Blue, white and yellow confetti rained down as Florida’s women’s track and field won the SEC Indoor Championship on Saturday night at R.A. ‘Murray’ Fasken ‘38 Indoor Track in College Station, Texas.
(Photo: @gatorstf on Instagram)
At center track, the Gators celebrated with the SEC trophy in hand, championship hats and T-shirts on and smiles stretching across every face.
Entering Day 3 in fifth place with 26 points, the women surged to the top of the standings with 77 team points and six podium finishes overall. The men put down 58 points on the board to finish fourth behind champion Arkansas.
This title represents the Gators’ ninth SEC indoor title and the women’s first since 2014. Coach Mike Holloway continues his run of success, adding a 19th conference championship to his decorated career at Florida.
The conference crown also adds to Florida’s long legacy of league dominance, helping extend the Gators’ streak to 48 straight seasons with an SEC title — the longest active run in the conference. And it gives Florida’s athletic program its 268th overall SEC title, the most of any league program.
Before the celebrations, the Gator’s performances told the story. Florida recorded six personal best performances and eight podiums in both the men’s and women’s teams.
The Gators opened the meet in the field events, led by senior Alida van Daalen, who earned bronze in the women’s shot put. Her throw of 18.13 meters marked a season best and delivered early points for the Gators.
In the men’s shot put, her younger brother, freshman Jarno van Daalen, also reached the podium. Jarno recorded a personal-best throw of 20.14 meters to finish second overall.
From the field to the track, the distance events helped push Florida up the leaderboard.
Hilda Olemomoi in the women’s 3,000m, claimed silver with a season best time of 8:46.33. This was one of two total runner-up titles she earned in two days of competition.
Olemomoi shared the women’s Cliff Harper Trophy for the high points scorer (16 points) with Ole Miss’ Akaoma Odeluga and Arkansas’ Sydney Vaught.
Next to Olemomoi in the women’s 3,000m was junior transfer Judy Chepkoech who finished in sixth place but earned fourth overall in her first 3,000m race with the NCAA. Her recorded time of 8:59.30 also landed her a spot in the program’s all time best list in the event.
Additional success in the women’s 3,000 meters included three personal-best performances from Tia Wilson (9:03.16), Desma Chepkoech (9:07.95) and Reagan Gilmore (9:08.35).
Wilson also secured a season-best 4:35.52 in the mile, placing fourth as the defending SEC champion in the event. Freshman Claire Stegall followed with a runner-up finish in the women’s mile, clocking 4:30.81 to finish just .09 seconds off the win while maintaining the fastest mark in the SEC this season.
On the men’s side in the distance events, two freshmen had standout performances.
Oussama Allaoui secured a silver medal with a runner-up finish of 4:02.80 in the men’s mile, while Kelvin Cheruiyot added another medal with a bronze in the men’s 3,000m race.
Momentum carried from the distance events into the sprints, where Florida’s Sydney Sutton posted personal-best times in both the 400 meters and 200 meters to earn valuable points.
On the men’s side, senior Wanya McCoy returned to form with a runner-up finish in the men’s 200 meters.
On the runway, Asia Philips jumped her way to a third-place finish in the women’s triple jump.
On her fifth attempt the sophomore reached 13.28m, contributing six points to the Gators.
The success in the jumps carried over to the men’s side, where freshman Temoso Masikane posted a personal-best leap of 16.35 meters in the triple jump. The mark placed Masikane eighth on Florida’s all-time performance list.
In the aftermath of the championship highs, the Gators felt the full weight of what it means to wear the orange and blue.
Smiling ear to ear, Holloway led the team in a chant that echoed through the R.A. “Murray” Fasken Indoor Track & Field Facility as the group shouted in unison, “Said It’s great to be a Florida Gator.”
With a new title secured, select Gators will compete one final time during the indoor season at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The two-day meet runs March 13–14.
