No school east of the Mississippi River has had more success over the last two decades than Florida.
The Gators are the lone athletic program, along with Stanford, to win a national championship in every full season since 2009. And the Cardinal maintain 36 varsity teams, nearly double the 19 UF has.
That streak, though, is in serious jeopardy in 2025-26 as Florida is without a national championship. Sports like men’s basketball, men’s golf and gymnastics held high expectations but ultimately came up short.
That leaves all the pressure on track and field – the final sport UF can achieve championship glory in.
If there’s any coach you want to put the pressure on, though, it’s Mike Holloway – who was named SEC Coach of the Year Monday.
Everyone knows the legend of “Mouse” with a combined 14 national titles across men’s and women’s and indoor and outdoor track and field.
He has another top-notch bunch this season on the women’s outdoor side, and they are confident the national title streak will carry on under their watch.
What to know about Florida women’s track and field
The women’s team won national crowns in indoor and outdoor track and field in 2022, so success is nothing new with the program.
For this season, the Gators realized their full potential in the fall during cross country season.
Coach Will Palmer led the squad to the SEC Championship – the program’s second in three years. Then, in indoor season, the Gators secured the conference title for the first time since 2014. Asia Phillips said that gave them the confidence to carry into outdoors.
“We carried that fire into outdoors,” Phillips said.
Hurdles coach Nic Petersen said the women decided after indoors “this is our conference, and we’re going to own it.”
“We’re going to do what we do, and you guys are just going to try to come in and stop us,” Petersen said. “The throwers, the jumpers…everyone came together.”
High standards are expected at Florida
“If you got a Gator on your chest, we’re going to be at our best and competing for national championships,” Petersen said. “It’s built into our system. This is who we are.”
Florida completed the “triple crown” of the SEC in May with an outdoor championship – their second in program history after the 1996-97 season. That put a target on their back – one that’s been embraced by the team.
“They’ve decided it’s going to be us against the world, and they’re all going to come together and put their best foot forward,” Petersen said.
All title talk begins with Alida Van Daalen
The pride of Rotterdam, Netherlands, has made the NCAA discus throwing community her personal playground.
The senior began her college career on a tear with an SEC Championship in shot put for indoor and outdoor. She continued that momentum into the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics – where she competed in shot put and discus.
This outdoor season, she’s rewritten the record books. In her final throw at NCAA East Preliminaries in Lexington, Kentucky, Van Daalen recorded the best toss in an NCAA-Sponsored event ever, and the third-best in the world this season.
All this led to Van Daalen being named the SEC Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year Monday. However, a national title has eluded her, even though she now owns three of the top 10 discus throws in NCAA history.
Van Daalen and the rest of the other 16 women who qualified begins action at Hayward Field in Eugene Thursday, June 11. The men, which are sending 11, kick off the NCAA Championships Wednesday, June 10.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @Ramreporter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida track and field ready to continue Gators national title streak
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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By Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun | USA TODAY Network
