Florida may not have won the entire Texas A&M Challenge, but the Gators were certainly not the weakest link in the Southeastern Conference chain.
The Gators combined for nine wins on the day, five for the No. 2 men and four for the unranked women. The Tennessee Volunteers contributed four wins to Team SEC, two for the unranked men and two for the No. 17 women.
The SEC men came in third out of three teams at 164.60, the Pac-12 came in second with 227.25 and the Big 12 won the meet with 277.25.
Despite the last place finish, two members of the Gators' male roster recorded new school records and two others set personal bests.
Gray Horn, a senior heptathlon competitor for the Gators, set a NCAA qualifying score of 5971 points. The mark was a personal best for him, the best score in UF history and the sixth best score ever by a collegiate indoor heptathlon competitor.
Kemal Mesic, a senior shot put thrower, also performed exceptionally well at the meet. Mesic threw 2.21m further than his closest competitor when his throw of 20.31m/66-7.5 set a new Florida and venue record at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
"Kemal's in the zone, he and coach Lemke have really connected and they understand each other," head coach Mike Holloway said. "Kemal understands what coach Lemke wants, and he's really developed into a fine thrower. What you're seeing is a byproduct of that, but we think there's still more there."
The female half of the Florida track team also performed well, assisting the SEC women in winning the competition with 216 points. The women of the Big 12 came in second with 214 and the Pac-12 third with 178.
The Florida women's 1600m relay team won their second title of 2012 with a time of 3:36.72. The team consisted of Ebony Eutsey, Ugonna Ndu, Alishea Usery, and Lanie Whittaker.
Shelby Hayes, a sophomore distance runner, set a personal best with a 4:43.00 mile.
"Shelby's a special one, she was one of the top high school models in the country," Holloway said. "She had a bit of a rough year last year. She and I sat down and had a long talk back in October and we promised each other great effort. What you saw today was a lot of hard work from Shelby's end."
