Germany-bound Capel to keep running

Brooksville native John Capel may have lost his bid for Beijing at the recent Olympic Trials, but not his self-assurance.

In fact, the ex-Florida Gator wideout/sprinter leaves Thursday for Germany. His  hopes: to compete in a full slate of international competition throughout Europe and try to pick up six figures' worth of prize money along the way.

"It's my job," said Capel, who entered the Trials following a two-year marijuana-related suspension and reached the 100- and 200-meter semifinals. "A lot of people think because you don't make an Olympic team, you can't go overseas and compete."

At the Trials, Capel finished 13th overall in the 100 semifinals (10.21 seconds) and 12th in the 200 semis (20.81). Both were well off his personal-best times, but Capel and his coach, U.S. Track Coaches Association Hall of Famer Brooks Johnson, seemed encouraged.

"His top-end speed was as fast as anybody," Johnson said Wednesday. "I think he lost patience and came up too early in the race and that hurt him.

"His world is not going to end with the Olympic Trials, that's for sure."

JOEY KNIGHT, Times staff writer

UF's Clark makes another Olympic squad

Former Gator Hazel Clark qualified for a third Olympics by winning the 800-meter run Monday at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. Clark ran a 1:59.82. She also qualified in 2000 and 2004.

24 Gators begin quest for NCAA titles

When the NCAA Track and Field championships begin today, 24 Florida athletes will be vying for national championships and All-American honors.

The men’s squad finished tied for 34th last year, while the women finished tied for 46th. Both squads will be looking to crack the top 10 for the first time since 2005 when the men were the runner-up and the women placed 10th.

UF’s relay team will try and extend its streak of having at least one relay advance to a final for the 13th straight year. At least one relay has made the final every year since 1996.

The Gator women are led by senior Lakecia Ealey, who is trying to become the Gators' first All-American in the 100-meters since Keisha Jett in 1998. Ealey won the 100-meter dash at the NCAA East Regional on May 31.

Freshman Rebecca Lowe is also trying to become the first All-American in the 5K since Wendy Frazier in 1990.

Here is a list of the Gators who will compete in the NCAA championships.

MEN:

100 meters: Jeremy Hall, Terrell Wilks; 400 meters: Calvin Smith; 800 meters: Carlos Phillips; 110 hurdles: Kallinka Pitt; 4x100 relay: Jeremy Hall, Wilks, Willie Perry and Smith;  4x400: Bernard Middleton, Smith, LaMarr Davis, Eric Alberter; Pole Vault: Eric Foran; Shot Put: Wes Stockbarger; Discus: Stockbarger; Javelin: Adam Montague; Decathlon: Steffan Hommel.

WOMEN:
100 meters: Lakecia Ealey; 200 meters: Natalie Knight; 3,000 Steplechase: Lindsay Sundell; 5,000 meters: Rebecca Lowe; 4x100 relay: Abigail David; Ealey, Dominique McLeggin, Knight; Long jump/Triple jump: Shara Proctor; Shot put: Mariam Kevkhishvili; Javelin: Evelien Dekkers.

Florida runner named Freshman of the Year

Freshman Rebecca Lowe was named the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year on Tuesday, becoming just the second Gator to receive the honor. Tiandra Ponteen picked up the same honor in 2004.

Lowe won both the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events at the SEC Championships, only the ninth athlete in conference history, and only the second Gator, to win both races in the same year. Lowe joins 1992 U.S. Olympian Shelly Steely as the other Gator to win both races in a single SEC Outdoor Championship (1985). She also became just the fifth athlete in school history to win more than one conference title in the same year, and the first since 2003.

Four UF women were named to the All-SEC first team: Evelien Dekkers (javelin), Natalie Knight (200 meters), Lowe (10,000 and 5,000 meters) and Shara Proctor (triple jump).

The Gator Track and Field program will compete in the NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee, beginning May 30.

Women's Cross Country has best ever finish

The Florida women's cross country team earned the best NCAA Championship finish in school history, placing 11th at the 2007 NCAA Championships held Monday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind.

Four of the Gators' top five finishers placed in the top 100 for team scoring individually to help earn the school-record finish.

The Gators were the top finishing SEC team at the national championship. Arkansas finished two spots behind them in 13th and Georgia was 22nd.The Stanford women won their third consecutive team title with 145 points. Sally Kipyego from Texas Tech won her second individual title, finishing the 6K race in 19:30.9.

Junior Jacy Kruzel led the Gators with a 60th place finish and a 6K time of 21:15.8. Her finish was the best individual finish by a Gator in the NCAA Championship since Kris Jost finished 43rd in 1999.

"This team just has a great chemistry," UF coach Jeff Pigg said. "These women are not only good athletes, they are great people. Ali Crabb and Alison Babb are both walk ons and we would not be here today without them. Babb didn't run until SECs and she has just continued to get better. She is good because she wants to be. She has the best attitude and desire. Lindsay is so unselfish. She was disappointed with her individual performance until she saw how high we placed as a team. Her goal this year has simply been for the team to do well. Jacy is a strong Florida kid, who just keeps getting better. Rebecca Lowe came here and added depth and talent to this team. I just cannot say enough about these athletes, how hard they work and how proud of them I am.''

Calvin Smith wins gold

GAINESVILLE - Calvin Smith, the rising sophomore from Lutz, clocked a personal-best 45.52 to win the 400 meters on Sunday at the NACAC Track and Field Championships.

