COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Florida's men posted their 18th top-2 finish at an NCAA Championship meet under head coach
Mike Holloway, and freshman
Grant Holloway won the 60 hurdles title to cap a wild day of competition at NCAA Indoor Championships.
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Florida is the
only men's program with more than 10 top-2 finishes at NCAA Championship meets since 2003.
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Holloway became the
second freshman since 1999 to win the 60 hurdles NCAA title, joining Arkansas' Omar McLeod (2014) as the only other man to do so during that time frame. It is also the
second 60 hurdles national title in school history, with the other belonging to
Eddie Lovett (2013). Holloway's winning time of 7.58 tied McLeod for the fastest run by a freshman in the championship final since 1999.
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Florida is now the
only program in Division I history boasting multiple national titles in the 60, 110, and 400 hurdles.
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Holloway also ran a 44.81-second split, the fastest by anyone in the competition, for Florida's runner-up 4x400 relay team. The quartet of
Kunle Fasasi, Holloway,
Eric Futch, and
Ryan Clark clocked in at 3:03.52, the No. 4-ranked time in school history.
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Junior
KeAndre Bates, the NCAA long jump champion, took second in the triple jump. Bates jumped 16.62 meters (54 feet, 6.5 inches) to become the
fourth Gator in history and
fourth man since 2006 to log top-2 finishes in both horizontal jumps. Gator Greats
Christian Taylor (2010),
Will Claye (2011), and
Marquis Dendy (2015) are the only UF men to do it.
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Freshman
Clayton Brown combined for 5.5 points in the high jump and triple jump. The St. Andrew, Jamaica native is the
second man since 1994 to score in both those jumps, joining Boise State's Ryan Grinnell (2008) as the only other man to accomplish the feat.
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Brown's tie for fifth place in the high jump is the sixth-best finish in school history, and just the
third top-five finish by a Gator since 2001. Only
Dwight Barbiasz (t-2nd, 2012) and
Mike Morrison (4th, 2005) accomplished the feat. Neither did it as a freshman. Brown also finished seventh in the triple jump.
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On the women's side, sophomore
Yanis David took runner-up honors to collegiate and American record holder Keturah Orji of Georgia in the triple jump. David logged a top mark of 13.76 meters (45 feet, 1.75 inches); she finished 11.25 inches clear of the bronze medalist.Â
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A two-hour television broadcast of the championship will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET Sunday. A table of results is below.
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HEARING OUT (COACH) HOLLOWAY
Head coach Mike Holloway on the team's runner-up finish…
"We made some mistakes. DQ in the 400 hurt us, didn't do as well (as we could have) in some other areas. But I can't take away from what (Texas A&M head coach) Pat Henry and his staff did. They came in here and did what they had to do. They're the national champions. I'm going to put this on me and my staff. We just have to prepare a little bit better. I'm pleased with the overall effort. We just came up a little bit short today. Great job by
Grant Holloway today. Clayton did a great job. Yanis second in the triple jump. It was a great day for us. A lot of people would like to be second."
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Holloway on Grant Holloway's national title in the 60 hurdles…
"It's very impressive. He's a guy that has a lot of pressure on him, a lot of media hype around him. But he handled the pressure well. He told me last night after the long jump he wouldn't let me down today. Very proud of him. He was very focused today. The whole goal today was execute the first three steps, get to the first hurdle, and run away. That's what he did."
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NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)
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Friday, March 10 (only finals listed – see Day 1 recap for complete results) |
Event |
Place (Points), Gator – Time/Mark | Notes |
LJ (M) |
1 (10). KeAndre Bates – 8.04 meters (26-4.5) | Third indoor national title in school history; tied PR—which is the No. 4-ranked mark on UF's all-time indoor top 10 |
|
11. Holloway – 7.57 meters (24-10) |
LJ (W) |
8 (1). Darrielle McQueen – 6.38 meters (20-11.25) | Season-best mark |
SP (W) |
7 (2). Lloydricia Cameron – 17.34 meters (56-10.75) | First Gator to score in event since 2010 (Mariam Kevkhishvili, 1st; Keely Medeiros, 8th) |
Top 5 Men's Teams |
Place |
Team – Points |
1. |
No. 5 Texas A&M – 46 |
2. |
No. 1 Florida – 45.5 |
3. |
No. 3 Oregon – 38 |
4. |
No. 4 Georgia – 35.5 |
5. |
No. 2 Arkansas – 33 |
Top 5 Women's Teams |
Place |
Team – Points |
1. |
No. 1 Oregon – 84 |
2. |
No. 3 Georgia – 51 |
3. |
No. 7 Alabama – 37 |
4. |
No. 13 USC – 35 |
5. |
No. 2 Arkansas – 32.5 |
t-14. |
No. 11 Florida – 12 |
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