Gators Begin NCAA Track and Field East Preliminaries

The Gators compete in the NCAA Track and Field East Preliminaries, which begin May 22 in Lexington, Kentucky.

After finishing fourth at the SEC Outdoor Championship, No. 2 Florida starts their journey to capture a third straight Outdoor Men’s Championships.

The Gator women, who took third at the SEC Outdoor Championship, will start their events on Thursday.

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The Preliminary stage is split into the East and West regions, with the top 48 athletes in each individual event and top 24 relay teams competing in each event. From these, the top 12 competitors in each event will move onto the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Gators Men’s Track and Field

The men’s side of the NCAA East Preliminaries takes place starting on Wednesday, with their second day on Friday. 23 individual athletes and two relay teams represent the Gators men’s team.

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On Wednesday, the first round of seven track events take place, along with the men’s 10,000 meter semifinals. Florida features in six of these, which leaves only two events unrepresented for the team.

Track events begin at 5:00 PM, and are headlined by Wanya McCoy (No. 5 in 100 meter, No. 2 in 200 meter), JeVaughn Powell (No. 8 in 200 meter, No. 6 in 400 meter), and freshman Parvej Khan (No. 6 in 800 meter and No. 7 in 1,500 meter). The Gators boast five runners in each of the 400 meter and 800 meter races.

Wednesday sees the first round of five field competitions, beginning at 10:00 AM with the Hammer. The Gators send athletes to compete in four of five events, only lacking representation in the Pole Vault. This field features junior Malcolm Clemens, who is ranked first in the Long Jump, and Abraham Sargent, the fifth ranked competitor in Javelin.

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On Friday, the men’s will compete in 11 track events and three more field events.

Women’s Track and Field

On Thursday, the women will begin their side of the prelim, and continue into Saturday. 16 individual athletes and one relay team represent the Gator women.

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Thursday’s slate features the same track events as the men previously did on Wednesday. The only difference is the 100 meter hurdles replacing the 110 meter hurdles.

The women have competitors in five of the eight events. Parker Valby, the first ranked runner in the 10,000 meter, is among the Gators representatives. Grace Stark, competing in the 100 meter hurdles, also ranks at the top of her event.

Like the track events, women’s field features the same competitions as the men. Florida has Claire Bryant and Anthaya Charlton, the top two ranked women in long jump. In shot put, the Gators have two top ten competitors in Alida Van Daalen and Gracelyn Leiseth.

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Finally on Saturday, the women once again feature the same events as the men, with 100 meter hurdle once again replacing the 110.