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GATOR • VOL. IV ISS. 21 • FEBRUARY 5, 2009<br />
Awards Corner... Quick Hits ...<br />
SEC Track and Field<br />
Weekly Awards<br />
Gray Horn<br />
Freshman Hept<strong>at</strong>hlete<br />
SEC Male Freshman of the Week<br />
Mariam Kevkhishvili<br />
Junior Thrower<br />
SEC Female Field Athlete of the<br />
Week<br />
SEC Swimming and<br />
Diving Weekly Awards<br />
Jemma Lowe<br />
Freshman Free/Fly<br />
SEC Female Swimmer of the<br />
Week<br />
Anna-Liisa Pold<br />
Freshman Back/IM<br />
SEC Female Freshman of the<br />
Week<br />
Kara Salamone<br />
Junior Diver<br />
SEC Female Diver of the Week<br />
CVU.com Stellar Spikers<br />
(Volleyball)<br />
Kelly Murphy<br />
Freshman setter/right-side<br />
Honorable Mention<br />
Alltel<br />
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BASEBALL<br />
The University of Florida baseball program<br />
recently announced th<strong>at</strong> the annual<br />
G<strong>at</strong>or Baseball Alumni Weekend will<br />
be held April 24-26 in Gainesville. The<br />
event will be held in conjunction with<br />
the G<strong>at</strong>ors’ home series against Eastern<br />
Division rival South Carolina.<br />
MEN’S<br />
BASKETBALL<br />
UF has won 15 consecutive home<br />
games d<strong>at</strong>ing back to last year, the<br />
fourth longest home winning streak of<br />
the Billy Donovan era.<br />
WOMEN’S<br />
BASKETBALL<br />
Amanda Butler became just the second<br />
G<strong>at</strong>or head coach to guide the team to<br />
20 wins in their second season with the<br />
program (Debbie Yow was the other).<br />
CROSS COUNTRY<br />
Junior Justin Taylor earned Florida top-<br />
10 in the 2008 season with a 24:03 finish<br />
on the five-mile course <strong>at</strong> the Notre<br />
Dame Invit<strong>at</strong>ional. The G<strong>at</strong>or men tied<br />
for sixth as Taylor crossed the finishline<br />
15th overall and second for the G<strong>at</strong>ors.<br />
FOOTBALL<br />
The football team is busy preparing for<br />
N<strong>at</strong>ional Signing Day next Wednesday,<br />
Feb. 4. Once again, the G<strong>at</strong>ors are<br />
<strong>look</strong>ing to reload with another top-15<br />
recruiting class under Coach Urban<br />
Meyer.<br />
MEN’S GOLF<br />
The 12th-ranked University of Florida<br />
men’s golf team turned in a solid performance<br />
on Monday <strong>at</strong> the Golden<br />
Ocala Collegi<strong>at</strong>e. despite the rainy conditions.<br />
In the 36-hole event, the G<strong>at</strong>ors<br />
shot 558 (-18) to finish 26 strokes ahead<br />
of second-place North Florida.<br />
WOMEN’S GOLF<br />
The G<strong>at</strong>ors open their 2009 spring<br />
season Feb. 9-11 when they travel to<br />
Palos Verdes, Calif., to compete in the<br />
Northrop Grumman Invit<strong>at</strong>ional hosted<br />
by Ohio St<strong>at</strong>e University.<br />
GYMNASTICS<br />
Melanie Sinclair earned her third career<br />
10.0 for the uneven bars last Friday versus<br />
Kentucky. She is one of four G<strong>at</strong>ors<br />
to earn the perfect mark on the bars and<br />
the only one to earn the mark on multiple<br />
occasions. No. 8 Florida travels to<br />
B<strong>at</strong>on Rouge, La., to meet No. 11 LSU<br />
on Friday, Feb. 6. LSU is the fourth top-<br />
15 opponent for UF this season.<br />
LACROSSE<br />
Both of Florida’s assistant coaches will<br />
be in Prague, Czech Republic, next<br />
June for the 2009 Feder<strong>at</strong>ion of Intern<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
Lacrosse World Cup. Erica<br />
LaGrow was named to the 18-member<br />
team following last weekend’s U.S.<br />
Lacrosse Champion Challenge in Lake<br />
Buena Vista, Fla. UF’s other assistant<br />
coach, Jenny Ulehla, is an assistant<br />
coach for the U.S. N<strong>at</strong>ional Team and<br />
will be with the 2009 Women’s World<br />
Cup next June in Prague.<br />
SOCCER<br />
Senior Megan Kerns is a 2008 Soccer-<br />
Buzz.com All-American. She led UF in<br />
2008 with 35 points, 13 goals and five<br />
game-winning goals and shared first in<br />
assists (9). Two G<strong>at</strong>ors appear on SoccerBuzz.com<br />
Freshman All-America<br />
teams. Tahnai Annis is part of the SoccerBuzz.com<br />
Freshman All-America<br />
