way that I could beat Jeremy (Postin) and that’s what I did,” said Triassi.
“The great thing about this group of guys is that all four of us (Triassi, Postin, Levin, Strawn) are a brotherhood and we’re there for each other in our successes. We’re so pumped to get 18 points for Florida to start the meet.”
In a day where track events were primarily comprised of preliminaries, the Gators managed to send 13 qualifiers into Sunday’s final events. Among the qualifiers was junior hurdler Eddie Lovett.
Lovett, the two-time defending champion in the men’s 60m hurdles, finished his heat with a time of 7.57 seconds–the third-fastest time in the nation in 2013 and a school record for UF.
“Eddie Lovett was phenomenal today,” coach Mike Holloway said. “He and Coach Tucker really got into a groove, and they really get each other. Eddie understands what Coach Tucker is asking him to do and to watch that race, and we’ve seen some great hurdle races at the University of Florida, but that was a tremendous race and the first thing Eddie said was, ‘I’ve got to keep my mind straight and do it again tomorrow.’
"I think that’s a great mindset for all of our athletes heading into tomorrow.”
On Friday, the Gators’ lone competitor was junior Lorraine Graham, who had a personal best in the women’s indoor pentathlon. Setting personal bests in the 60m hurdles, high jump, and 800m, Graham’s collective production earned the Florida women the 4th spot heading into Saturday.
“For her, in her first year doing the multis, to be honest it’s her first six months doing it, I think she did a great job,” Holloway said. “You know me, I think we left some points out there but at the end of the day, if you had told our staff that she’d score over 4,000 points in her first year doing this, we’d have taken that back when we started in the fall.”
Heading into Sunday’s finals, Florida’s No. 2 ranked men are currently in second place behind No. 1-ranked and host-team Arkansas, trailing by 18 points.
The No. 6 Florida women currently sit in third place behind No. 7 Georgia and No. 3 Arkansas, trailing leader Arkansas by 9.50 points.
“I’m really excited about our qualifiers for tomorrow,” Holloway said. “Overall, I’m really proud of both teams and we’re ready to get back to the hotel, get rested and get everyone fed, and come out here tomorrow and get after it.”
Sophomore jumper Marquis Dendy competes in the long jump at the Gator Invitational on Jan. 22, 2012, in the O’Connell Center.
