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Gators track and field is back at home for the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Florida will face off against other schools including Tennessee, LSU and Alabama in the two-day competition. It’s the final home meet of the season for the Gators.
The men’s team is ranked No. 8 in the latest USTFCCCA National Track and Field Rating Index. They’re the fourth highest ranked SEC team behind No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Tennessee. The women’s team is No. 17 and the seventh highest ranked conference team.
Invitational History
Tom Jones was the Gators women’s track and field head coach from 1993-2007. Jones led the Gators to three SEC titles and 15 top-10 finishes in the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
He passed away in 2007, at the age of 62, after a long battle with cancer. In 2008, the University of Florida created this meet in his honor.
Oklahoma Throw Series
Alida van Daalen and Jacob Lemmon competed in the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational on April 10-11.
Daalen achieved a World Championship standard with her 65.11-meter effort in the discus throw at the OK Throws Series No. 9. Her mark was a season best, NCAA No. 3 and No. 2 in UF history. The junior from Netherlands already owns the No. 1 spot (66.31 meters) in program history, which she set at the event in 2024.
https://twitter.com/GatorsTF/status/1910703777419518262
Lemmon set the No. 5 mark in program history with his 59.18-meter effort in the men’s discus throw.
On Deck
In the last home meet at the Pepsi Florida Relays, the Gators set multiple NCAA season bests. Habiba Harris set the collegiate lead in the women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s squad shortly held the lead in the 4×400-meter relay, before Texas A&M beat it on Day 2.
Florida will look to replicate its success in the second to last meet before the SEC Outdoor Championships in May.
Action begins on Friday at noon. Times are tentative with the full schedule coming out on Thursday.