Smith’s mark eclipsed the PR of 45.60 that he set when he won the SEC outdoor 400 meters title, and improved his hold on 10th place on the school's all-time list. The only American to start the final, he outdistanced the Dominican Republic’s Arismendy Peguero by .11 to capture the gold medal. The three-time All-American won his second gold medal of the meet hours later, when he ran the second leg of the United States’ winning 4x400m relay (3:02.78).

Gator runner receives scholarship

Florida middle-distance runner T. Brandon Saltmarsh is one of 29 male athletes who participated in a spring sport to receive a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA. Saltmarsh, who didn’t run this past spring, majored in food and resource economics.

Mike Holloway Takes on Dual Role

GAINESVILLE - Florida's search for a new women's head track and field coach has ended right where it started.

On the Florida campus.

Mike Holloway, the school's men's track and field head coach for the past seven years, was named the women's coach on Tuesday. Holloway becomes the first track and field coach in school history to oversee both programs, and the ninth head coach of a Florida women’s track and field program that dates to 1973. He replaces Tom Jones, who died of cancer in March.

While Jeff Pigg will remain as the coach for both men’s and women’s cross country, Holloway will also oversee the cross country program.

Before taking over the men's program in June 2002, Holloway had been an assistant coach since 1995. He is one of the premier sprint coaches in track and field and has developed Florida into one of the nation's top sprint programs. He has coached athletes to 12 NCAA titles in the past nine years, and 14 school records in the indoor and outdoor events of 400 meters or less have been set under his watch.

Florida decided to combine the track and field programs after a study revealed that 13 of the last 16 NCAA indoor and outdoor titles were won by combined programs. Holloway will join head swimming and diving coach Gregg Troy as members of the UF coaching staff that oversee combined programs.

“When we set out to find a coach to lead our women’s program, we knew that we already had a special candidate right here in Gainesville with Mike Holloway,” UF athletic director Jeremy Foley said. “Mike has shown the ability to mentor world-class athletes on the men’s side, and we strongly believe he will do the same with our women’s program. We took a look at the situations of the other top track and field programs across the country and realized that combining our men and women’s programs gives us the best opportunity to be successful, especially under Mike’s direction.”

Stockbarger Breaks NCAA East Region Discus Record

GAINESVILLE - Junior All-American Wes Stockbarger won the discus competition on with a mark of 61.39m/201-5, breaking the meet record on the opening day of competition at the NCAA East Regional Championships Friday at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.

It was the 18th East Regional title earned by a Gator, but the first in the discus. The record was previously held by North Carolina’s Vikas Gowda who threw 61.29m/201-1 in 2006. Stockbarger won the event by 11 inches and reset his own school record by more than a foot. He will compete at the NCAA championships with a chance to become just the third athlete in school history to earn multiple All-America honors in the discus.

“I felt really good out there today,” Stockbarger said. “I think I could have thrown a bit further, but I got a PR and the regional record and that’s not too bad. My consistency has been really good lately and it came through today. I think it’s the biggest win of my career. I really wanted to get the East Region title and record, so that feels great.”

Gator Football Players to Try and Help Track Team Earn SEC Title

GAINESVILLE - Mike Holloway is hoping that some of the speed that helped Urban Meyer's football team will be beneficial for the track team, too.

Holloway, the longtime track coach, will take four Gator football players with his team to this weekend's SEC Championships, May 10-13 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Receiver Percy Harvin will join track members Jeremy Hall, Willie Perry and Calvin Smith on the relay team. Running backs Brandon James and Chevon Walker will participate in the 100-yard dash.

Because the football players didn't join the team until after the Orange and Blue game, Holloway said it's difficult to know just how much help the football players will be in the Gators' quest for a league championship.

"We'll find out,'' he said about their ability to compete with the conference's best athletes. "It's been kind of touch and go. They didn't get out until spring ball was over, then we spent three days (practicing) then we were gone for four. Then with finals, it's been kind of touch and go. But I'm confident they will be fine. They are all great athletes and listen well. The big thing will be, a guy like Percy hasn't run in two years; Andre hasn't run since his junior year in high school, so this is a different arena for them. But once you've played in front of hundreds ot thousands of people, being at a track meet doesn't bother you. I think they'll be fine.''

Holloway said although the football players joined the team late, it hasn't had a negative affect on his other track athletes. Afterall, these are the first football players to also run track.

"John Capel, Damion Carroll, Taylor Jacobs all ran here,'' Holloway said. "And even back when I first got here, Jacuquez Green and those guys ran for awhile also. They come out and they are just like everybody else. We're just glad they are out and hopefully they can help us this weekend.''

Holloway said with or without the football players, the goal is the same.

"Our expectations this weekend are we are going in and try to win the thing, just like we always do,'' he said. "Our competition will be Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, the usual suspects. Auburn and South Carolina also have some good teams. Just about every team in the league has some good individuals, so there will be some major players in every event.''

Two UF athletes honored

GAINESVILLE - Florida sophomores Wes Stockbarger and Shawneise Williams were named the SEC Field Athletes of the Week on Tuesday.

Williams became the first women's track and field athlete in the nation to automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the weight throw with a mark of 21.16m/69-5.25 at the Florida Intercollegiate on Jan. 13 in Gainesville. The mark bettered her previous personal-best by nearly nine feet and was the seventh-best toss in school history.

Williams was the top collegiate athlete and finished second overall in the event behind American weight throw record holder and former Gator NCAA Champion, Erin Gilreath, who threw the weight 22.91m/75-2.

Last Saturday, Stockbarger posted the nation's top throw at the Florida Intercollegiate with a mark of 19.03m/62-5.25. It was the third-best throw in Florida history and was just eight inches shy of the school record of 63-1.25 set by Dwight Johnson in 1992.