Preview: Gators Track And Field Team At Women’s National Championship
For years, the Florida Gators track and field team on the women’s side had been one of the top programs in the country, but also had to be in the shadow of the men’s program that kept winning national championship after national championship.
In March, it was finally the women’s squad that broke through and walked away with first place hardware, their first in 30 years, at the Indoor National Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
The women followed that up by winning the SEC Outdoor Championships in May and look to cap off their season with another national title.
We previewed the men’s chances of winning a national title, but truth be told the women have an even better chance of coming home from Eugene, Oregon with the first place trophy.
Meet Format
The format for the women will be the same as the men. While the meet will take place over four days, the men will compete Wednesday and Friday while the women will compete Thursday and Saturday. Thursday will be mostly prelims with some finals and Saturday will be all finals.
Scoring will be standard track and field scoring, with 10 points going to 1st place all the way down to one point going to 8th.
The target score on the women’s side is a little trickier to figure out compared to the men’s side. Last year University of Southern California (you know, the USC with actual academic standards) won with 74 points. As recently as 2011, Texas A&M won with just 49 points.
Since 2005 only one team has scored at least 65 points and not gone on to win the title (Oregon in 2014), so we will set the target score at 65.
Where The Gators Stand
As mentioned, Gators track on the women’s side is coming off a national title at the indoor championships. The outdoor championships tend to reward sprint heavy programs a bit more because the Distance Medley Relay from the indoor meet is swapped out for the 4 X 100 in the outdoor meet.
The women’s team won the SEC outdoor conference meet and is currently ranked 2nd nationally in the USTFCCCA computer rankings.
List Of When Gator Athletes Compete Thursday
400 Meter Dash, 10:00 PM, Heats One and Two
If you tune in on Thursday hoping to see the women representing Gators track and field on the actually track, you’ll need to wait until midway through prelims. Talitha Diggs and Taylor Manson will take the stage for the one lap race.
Diggs enters with the nation’s 9th best time, 51.22 mark she ran at the East Regional qualifying meet. Diggs finished 4th at the SEC meet.
Manson was ranked 35th nationally heading into regionals, but she too improved her mark to 51.77.
It is going to be a battle for either Diggs or Manson to make it to finals. Diggs will have the better chance.
Long Jump, 10:00 PM, Flight One
Truth be told, Florida won’t have a ton of representation on the track itself. A lot of the damage Gators track hopes to do will actually be in the field events.
Jasmine Moore enters the meet with nation’s 3rd best jump with a leap of 6.82 meters (22 feet 4 inches) and she is joined by Claire Bryant, ranked 7th with a mark of 6.73 meters (22 feet 1 inch).
This event is a final on Thursday and points will be handed out. The good news about long jump is that it only takes one leap to secure your spot. But if steps are off and timing is out of synch it can lead to an awful day.
Both Moore and Bryant will need to score points here to kickstart Florida’s meet.
800 Meter Run, 10:14 PM, Heats One and Three
One the events Florida hopes to get big points from will also be in one of the more unpredictable events. Gabrielle Wilkinson enters the meet ranked 9th in the country with a time of 2:02.73 and Imogen Barrett is 4th with a mark of 2:01.42.
Prelims for the 800 tend to be brutal because if an athlete gets boxed in and can’t escape in time for the finishing kick, they get stuck in the back. Likewise if an athlete is in a heat that goes out slow and is set up for a sit and kick, but that athlete doesn’t have a strong kick they can be in trouble.
All that matters in this events is for Wilkinson and Barrett to get to the finals by any means necessary.
400 Meter Hurdles, 10:30 PM, Heats One and Two
Another very important event for the Gators’ hopes, the 400 meter hurdles tend to be a little more predictable in the preliminary round compared to the 800.
Vanessa Watson will be in heat one and is ranked 6th in the country with a time of 56.25, and Anna Hall is ranked 2nd in the country with a mark of 54.91. She will be in the second heat.
As long as both athlete’s fitness level is fine, look for both runners to stay in rhythm and get over the hurdles cleanly to make it to finals.
Shot Put, 10:40 PM, Flight Two
Thea Jensen entered regionals ranked 39th, but threw a season best mark of 16.97 meters (55 feet 8 inches to qualify for nationals.
It will be a long shot for Jensen to put himself in a scoring position, but any points she could score would be a bonus for Florida.
4 X 400 Meter Relay, 11:48 PM, Heat Two
Track and field meets always have a way to come down to the 4 X 400 to determine a national champion. USC, still the one with academic standards, had a famous finish in 2018 to win the title that year.
Florida’s 4 X 4 comes in ranked 8th in this event. It will be a fight to make finals, but the hopes for Gators track may come down this event and they will certainly want a seat at the table to at least have their final say.
Heptathlon, Friday at 1 PM
The two day event won’t have very many spectators watching it live, but it will be another massive opportunity for points for Gators track.
Anna Hall returns and is ranked 1st in the event after accumulating 6458 points in May. She is joined by 12th ranked Sterling Lester.
Hall has to win this event for Florida to raise the trophy. The one event to hold your breathe for is the high jump, because it is the one most prone for a No Height and earning zero points.
Triple Jump, Saturday at 5:50 PM
If you are watching the meet on Saturday and it seems like Florida is really far behind and you aren’t sure if they can catch up, keep your eyes on the triple jump results.
Jasmine Moore and Natricia Hooper enter the meet ranked 1st and 2nd in the county. They are joined by Alissa Braxton who probably won’t factor into the scoring.
As long as Florida is within 18 points of the leaders coming down the stretch, Florida will have a chance if Moore and Natricia can go one-two
5,000 Meter Run, Saturday at 7:25 PM
Parker Valby enters the meet seeded 12th in country, but she was stride for stride with NC State’s Katelyn Tuohy, runner-up in two events at the Indoor National Championships, at the East Regional meet.
Valby probably won’t win, but if she can stay with the front pack she absolutely has a chance at some potentially much needed points for Florida.
Pathway To A Florida Gators Track And Field Victory
Unlike the men, the women have a little bit more wiggle room but not a ton.
If we start with the long jump on Thursday, Florida needs to emerge from that with at least 10 points. Imogen Barrett must qualify in the 800 for finals as well as Anna Hall and Vanessa Watson emerging from the 400 hurdles.
Florida probably needs to get two out three to qualify between Talitha Diggs in the 400, Gabrielle Wilkinson in the 800, and their 4 x 400 relay.
If Hall takes care of business in the heptathlon that gets Florida to 20 points and a win in the 400 hurdles could get them to 30.
Barrett has a chance for first in the 800 but even a 3rd place finish has Florida sitting at 36 and help from Watson in the 400 hurdles could get Florida to 40.
If Valby has a great day in the 5,000 and can contribute even a 6th place finish we are up to 43 points.
The 18 must have points from the triple jump would get things to 61.
This is where getting those extra points from Diggs, Wilkinson, and the 4 x 400 can push Florida over 65 and give them a real chance of bringing home the title.
Heat sheets can be found here
Rankings can be found here
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