For the 11th time since Mike “Mouse” Hollowaytook the head post of Florida’s men’s track and field team, he and the Gators hoisted a national championship trophy over their heads late Friday night at the NCAA outdoor championships meet in Austin, Texas.
“It is an incredible feeling. I get asked all the time what my favorite championship is and I jokingly but not jokingly say the next one,” Holloway said.
Early in Friday’s competition, Florida’s Emmanuel Bamidele notched a first-place finish in the men’s 400-meter with a time of 44.24 − a mark that wasn’t only Bamidele’s personal best, but also makes him the collegiate leader, gives him the second-fastest time in program history and the fifth-fastest in the world this year.
Florida’s 4×100-meter relay team recorded a runner-up finish as Ryan Willie, Jacory Patterson, Pjai Austin and Robert Gregory posted a time of 38.26, which was only a hair off LSU’s mark of 38.05.
Heading into the final two events of the night just minutes before 11 p.m., Florida found itself trailing Arkansas by five points. Though the 5K run and the 4×400-meter relay still remained, neither the Gators nor the Razorbacks had a 5K runner, which set the table for a championship-deciding 4×400-meter relay.
Bluntly, Florida’s chances to return to Gainesville with a national title in hand were looking bleak as the Gators would need the perfect storm to get the points they needed to overtake Arkansas. Should the Razorbacks have finished in the Top 4 of the event, the hardware would’ve gone home to Fayetteville.
Instead, Bamidele, Patterson, Jevaughn Powell and Willie all tag teamed the come-from-behind victory with a record-breaking time of 2:57.74.
At the conclusion of the race, the fact that the Gators’ time was good for a school record, facility record, meet record and collegiate record was all moot. The only thing that mattered was the time was good for Florida’s second consecutive national title.
“It is just an awesome feeling. We do not think about last year or think about defending anything,” Holloway said. “Our job was to come in here and win this one and that is what we did.”