Florida Indoor Track and Field to finish season at NCAA Championships

Nearing the start of March, the final stage is set for Florida Indoor Track and Field.

The Gators will head to Boston, Massachusetts, March 8 to compete in the NCAA Championships.

SEC Championships

Both the men’s and women’s teams finished runners-up for the second year in a row at the SEC Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, over the weekend.

Friday, Claire Bryant recorded her first individual SEC Championship in the long jump, and Elise Thorner, Laila Owens, Flomena Asekol and Parker Valby took home the gold in the distance medley relay.

Individually, five Gators earned gold medals Saturday.

Asekol, Grace Stark, Valby, Parvej Khan and Wanya McCoy finished the weekend as champions in their individual events.

Friday Feelings

Bryant finished first in the long jump with a 6.72m/22’0.75″ mark after a second place finish last year. She is the third consecutive Gator to win this event.

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The medley relay team broke the SEC Indoor Championship record with its time of 10 minutes, 53.29 seconds, breaking the previous record by over three seconds.

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Florida finished Friday with five total medals.

Gold Medal Gains

Asekol finished first in the women’s mile with a time of 4:38.35 to earn her crown and secure the first gold medal for the Gators.

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Stark looked anything but rusty after not competing in last year’s competition. She ran a season best 7.90 in the 60-meter hurdle finals to win her second SEC Championship in this event.

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Khan added another gold with his win in the mile race. The freshman finished with 4:00.18 to become the first Gator to win the mile since 2011 with Dumisani Hlaselo’s victory.

https://twitter.com/GatorsTF/status/1761517186529865979

McCoy finished the 200m final in a personal best 20.29 to tie for No. 3 on UF’s All-Time Top 10 List. He racked up a medal of each variety Saturday.

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Valby raced the 3,000m in 8:42.29 to win the gold. Not only was she crowned SEC Champion, she broke Florida’s record, the SEC Championship meet’s record and Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center facility’s record.

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The Gators added seven additional medals to total 12 Saturday.