National champs

I dont know if anyone is paying attention but Mouse is just stocking the mens and womens teams with transfers. He took the 3rd place finisher in the shot from UNLV and 2 New Mexico women distance runners who scored 4th and 5th and added them to the roster. Plus 2 tremendous 400 meter guys to the team an I have hearing we should be adding more. Just moving some pieces around. Just a master of what he wants to do.

 

He is the master - Pac 10 decathlete champ transfers in - hard to keep up.

 

The two 400 meter men are Reheem Hayles and Jenoah McKiver both have personal bests under 45 seconds in the open 400. Rosa Santana is the Shot putter, she did finish 3rd, one place better than Alida Van Daalen our first year thrower from the Netherlands.
We also added three terrific distance/cross country runners on the ladies side, and are said to be adding one more. One is Ellie Thorner the sister to Ollie Thorner who was the PAC decathlon champion. The other two are Amelia Mazza-
Downie, and Flomena Asekol.
With the new NIL deal for Parker Valby, and the hopeful return of Angelina Perez, UF would become a legitimate contender for not only multiple points on the track in the distance events, but also a favorite for a first ever Cross Country national championship.
Both the new distance coach (Will Palmer) and the new throws coach (Eric Werskey) are doing amazing jobs adding potential points, and developing existing talent to Florida’s already strong sprint and jumps crews.

 

gatorpjb - thank you for this excellent info - I have been wondering for 2 years what happened with Angelina Perez, a big time recruit - can you explain please. And a note that Ms. Thorner was 7th in 3,000m steeplechase in this year's outdoor NCAA.

 

Perez was hurt last year

 

Some of Angelina’s struggles have been well documented in USA Today, but I honestly don’t know the reason for her sitting last year.
I can say that some media outlets are reporting Angelina is transferring to Wake Forest. That just broke recently. I haven’t seen absolute verification of that, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

she may be, I dont have personal info on that. But might be a way we were able to take 3 runners in the portal.
funny I make one quick text and get a text right back and they say yes Angelina has moved to Wake..they are the same person who told me that she was held out due to "injuries" last year. I wont speculate what that was

 

looks like the ladies picked up a 22ft long jumper from Kentucky who also happens to be a top sprinter

 

Anthaya Charlton, as you said she does have a wind legal LJ over 22’. She also holds the University of Kentucky’s frosh record for a wind legal 100 meters at 11.11 and has a windy 10.98.
She finished 11th at the NCAA outdoors in 11.18 in an extremely competitive field. I haven’t official verification on her transfer but it the reports appear appear legit. We also picked up Josh Brockman from N.C. State, a short race hurdler who has scored in the NCAA Nationals.
Alida Van Daalen our first year lady SP and DT phenom won both events at the European U-23 championships. She was over 60’ in the SP championship round and over 190’ in the discus preliminaries… she won in the finals with a 186+.

 

We also added Ashton Schwartzman 45.16 400 meters from Texas A&M, Wanya McCoy 10.10, 20.41, 45.91 from Clemson, and Abraham Sargent 219+ Javelin Oral Roberts. Anthaya Charlton is also official.

 

The athletes wanting to transfer into our track program is incredible. Saw a HS recruit - Gracelyn Leiseth, from South Dakota, is a commit - 175' 3" in discuss and 52' 6.75" in shot put. Putting together a great field program!

 

I just saw story of Gator track recruits for 2023-2024 on Gatorzone. This seems like a historic class for men and women. Could some of the better informed on this board please comment on what it means for Gator track and CC. Thanks

 

It honestly depends on who returns on both the Men’s and Women’s side. For instance the only 200-400 meter runner that is a senior (this year men) is Jacory Patterson (did not score in the open 400), and we signed two potential scorers in the open 400. All three of our scorers in the open 400 can return, the question is will they.
Signee Pavej Khan holds the 1500 record for India at 3:40.89; that would have won this years outdoor title. Kai Chang has outdoor best of 211+ in the discus, that would have been top 3-4 this year. Signee Wayna McCoy has a best of 10.10 in the 100 meters and has the potential to score in both the 100 and 200, but we lose PJ Austin who scored in the 100 and I’m not sure if Robert Gregory will return (he still has eligibility left).
We added significant talent in both the throws, jumps and distance crew on the Women’s side and both Jasmine Moore and Talitha Diggs have at least outdoor eligibility left, however both could go.
I have no inside connections, so I don’t know who plans on coming back and who doesn’t. bigigator15 seems to have some connections so perhaps he could help.
We do also have some young talent coming back that should progress enough to be scoring threats on both sides… particularly in the weights and sprints.

 

Article you reference linked. Interestingly, the author first quotes 33 signees, and in the very next paragraph mentions 32. I count 36 signees listed in the article. Either Mr. Arik Morton can't add, and/or we had a few signees added during the course of him writing the article. Either way, it's a big and impressive class.

Florida Gators Track and Field Signs Talented and Experienced Group in 2023-2024 Recruiting Class - Florida Gators

 

The first edition of that article left 4 signee’s out, all on the men’s side.
Most had already been mentioned on the track teams Twitter and Facebook sites… the real surprise was Khan from India, and Rios Prude the high sprinter. Hayles also wasn’t included at first (which was concerning) but it had already been announced on social media.
It is as you say a very impressive class, the 400 meter talent on the men side is almost unprecedented.
If the three 400 meter guys who have eligibility left come back the 4x400 could be even better than this years NCAA champions… and they set a NCAA collegiate record, and still have the best time in the world this year the last I checked.
The women went in a little bit of a different direction but are also very impressive.

 

Khan was a major get out of India, Prude has a bunch of upside and Mouse is looking more for versatility out of sprinters. Williams from last year and the kid from Jamaica has our crew young and deep along with all those 400 meter guys that led the crew last year. I know Willie left, Patterson is gone. Heard we are hoping at least one of the 2 other 400 meter guys come back. But they are so loaded..Gregory can be a very good 400 meter guy also..all 3 of the guys we signed have 100 to 400 speed. I knew when Mouse went after Eric to get him to come down to UF that we were going to load up on throwers and we have done that in spades. Multis too, the young lady we got from Queens college here in Charlotte outgrew her coaching and has the ability to score well for us. The class is massive and very good. Mouse does not really even need to leave campus now to recruit. We turned away a good amnt of kids too. Would not be surprised if we get a few more before we start indoor season.