From time to time, OGGOA will come across a plethora of news and notes that we wish to share – too much to fit into one of our truncated BITS segments. In these instances, or when stories fall through the cracks, we catch and wrap them all up with Gator Bites.

» A rough senior season at the center position made many Florida Gators fans skeptical that Mike Pouncey could play the position as well as his twin brother. But after one year as the starting center for the Miami Dolphins, those questions no longer exist as Pouncey has proven that he can perform at a Pro Bowl level (though he did not make it to the game in 2011). Now he is focused on getting even better and told the Sun-Sentinel it all starts with eating better. “I can get away with [eating fast food], but I changed it up this year just trying to eat more leaner stuff,” he said. “I hired a chef, so it’s been working well for me.” Pouncey also feels the zone blocking scheme the Dolphins will be employing in 2012 and beyond will benefit him and the offense; he expects a breakout season for himself. “They say your second year is supposed to be your best year,” he said. “I’m hoping for big things. I’m coming out as hard as I can. I want to take on more of a leadership role this year.”

» Florida head basketball coach Billy Donovan has been working with the United States U18 National Team over the last few weeks and began action in the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship with his squad on Saturday. Donovan’s young squad is already 2-0 in international competition with a 105-42 victory over the Virgin Islands on Saturday and a 110-59 win over Mexico on Sunday. The U.S. will take on Brazil on Monday to conclude first-round action with the semifinals taking place Tuesday and the championship being held on Wednesday. Donovan’s squad needs to place in the top four teams at the end of the event in order to advance to the 2013 FIBA World Championship next summer. “I told them there are three things we want to accomplish. First and foremost, win a gold medal. Second, we’ve got a lot of guys on our team going into college and we want them to get maybe a bit more prepared than some other incoming freshmen for what they’re going to face in college. And third, we want to help them get better as players,” Donovan told the Sporting News before leaving for Brazil.

» Gators linebacker Neiron Ball, who missed the entire 2011 season after a blood vessel burst in his brain and he was diagnosed with a hereditary vascular condition, was officially cleared to participate in all football activities by team doctors on Friday. Ball had previously announced on March 1 that he had medical clearance from doctors to return to action, but head coach Will Muschamp cautioned in April and May that while he had returned to work out with the team that he was not a full participant and was still awaiting an additional clearance. Now that Ball is good to go, he will compete for immediate playing time at Buck linebacker, a position with a major depth issue now that junior Ronald Powell is out until at least mid-October with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

» Florida track & field coach Mike Holloway was awarded his first Coach of the Year honor for the outdoor season by the USTFCCCA on Thursday. He had previously won the award in consecutive years for the indoor season (2010-11). Holloway’s men’s team swept the 2012 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships this season.

Read six more Gator Bites…after the break!

Continue Reading » Gator Bites for Monday, June 18

Tags: Abby Wambach, baseball, Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Brent Pease, CFL, Coach of the Year, Dallas Baker, Dee Webb, DeShawn Wynn, Draft, Duke Lemmens, Dustin Doe, Eric Wilbur, Erik Murphy, Erving Walker, FIBA, FIBA Americas Championship, field, Heather Mitts, Houston Astros, Joe Cohen, Kenny Boynton, Lance McCullers, Max Staver, Miami Dolphins, Mike Holloway, Mike Pouncey, Mike Rosario, MLB, NCAA, NCAA Indoor Championship, NCAA Outdoor Championship, Neiron Ball, New York Jets, NFL, Olympics, Patric Young, Ronald Powell, soccer, Thaddeus Bullard, Tim Tebow, Titus O'Neil, Toronto Argonauts, track, USA Basketball, USTFCCCA, Will Muschamp, WWE

Nearly 48 hours of aggravation has resulted in a moment of pure joy for Florida Gators distance runner Genevieve LaCaze, who learned Saturday that she will allowed to compete for her home country of Australia in the 2012 London Olympics.

Though LaCaze achieved an Olympic ‘A’ Standard qualifying time of 9:41.15 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Wednesday, one that automatically qualifies her for the Olympics and should earn her a spot on the Australia National Team, she achieved the mark just over a day after an arbitrary cutoff date mandated by Athletics Australia despite the organization not being forced to submit nominations to the Australian Olympic Committee until June 22.

LaCaze lodged an appeal against her exclusion with AA, noting that the reason she achieved the time after the cutoff date was because she was competing in a collegiate system in America and did not have her next race scheduled until after June 11. She was initially told her chances of winning the appeal were not good (watch her interview).

