Although the UF track and field program has compiled 35 event victories in four meets this indoor season, fatigue has had a negative effect on athletes.
After competing four weeks in a row, the Gators have crossed the midway mark of the indoor schedule and move into what they call their “championship taper.”
That point has arrived, and although some exhaustion has crept in, the team recognizes the intensity level has risen.
“They’re human beings; they’re not machines, and heck, machines break down,” coach Mike Holloway said. “At the end of the day, you’re not always going to have 100 percent, but they can always give us 100 percent of what they have.
“If they do that, we’ll be fine.”
At every meet this season, the men and women’s squads have either broken a school record, or earned a new personal record.
However, the athletes don’t solely generate top results on their own. It takes a coaching staff to take them there.
Associate coach Steve Lemke (throws) and assistant Nic Petersen (jumps) received praise this past weekend after their respective athletes performed well.
“It’s not just those two, it’s my coaching staff as a whole,” Holloway said. “When you go out and hire people, my goal is to try to get people who are like me. People who have the same passion, the same drive and the same focus that I do and I think my staff does that.”
Lemke has coached thrower Stipe Zunic since the junior’s freshman season, and Zunic notched his career-best shot put performance last weekend at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet.
Zunic tossed himself into seventh all-time in the UF record book with his 18.57-meter throw.
“(Lemke) has a lot of understanding,” Zunic said. “Could’ve talked about everything, and step-by-step he just made me the athlete I am today for the Gators.”
But Zunic’s strength isn’t launching a shot put through the air; it’s also hurling a javelin.
Zunic said he considers himself a javelin thrower despite throwing discus and shot put since he started competing for UF.
But injuries kept him from throwing shot put for two years and javelin for one.
He said although it sounds crazy, those injuries worked out well for him.
“Those injuries kind of had to happen. I know it sounds crazy but it was to humble me down,” Zunic said. “God’s been putting great people in my life, my coaches, my physicians. Everyone here is great.
“Gradually, some things have to fall apart just to fall back in the right place so everything will start to go really well with all the rehabilitation and everything I was going through, taking it step by step one at a time, which made me patient.”
Gators split up: This weekend, the Gators will split off toward four different meets.
Senior middle-distance runner Cory McGee will compete solo at the Millrose Games in New York City, sprinters will head to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic, distance runners will head to Seattle, for the Husky Classic, and the rest of the squad will settle in College Station, Texas, at the Texas A&M Invitational.
Now heading into a massive weekend, Holloway wants his team to keep pressing forward.
“We pride ourselves on being multidimensional,” Holloway said. “I pride myself on having assistant coaches who understand that process and who work hard to make sure we recruit athletes and coach them to the level we need them to be in.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence
Cory McGee runs in the SEC Cross Country Championships on Nov. 1, 2013, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
