Kevkhishvili, Taylor Earn SEC Athlete of Year Honors

Junior Florida thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili and freshman jumper Christian Taylor each have earned 2009 Indoor Athlete of the Year honors from the Southeastern Conference, the league offices in Birmingham, Ala., announced Thursday afternoon.

Kevkhishvili was named the league’s Female Field Athlete of the Year, while Taylor was named the Male Field Athlete of the Year. Taylor also was named the SEC’s Male Freshman Field Athlete of the Year.

Kevkhishvili won the women’s shot put title at the SEC Indoor Championships last weekend, making her the first Florida woman to do so since Candice Scott captured the event in 2005. Kevkhishvili broke the SEC Indoor Meet Record and also shattered her own school record in that event with a toss of 58-10.25/17.94m.

Kevkhishvili’s toss is currently the best in the nation so far this season and she is also undefeated in 2009, winning each of the five shot put competitions in which she has competed. She also has notched an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in each of those five competitions.

Taylor won the Cliff Harper Trophy at the SEC Indoor Championships, awarded to the high-points scorer. He finished with 22.5 points and became the first freshman in school history to have won that award.

Taylor was a part of three of Florida’s five SEC individual championships at this past weekend’s league meet, winning the men’s long jump, the men’s triple jump and was a part of the winning 4x400m relay team that set a new E.J. Nutter Fieldhouse record. He became the first SEC athlete since 2004 to win both the men’s indoor long jump and the men’s indoor triple jump in the same year.

Taylor leads the SEC in the long jump (26-3.75/8.02m) and is second in the triple jump (52-10.25/16.11m), and has notched NCAA automatic-qualifying marks in both events. He also ranks second in the nation in the long jump.