However, LaCaze received a ton of support from Australians (Twitter account @LetLacazeGo had 572 followers as of Saturday morning, numerous of Twitter users tweeted the hashtag #LetLacazeGo and many others wrote to AA and stood outside the building in Australia to protest). AOC president John Coates even threw all of his support behind her inclusion on the team.

“I certainly urge Australian athletics to nominate her and use whatever discretion they’ve got,” Coates said on Friday, according to The Australian. “She’s clearly passed the A qualifying time and as far as I’m concerned she should be going to the Games. My understanding is that while there are cutoff times and dates, there is the opportunity for discretion to be used where someone is going to finish in the top eight or has the potential to do so in Rio [at the 2016 Olympics].”

However, AA’s representatives still felt that LaCaze did not deserve to a part of the team as it would be unfair to the other competitors despite the fact that she would not be taking anyone’s spot because Australia did not have another female runner who hit either the A or B qualifying times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

In the end, as the AOC noted, “common sense prevailed,” and LaCaze won her appeal to have her qualifying time counted as AA extended their cutoff date to June 22, the day in which the official submissions must be made to the AOC.

Thank you @AthsAust @AUSOlympicTeam for this opportunity. I will show the world I am meant to be there! Green&Gold all the way! #london2012

— Genevieve LaCaze (@GenGen_LaCaze) June 16, 2012

“It’s a terrific decision because Genevieve is not only a great talent, who has done a great time for London, but she’s also someone for the future and we’re all about nurturing athletes and talent for the future,” AOC spokesman Mike Tancred told The Australian. “It’s not only the fact she’ll be running in London but we’re looking forward to her hopefully continuing on to Rio 2016.”

AA chief executive Dallas O’Brien said his organization took their cue from the AOC.

“The AOC certainly made it clear they were keen to extend [the deadline] out to the 22nd of June for everybody so we’re happy and it’s hopefully a win-win for everybody,” he said. “Obviously we’re really thrilled for Genevieve to be in the team. And, from Athletics Australia’s point of view, it looks like we’ll now have an additional A-qualifier which takes it up to 55 athletes for the Olympics, which is a great result for us.”

Tags: field, Genevieve LaCaze, Olympics, track

1 » After having ended each of his last two seasons standing on the sidelines and unable to play due to an injured ankle, Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey made it his goal this season to ensure that it was completely healthy and as strong as possible heading into organized team activities. Pouncey had offseason ankle surgery and, after four weeks of OTAs, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it feels as healthy as ever. “I’m doing great so far,” he said on Wednesday. “It feels awesome – the best it’s ever felt.” Pouncey also told the paper that he actually needed surgery following the 2010 season and made a mistake not getting it done. “I came back and wasn’t healthy. I played through it. At the end of the season last year it got too weak and I needed the surgery,” he said.

2 » Quarterback Tim Tebow has arguably been criticized more than perhaps any other player through his short tenure in the NFL though most of the shots fired at him have been about his on-field play. Former player now-ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi joined the barrage and jumped on Tebow’s back last week but not for the same reasons as others. Bruschi believes that Tebow is to blame for his own popularity and the hysteria surrounding him and a potential quarterback competition because he is never shy about talking to the media even when he’s not the starter on his own team. “Stop talking to the media so much,” Bruschi said on the network’s NFL 32 television program. “You need to disappear, okay, Tim Tebow? You’re not the starting quarterback, it’s Mark Sanchez’s team. I want my [team’s] voice to come from my head coach and my quarterback – my starting quarterback. That message has to be consistent. I don’t want all this competition brewing, and every time you speak and anytime you talk about competition or anything like that, you’re twisting things. I want one voice. One quarterback, not two.”

Asked to respond to these accusations, Tebow said this week, according to USA Today, that media appearances and interviews are completely out of his hands. He does what the New York Jets tell him to do – plain and simple. “To be honest, I just do what I’m told – and this [is the] day to talk to you [reporters], so I’m gonna talk to you,” he said on Wednesday after minicamp. “And to be honest, I just go about it however the Jets set it up – the rules that they want us to [follow], who they want us to talk to, who they don’t want us to talk to. And so I don’t get paid enough to make all those decisions. I just do what I’m told and try to do it as best as I can.” He continued, “I don’t know that I’m [outside the locker room] talking. I’m here talking to y’all because that’s what they want. Like I said, I just do what I’m told and try to make the most of it. So that’s something you’d figure that he would understand though. He’s a guy that I’ve always respected, and he always makes a lot of great points. I’m sure he had a great reason for it. But like I said, I’m just doing what I’m asked to do.”

Click to expand and read two more BITS in this post.

