The outdoor track season has arrived, and Florida is looking to redeem itself after disappointing third-place finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Gators have an opportunity to begin the outdoor campaign on a good note with three meets headlining this week (Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, UNF Invite, Raleigh Relays).
Junior sprinter Hugh Graham Jr., is one athlete who will head to Austin, Texas, for the heavily favored sprinters meet, in which he will begin his outdoor season.
“A lot of us are from Florida, and track and field is more outdoor,” Graham said. “We train outdoor, this is what we know, this is what we’re used to.”
The Miami native, an All-American and two-time NCAA outdoor champion in both the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x400-meter relay, is ready to return in hopes to defend those titles.
Graham Jr. said the outdoor season brings a chance to run 4x1’s.
He said being a sprinter that didn’t run or know what indoor was during high school allows him to return to a comfort zone of the outdoors.
Although the team is putting away what happened at indoor nationals, coach Mike Holloway specifically told his team on what can’t happen again, and why it shouldn’t.
“If someone is just way better than you, you can handle that,” Holloway said. “But we didn’t show who were truly are.
“The big issue we had with indoors, we got to a point where there’s competing to win, and competing not to lose, and we watch it a lot in football and basketball when people get ahead and they start to try make sure they don’t mess up, and I think we did a little bit of that.
Holloway gathered his team after the finals and told them to leave their result and disappointment at the Albuquerque Convention Center and to not bring it in the outdoor season.
What’s in hold to start outdoors is splitting up the team to three different states on three diverse meets.
Texas Relays are fixed for sprinters and hurdlers, UNF Invite is for the throwers and the Raleigh Relays are designed for distance runners.
Those meets is what will prepare the program overall for a run back at a NCAA outdoor title at the conclusion of the season.
“Indoor is what sets you up for outdoor,” Graham Jr., said. “Everybody is pretty much toned up and ready to go.”
First Gator starts competing: Brittany Harrell was the lone athlete representing Florida on Day 1 of the Texas Relays.
As she has all throughout the indoor season, Harrell competed in the women’s Heptathlon, which four events took place on Day 1.
The junior finished in fifth place, clocking a time of 14.03 in the 100-meter hurdles to earn 974 points.
She also tied for ninth place in the high jump with a mark of 1.66 meters to snag 806 points. She also finished eighth in the shot put (11.32m) for 616 points, and seventh in the 200-meter dash (25.07, 880 points).
Three more Gators will complete the event on Day 2 with the long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter dash.
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @lagunalawrence
