Scenes during the Pepsi Relays on Saturday, March 30, 2024. Photo courtesy of Gabriella Whisler.

Gators Track and Field Hosts Tom Jones Memorial Invitational

TaylorAnn Eidam April 12, 2024 Feature Sports News, Gators Sports, Gators Track and Field, NCAA, Track and Field 624 Views

Florida track and field hosts the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational beginning Friday. This is the Gators’ second home meet of the season.

History of the Invitational

UF created this meet in 2008 to honor the late Gators track and field coach Tom Jones. Jones led Florida’s women’s track and field team for 15 seasons as head coach and led the team to 15 top-10 appearances in the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships. He also helped athletes on and off the track with over 200 SEC Academic Honor Roll named athletes. The Tom Jones Memorial Invitational has been hosted at the James G. Pressly Stadium since 2008, excluding 2020.

UCSD Invitational

The Gators most recently competed in San Diego last week in the UCSD Invitational. Kai Cheng set a new school record for Florida with a discuss throw measured at 61.65m/202’3″. He is now No. 4 in the NCAA Outdoor Discus Throw rankings. Also, Alida van Daalen and Gracelyn Leiseth had notable throws in the women’s shot put last week.

Second Home Meet

This invitational is the second of three home meets of the season for the Gators. Fourteen of the top 25 teams in the country will be present along with professional athletes including Olympians, World Champions and World Record holders. The Gators have entered over 60 athletes to compete in the Tom Jones Invitational. Florida’s men’s team is currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division I rankings. The Gators women’s team is No. 12 in the NCAA Division I poll. After this weekend, there are only two more meets before the SEC Outdoor Championships, which will be hosted by Florida.

Not competing at home this weekend is Elise Thorner, Parker Valby, Allison Wilson, Amelia Mazza-Downie, Flomena AsekolΒ and Parvej Khan. These athletes are in California for the Bryan Clay Invitational. Thursday night, Valby secured the new NCAA record for the women’s 10,000m in her debut for this event with a time of 30:50.43. Thorner set a new school record in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 9:28.49. Wilson set a new PR and slid into the No. 5 spot for UF’s All-Time Top 10 list in the 10,000m. The Gators are hoping to continue the trend of record setting this weekend.

Events for the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational start at noon Friday and at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.

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About TaylorAnn Eidam

TaylorAnn Eidam is a second-year sports management major with an interest in sports communication and digital marketing.

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