Florida Track & Field Looks to Secure 15th National Championship

The Florida Track & Field team is in Eugene, Oregon for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The competition is four days long and began on Wednesday.

Florida sent a total of 21 (13 men, 8 women) athletes who successfully secured their spots in Eugene through the opening, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of their specific events.

Men’s Qualifiers:

• Wanya McCoy (100m, 200m, 4x100m)
• Robert Gregory (200m)
• Jevaughn Powell (400m, 4x400m)
• Reheem Hayles (400m, 4x400m)
• Jenoah McKiver (4x400m)
• Rios Prude (4x400m)
• Parvej Khan (1500m)
• Malcolm Clemons (Long Jump)
• Sean Dixon-Bodie (Long Jump, Triple Jump)
• Kai Chang (Discus Throw)
• Will Gross IV (Hammer Throw)
• Abraham Sargent (Javelin Throw)

Women’s Qualifiers:

• Grace Stark (100m H)
• Flomena Asekol (1500m, 5000m)
• Elise Thorner (3000m S)
• Parker Valby (5000m, 10000m)
• Claire Bryant (Long Jump, High Jump)
• Anthaya Charlton (Long Jump)
• Alida van Daalen (Shot Put, Discsus Throw)
• Gracelyn Leiseth (Shot Put)

So far, only the men have competed in the first day of competition.

Malcolm Clemons

UF redshirt junior Malcolm Clemons placed third in the Men’s Long Jump, marking a one-spot improvement from his performance at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Clemons jumped a season-best of 8.05m/26’5″, to open scoring with six points for the Gators.

https://twitter.com/GatorsTF/status/1798547021223379364

Florida Relays

Clemons wasn’t the only Florida standout from Wednesday. Two relay squads and four individuals also advanced to their respective finals.

The quad group of Jevaughn Powell, Wanya McCoy, Malique Smith-Band and Robert Gregory recorded the second-fastest time in the 4x100m Relay semifinal. With this finish, they automatically qualified for Friday’s final. Their time of 38.45 is not only a season-best for the group, but also the fifth-best overall time in Florida program history.

The second relay team to advance is the Men’s 4x400m team of Reheem Hayles, Rios Prude, Jenoah McKiver and Jevaughn Powell. They earned a first-place finish in their heat, securing an automatic bid to the finals. The group’s recorded time was 3:01.78, featuring splits of 45.81, 45.45, 44.31 and 46.22, respectively.

Individual Qualifying

Wanya McCoy finished seventh in the semifinal round, qualifying for both the 100m and 200m final. For the 200m, McCoy automatically qualified by finishing in second place in the third heat, with a time of 20.22.

https://twitter.com/GatorsTF/status/1798539615068164296

Robert Gregory also automatically qualified for the 200m finals by placing second in his heat with a season best time of 20.15.

Both Jevaughn Powell and Reheem Hayles advanced to the finals for the 400m. Powell earned his automatic qualifying bid by finishing second in heat 2, with a time of 45.17. Hayles narrowly took the final spot in Friday’s final with a time of 45.59.

The women will begin competition at 8:45 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 6th. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will continue through Saturday, June 8th.