KNOXVILLE – LSU’s women and Florida’s men were crowned Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field champions Sunday night after rain cleared out from Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.
     For the LSU women, it was the team’s 11th SEC Outdoor title, tallying 132 points. The Florida women finished second with 107.5 points.
     “I thought our student-athletes really handled the adversities that came along with the weather conditions and the delays and not knowing when they were going to start back up,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “They just really kept themselves ready, and it was a total team effort.”
     Florida’s men’s team captured its fourth outdoor title and first since 1987. The Gators collected 124 points to top LSU’s men’s team at 100 points.
     “Coming in, we knew it was going to be a dogfight with LSU – and we thought Auburn and Arkansas were pretty good also – but we came in focused on the Gators and determined to take care of what we do and what we do best,” said Florida head coach Mike Holloway. “I think overall we did what we came here to do. You’re not always at your best. But that’s why we’re a well-rounded team – so when one area falls off a little bit, the other area picks them up.”
     LSU’s women entered the final day fourth in the razor-thin team standings with 39 points, just 3.5 behind leader Arkansas (42.50). The Tigers claimed just one victory on the final day, but a handful of runner-up finishes in the sprints help pad the point total and vault LSU into the top spot for good.
     A blanket performance in the women’s 800m catapulted LSU into that lead. Although Tennessee’s Phoebe Wright won the event (2:01.81), LSU swept positions 2-3-4 and placed an athlete in seventh to collect 21 points.
     Sophomore Cassandra Tate won the women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 57.12 to claim LSU’s lone victory of the day. LSU also had second-place finishes by Tenaya Jones in the women’s 100m hurdles (13.42) and the women’s 100m (Takeia Pinckney) and 200m (Samantha Henry).
     In similar fashion, Florida’s men also entered Sunday in fourth place on the team tally, but rallied behind a strong day mostly in the sprints and relays. Speedy sophomore Jeff Demps didn’t let a persistent rain midway through the afternoon slow him as he captured the 100m title in 10.06, the No. 4 time in the world and the second-fastest collegiate time this season. Demps said the conditions were rough, but they weren’t an excuse for failure.
     “It was pretty rainy out of the gate, but we can’t let the wet conditions hold us down and we just came out here and competed,” Demps said. “I knew coming into the race it was going to be a tough one because all those guys are great. At about the middle of the race, I felt myself kind of pull away and I kind of knew then that I had it.”     
     The Gators swept first and second in the men’s triple jump as sophomore Christian Taylor won the title with a jump of 54-08.75. Freshman teammate Omar Craddock was right behind him at 53-07.00. Taylor, who won SEC Indoors as well, hadn’t jumped competitively since the indoor national meet earlier this year.
     “I was very happy with my jumps,” Taylor said. “Coming in, we (he and Craddock) knew we were going to finish 1-2 so we wanted to push each other. I knew coming in I was going to jump well, and it worked out.”
     Florida was upset by Mississippi State in the men’s 400m relay after winning it last year, but they held on to second place for 8 points. Gators junior Kemal Mesic also earned a second-place finish in the discus with a throw of 177-02.
     The title was sealed heading into the meet’s final event, but Florida iced the cake by winning the 1,600m relay in 3:02.69 with the quartet of R.J. Anderson, Tony McQuay, Taylor and Calvin Smith.

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