Tags: Bradley Beal, combine, field, Genevieve LaCaze, Maurkice Pouncey, NBA, New York Jets, NFL, Olympics, Pittsburgh Steelers, SEC, SEC Outdoor Championship, Tim Tebow, track

On the way back to Gainesville, FL after competing in the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which the men’s team won for the first time in program history on Saturday, Florida Gators track & field apparently had problems with their flight and underwent a rough landing in Tuscaloosa, AL.

Several members of the team – both student-athletes and support staff – tweeted about the incident shortly after landing safely. The pilot told his passengers that the windshield of the plane cracked at 37,000 feet and eventually shattered once it landed.

Florida was on a charter flight along with Florida State, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi State and was scheduled to land in order to drop the latter three programs off before eventually unloading in Tallahassee, FL and driving back to Gainesville.

Despite initial concerns that the plane had made a “crash” landing, a notion tweeted out by a Gators student-athlete, it appears that the rough landing was combination of there being a crack in the windshield and a big plane being forced to land on a small runway.

A new plane was scheduled to pick up the remaining parties for their trek back to Florida.

The above picture is courtesy of UF assistant director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports Matt DeLancey, who posted it on Twitter early Sunday morning.

“[The windshield] cracked at 37,000 feet. Our pilots never seemed to panic. #Ballers!” he tweeted after sending out the picture.

OGGOA will update this story further when more information is made available.

Tags: field, Matt DeLancey, NCAA, NCAA Outdoor Championship, track

It came down to the wire for Florida Gators men’s track and field at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA on Saturday but an outstanding finish in the event-ending 1,600-meter relay propelled the team to victory and the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championship. The national outdoor title is the first in program history for either the men’s or women’s team and gives the Gators a sweep of the men’s national titles in 2012 as UF also captured the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championship in March.

Down two points to LSU heading into the final event, Florida used a 2012 world-leading finish (3:00.02) by freshmen Dedrick Dukes and Hugh Graham, Jr., juniors Leonardo Seymore and junior Tony McQuay to win the individual national title in the 4×400-meter relay (also the first in program history) and clinch the championship.

UF (50 points) edged LSU (48) and Texas A&M (40) for the title and became the first team since Arkansas in 2003 to sweep the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the same season.

The Gators also brought home two other individual national titles on Friday as McQuay and junior Omar Craddock won their respective events. McQuay posted a time of 44.58 seconds in the men’s 400 meters to win the event for the first time in school history, and Craddock took home the men’s triple jump title with a distance of 16.92m/55-6.25 (+2.9). Both men also won the indoor title in their respective events to sweep them for the year, and Craddock’s victory marked the third-straight outdoor triple jump title for UF as well as the team’s sixth-straight overall triple jump title (indoor and outdoor 2010-12).

Neither senior sprinter Jeff Demps nor senior decathlete Gray Horn competed in their respective events this week. Demps, the reigning three-time 60-meter dash champion for indoor competition, missed the 100-meter dash as he continues to prepare for the U.S. Olympic Trials and 2012 London Olympics. Horn, one of the most accomplished student-athletes on the team, was still serving a suspension.

“We lost our best sprinter, we lost our best decathlete and our 4×100 didn’t qualify,” head coach Mike Holloway said after the victory. “A lot of people would have given up hope, but our group of guys didn’t. I sat them down after Regionals and I said ‘We are still the best team in the country, as long as you believe it,’ and our guys believed it.”

Holloway won the fourth national title of his career as the Gators men’s team has also captured three-straight NCAA Indoor Championships.

It is the first time in school history that Florida has won three national titles in the same season with the women’s tennis team winning their second-straight championship in May. Saturday’s national championship is the 29th in school history and 20th since athletic director Jeremy Foley took over the program.

Photo Credit: PrettySporty

Tags: Dedrick Dukes, Drake Stadium, field, Hugh Graham, Jeremy Foley, Leonardo Seymore, Mike Holloway, NCAA, NCAA Championship, NCAA Outdoor Championship, Omar Craddock, Tony McQuay, track

Any doubt that the University of Florida had the dominant athletics program in the Southeastern Conference during the 2011-12 school year was put to rest Sunday as the university was named the SEC All-Sports champion by the Halifax Media Group for the fourth-straight season. Sweeping all three titles – overall, men’s and women’s – the Florida Gators won by staggering numbers in each category, literally dominating the competition.

Florida is the only school to sweep all three titles in a single season, accomplishing the feat for the 12th time, fifth in the last six years and fourth-in-a-row (2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11). UF has now won 22 overall titles (including six-straight), 19 women’s titles and 16 men’s titles.

