Florida Athletics To finish among the nation’s top programs demands strong performances throughout an athletic department’s teams. The 2009-10 athletic year concluded with the University of Florida posting its best all-time national all-sports finish of second, thanks to the infusion of points provided by a school-record 14 top-10 national team finishes. NCAA team titles by the women’s swimming & diving and men’s indoor track & field teams highlighted Florida’s finishes. The title was the first for the men’s track & field program and the second for women’s swimming & diving. Four other programs contributed top-three finishes. The women’s tennis and men’s outdoor track & field programs were second in NCAA competition. Third-place finishes were posted by the football and women’s outdoor track & field programs. The complete list of Florida's 2009-10 top-10 teams includes: • Women’s Swimming & Diving (No. 1) • Men’s Indoor Track & Field (No. 1) • Women’s Tennis (No. 2) • Men’s Outdoor Track & Field (No. 2) • Football (No. 3) • Women’s Outdoor Track & Field (No. 3) • Women’s Indoor Track & Field (No. 4) • Gymnastics (No. 5) • Softball (No. T-5) • Men’s Swimming & Diving (No. 5) • Women’s Cross Country (No. 7) • Baseball (No. T-7) • Men’s Tennis (No. T-9) • Volleyball (No. T-9) “NCAA titles by women’s swimming & diving and men’s indoor track & field were certainly highlights of a year which saw so many top-10 finishes by Gator teams,” Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley said. “Looking to be among the teams in the hunt at the end is the goal of all of our student-athletes and coaches. We are so fortunate that they compete so hard and represent the University of Florida so well. We look forward to the future, as the Gators continue to work toward more success.” Florida was also successful away from the athletic arena in 2009-10, as a total of 177 UF student-athletes earned SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades. The SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year was a Gator in three sports (Ray Shipman/men’s basketball, Tim Tebow/football and Bank Vongvani/men’s golf). Six UF student-athletes also earned spots on ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America teams in 2009-10 (Stephanie Brombacher/softball, Kelsey Bruder/softball, Teresa Crippen/swimming at-large, Evelien Dekkers/track & field, Tebow/football and Rebekah Zaiser/gymnastics at-large), with Tebow picking up the Academic All-American of the Year honor for the second consecutive season. Seven teams had 100 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) as reported by the NCAA in November of 2009. All but three of UF’s 16 athletic teams were above the national average. The overall athletic program's GSR checked in at 85 percent, or six points above the national average. Gators by the Numbers 14 top-10 national finishes by 2009-10 teams is the best in school history. 6 Gators named ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Americans. $55 million contributed since 1990 by the UAA to UF to fund academic endeavors. More than 1.1 million fans attended 172 2009-10 home events. Five UF teams ranked among the nation's top 10 in attendance. 394 student-athletes participated in 4,328 hours of community service in 2009-2010, partnering with 19 schools, 14 civic organizations and 25 non-profit organizations. |
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