Florida’s track and field athletes accounted for eight event titles at the Florida University Last Chance Meet. The event was held Thursday at the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track & Field in Gainesville. It served to give the Gators one final opportunity to quality their athletes for the upcoming SEC Indoor Championships.
Last meet day before SEC Indoors!
๐ท: Florida University Last Chance Meet
๐ : Gainesville, FL- Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track
โฐ: First Event- M's Long Jump 11:00 am ET
๐ป: FloTrack
๐: https://t.co/tz6Mlfpcnk#GoGators ๐ pic.twitter.com/krX7YhQxt1— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) February 16, 2023
Florida’s Top Performers
The Gators dominated the early Thursday events. Jalen Chance took the top spot in the men’s long jump, leaping 7.37 meters. Florida swept the shot put event as Logan Montgomery reached 17.37 meters with his toss, while Alida Van Daalen slung herself into third place in program history with a 17.8-meter effort.
Alida Van Daalen (17.80m/58โ4.75โ)๐ช
โ First Place Finish
โ 3rd Best Mark in School History
โ 6th Best Mark in the Nation
โ Facility Record#GoGators ๐ pic.twitter.com/uYnrIu1Db4— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) February 16, 2023
Imani Carothers won both the preliminary and final events in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, improving on her prelim time by six one-hundreth of a second and finishing in 8.18 seconds. Grace Stark rebounded from a second place finish in the 60-meter dash to win first in the final event, crossing the line in 7.38 seconds.
Eoin McNally crushed the competition in the men’s 800-meter race, earning the title with a one minute, 53.07 second time.
Eoin McNally takes the ๐ฅ in the men's 800m (1:53.07) ๐ค#GoGators ๐ pic.twitter.com/CBJP7Fadto
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) February 16, 2023
To close out the day, Florida earned two wins in distance races. Reed Legg ran a 4:09.41 mile and Cavan Wilson ran 3,000 meters in 8:16.06 to round out the Gators’ event wins.
What’s Next?
Regular season was fun, SEC Indoors here we come #GoGators ๐ pic.twitter.com/vP065DWkys
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) February 16, 2023
Florida will compete in the SEC Indoor Championships on February 24 and 25 at the University of Arkansas’ facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Two weeks following the conference competition, the NCAA Indoor Championships will be held in New Mexico.