All 16 of the Gators’ sports (nine women’s, seven men’s) were counted with cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field combined into one unit per gender. Lacrosse was not included as that program competes in the American Lacrosse Conference.

Florida won three SEC titles over this period – gymnastics, women’s tennis and women’s indoor track and field – compared to eight in 2010-11. UF women’s tennis captured both the regular season and tournament championships.

The Gators lead the SEC with 205 all-time team titles.

The SEC All-Sports titles were previously awarded by The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group from 1994-95 to 2010-11.

Tags: field, gymnastics, SEC, SEC All-Sports, tennis, track, University of Florida

Florida Gators track & field was unsuccessful in its bid to win a team title over the weekend but 12 members of the team combined to win 12 individual titles at the 2012 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge, LA.

Senior distance runner Genevieve LaCaze led the way for Florida with three individual titles in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:13.99), 1,500-meter run (4:13.44) and 5,000-meter run (16:26.38). She is the first student-athlete in SEC history to win both the steeplechase and 1,500-meters after picking up the second title early on Sunday and similarly became the first student-athlete in conference history to win all three championships after finishing the 5,000-meters later Sunday afternoon.

LaCaze is also the first UF female to win the Commissioner’s Trophy (awarded to the highest point scorer) since 2002 and tied the school women’s record for most points scored at an individual meet (30).

Junior jumper Omar Craddock continued the Gators’ domination of the triple jump, capturing the outdoor championship with a mark of 54-08.75. Florida has won the SEC Outdoor title in the triple jump three years in a row and both the SEC Indoor title and NCAA Indoor championship four-straight years. Craddock has completed a trifecta by winning three already in 2012 and will look for the sweep later this season.

Also finding success in the triple jump on Sunday was freshman jumper Ciarra Brewer, who won the women’s title with a mark of 44-6.75 – the best in the nation this season. UF has won four of the last five women’s triple jumps a the SEC Outdoors.

Florida’s men captured five more titles with junior sprinter Tony McQuay winning the 400-meter dash (45.48), sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic winning the javelin (77.87m/255-06), junior thrower Jeremy Postin winning the hammer (68.18m/223-8), junior jumper Dwight Barbiasz winning the high jump (2.25m/7-4.50) and the foursome of freshman Dedric Dukes, freshman Hugh Graham, junior Leonardo Seymore and McQuay winning the 4×400-meter relay (3:03.44).

The Gators’ women contributed two more championships as freshman jumper Taylor Burke won the high jump (1.83m/6-0) and sophomore multi-event participant Brittany Harrell brought home the heptathlon (5,838 points) title.

Neither the men nor women won a team title with the men finishing in fourth overall and the women finishing second after getting edged 161.5-138.0 by LSU. Florida’s men’s team captured the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championship, while the women’s team won the 2012 SEC Indoor Championship.

The Gators were without seniors sprinter Jeff Demps and heptathlete Gray Horn in the meet. Demps (hamstring) was injured and had to rest up for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while Horn was suspended for the meet after being arrested and charged with driving under the influence in April. Their absences made it nearly impossible for the Florida men to have a legitimate shot at the team title.

Tags: Brittany Harrell, Ciarra Brewer, Dedric Dukes, Dwight Barbiasz, field, Genevieve LaCaze, Gray Horn, Hugh Graham, Jeff Demps, Jeremy Postin, Leonardo Seymore, Omar Craddock, SEC, SEC Outdoor Championship, Stipe Zunic, Taylor Burke, Tony McQuay, track

Florida Gators track and field star senior Gray Horn has been suspended from the team just days before the 2012 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships.

Head coach Mike Holloway announced at the schools all-sports press conference on Monday that Horn would not participate in the event, a decision he likely made after learning Horn was arrested and charged for driving under the influence on April 14.

“Gray will not be competing this weekend. Gray’s been suspended from the team, not that I want to go into it right now but he won’t be competing,” Holloway said on Monday according to GTN‘s Julie Quittner.

Horn, a three-time All-American (two outdoor, one indoor), is the three-time defending SEC Outdoor champion in the decathlon. He also won the SEC Indoor title in the heptathlon in 2011 but was unable to finish competing in the event this year after going down with an injury (he led by 18 points).

Alachua County court records note that Horn filed a “not guilty” plea to the DUI charge and has requested a jury trial. His pre-trial conference is set for May 30 at 9 a.m.

The 2012 SEC Outdoor Championships begin May 10 and last through the weekend. Horn’s absence will undoubtedly hurt a Florida team looking to win its first outdoor conference title since 2010.

Tags: field, Gray Horn, Mike Holloway, SEC, SEC Outdoor Championship, track