(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs had the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon at the Spec Towns Track on Wednesday and Thursday and will then welcome Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and others for the weekend meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Similar to the setup of this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 10-13, Georgia will run all of the men’s events on Friday starting with the hammer throw at 12 p.m. Events will continue through the 4×400-meter relay scheduled at 2:55 p.m. later that day.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The women’s portion of the meet will begin with the hammer at 12 p.m. on Saturday. Also like the men, the 4×400 relay will wrap up the two-day event at 2:55 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “As always, it is great and important to be able to compete in Athens because we do well on the home track,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “It’s an important time of the year to produce some quality marks that put us up on the national lists. Around the country, most teams will be underway with their seasons by now so you can get a better idea of who will be some of the better teams. We need to progress towards being one of those teams. We look for a great start in the decathlon and heptathlon and then to keep it going Friday and Saturday.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Lady Bulldogs check in at eighth in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll while the Georgia men are ranked 11th. The Georgia women finished fifth at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the men were sixth at last year’s Nationals.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Loaded Field
The fourth outdoor meet weekend of the year for the Bulldogs will feature a host of past NCAA and SEC scorers as well as a variety of national and conference champions as they ready for the coming postseason. Many of these are currently high on the national performance list and others are aiming to reach that top-10 list following their season debut.
[su_spacer size=”40″] WOMEN
● Junior Shelby Ashe returns to Athens after blasting to the No. 4 spot nationally in the hammer last weekend in Florida. Ashe had a mark of 211-8, which gave her the win at the Relays and moved her to No. 4 on the school’s all-time top-10 list. This is her second meet at Spec Towns Track as a Lady Bulldog after transferring from California.
● Junior Leontia Kallenou opens her season in the high jump as the three-time defending NCAA champion (2014 indoor and outdoor, 2015 indoor). In fact, Kallenou has won her last seven postseason meets, dating back to the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships. She cleared 6-2 at this meet last year and topped out at 6-3.50 during her win at SECs.
● Junior Morgann Leleux redshirted last outdoor season while recovering from an injury. However, she is a four-time scorer at the NCAA Championships, including a pair of runner-up finishes as a true freshman in 2012. Leleux owns the school outdoor record (14-6.75), cleared 14-2 the last time she competed at the Spec Towns meet and hit a school record mark of 14-4 when she won the meet in 2012.
● Freshman Keturah Orji will double in the triple and long jumps during her outdoor career debut. She won the SEC indoor triple jump title and was third in the long and then earned runner-up honors in the triple at NCAAs. The school record in the outdoor triple is 45 feet and Orji set the indoor record with a mark of 45-10.50.
● Junior Chanice Porter will start her outdoor season in the long jump after most recently finishing as a First Team All-American at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships. Porter won this meet last year after soaring 21-4.25 and later scored at Nationals.
[su_spacer size=”40″] MEN
● Senior Drew Branch, who is 15th on the national list in the 400 hurdles (51.17), will be running in the 400, which is an event he is ranked 18th in nationally. He ran a 46.78 the last time he competed on the Spec Towns Track for the Georgia Relays in the season opener.
● Sophomore Alex Larsson advanced to outdoor Nationals as a true freshman last year and had his season-best effort of 214-9 at last year’s Spec Towns meet.
● Senior Brandon Lord advanced to the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000 after winning an SEC title in the event. This weekend, he will run in the 1500.
● Junior Ashinia Miller starred at this year’s Texas Relays after lifting the shot a distance of 65-1.25 for second place and moving to No. 3 on the national performance list. He advanced to his first NCAA meet this indoor season.
● Sophomore Alex Poursanidis lifted the nation’s second-longest effort in the hammer throw this year with a toss of 229-11 to win the Florida Relays last week. He looks to improve on his No. 6 spot in the school record books on Friday.
● Senior Maicel Uibo will compete in the open long jump and discus at the Spec Towns meet while he finishes his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained at the 2015 NCAA indoor meet. Uibo is the defending NCAA and SEC decathlon champion and was second at the Bulldog Decathlon behind teammate Garrett Scantling last year.
● Senior Nick Vena posted a season-best shot put mark of 64-8.75 for fourth-place honors at the Florida Relays. He concluded his 2014 outdoor season with two 66-foot performances, including a third-place finish at Nationals.