second team, while Jazmyne Avant appears<br />
on the third team.<br />
SOFTBALL<br />
Florida opens its season <strong>at</strong> home for the<br />
first time in five years. The last time the<br />
G<strong>at</strong>ors began their season in the friendly<br />
confines of K<strong>at</strong>ie Seashole Pressly<br />
Stadium was on Feb. 6, 2004, when<br />
they defe<strong>at</strong>ed Appalachian St<strong>at</strong>e, 10-0,<br />
in the first game of the GRU Classic.<br />
The three-game home series against<br />
Baylor also marks the first time since<br />
2003 UF has not started the season with<br />
a tournament.<br />
MEN’S SWIMMING<br />
& DIVING<br />
Both Florida swimming and diving<br />
programs sent their seniors out in winning<br />
fashion S<strong>at</strong>urday afternoon from<br />
the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The<br />
No. 8 men topped Indian River, 128-<br />
83, in the Orange and Blue’s last home<br />
dual meet of the 2008-09 season. Prior<br />
to the start of the swimming and diving<br />
action, seniors Bradley Ally, Jeana<br />
Bartell, Laurabeth Guenthner, Cody<br />
Kauffman, Aaron Leech, Eric Shrestha,<br />
Jos Smith, Kelsy Smith, Rachel Sowers,<br />
Whitney Stern, Scott Thompson,<br />
Rex Tullius and Lindsay Woodward<br />
were honored.<br />
WOMEN’S SWIMMING<br />
& DIVING<br />
Three University of Florida women’s<br />
swimmers and divers swept the final<br />
week of swim & dive conference<br />
awards Tuesday. Freshmen Anna-Liisa<br />
Pold and Jemma Lowe joined junior<br />
diver Kara Salamone with the weekly<br />
accolade. Lowe was named the SEC<br />
Female Swimmer of the Week. Pold<br />
garnered SEC Female Freshman of<br />
the Week, while Salamone reeled in<br />
SEC Female Diver of the Week for the<br />
second time this season, the first being<br />
Nov. 11. The honor for the trio comes<br />
after the No. 5 Lady G<strong>at</strong>ors defe<strong>at</strong>ed the<br />
seventh-ranked Tennessee Volunteers,<br />
174-125, in the last SEC dual meet of<br />
the season for both teams Jan. 30.<br />
MEN’S TENNIS<br />
The No. 7 G<strong>at</strong>ors defe<strong>at</strong>ed No. 48 Arizona<br />
and No. 15 Texas A&M this past<br />
weekend in the opening rounds of the<br />
ITA N<strong>at</strong>ional Team Indoor Championships<br />
<strong>at</strong> Linder Stadium. Florida advances<br />
to the round of 16 in Chicago,<br />
Ill., on Feb. 13-16.<br />
WOMEN’S TENNIS<br />
The G<strong>at</strong>ors opened their season last<br />
week winning four home m<strong>at</strong>ches, including<br />
the first two rounds of the ITA<br />
N<strong>at</strong>ional Team Indoor Championships<br />
th<strong>at</strong> advanced Florida to the Round of<br />
16 held in Madison, Wisc. The wins extended<br />
UF’s regular-season home win<br />
streak to 69 consecutive. The team’s<br />
victory over Stetson on January 27th<br />
improved the G<strong>at</strong>ors’ all-time record<br />
vs. other teams from the st<strong>at</strong>e of Florida<br />
to 182-32.<br />
TRACK & FIELD<br />
Freshman Gray Horn recorded the<br />
third-highest hept<strong>at</strong>hlon score in school<br />
history and the best opening day (four<br />
events) score by a freshman in program<br />
history. He finished with a score of<br />
5.384 and was named the SEC Male<br />
Freshman of the Week for his efforts.<br />
VOLLEYBALL<br />
Six Florida volleyball players were<br />
named to the Southeastern Conference<br />
Academic Honor Roll for the Fall<br />
2008 season. Th<strong>at</strong> total ties for the most<br />
SEC Academic Honor Roll selections<br />
in school history with the 2001, 2003,<br />
2006 and 2007 teams.<br />
DAZZLERS<br />
The University of Florida Dazzlers will<br />
be hosting dance clinics for aspiring<br />
dancers of all ages. The Junior Dazzlers<br />
Clinic, which is open to children<br />
in grades one through eight, will be S<strong>at</strong>urday,<br />
Feb. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon and<br />
the High School and Collegi<strong>at</strong>e Clinic<br />
will be on S<strong>at</strong>urday, Feb. 21 from 8:30<br />
a.m. to noon. Both clinics will be held<br />
<strong>at</strong> the Florida Gym in Gainesville, Fla.<br />
Log on to G<strong>at</strong>orZone.com for more inform<strong>at</strong>ion.