( Photo by John Kelley )
[su_spacer size=”40″] Eleven SEC teams are ranked in the top 10 of the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national polls and 18 are ranked overall in the men and women’s top 25.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Georgia women, who are carrying their top outdoor ranking in history, and the Bulldog men, who have surged into their top regular season ranking this year, start the meet with the women’s hammer throw (junior Shelby Ashe, sophomore Asianna Covington) and decathlon (junior Maicel Uibo) for the men at 12 p.m. ET.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Live coverage of the meet will air on SEC Network + on Friday and Saturday. The coverage will air from 4:40 p.m.-7:50 p.m. on Friday and from 3:50-7:50 p.m. on Saturday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] ESPNU will air the SEC Championships as part of a two-hour show on May 21 beginning at 8 p.m. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones (play-by-play), Larry Rawson (analyst) and Jill Montgomery (reporter).
[su_spacer size=”40″] “Our goal at this meet is to stay healthy through it and try to be in the top half of the team finishers,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “Indoors, we finished in the top half at SECs and ended up in the top 10 at Nationals. In a way, it’s very much like Duke in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament where they may lose in the third round of the ACC Tournament, but then bounce right back and advance deep into the NCAA Tournament.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “To get to Eugene, we need to get better at this meet and then be prepared to qualify at the NCAA Prelims in Jacksonville. We just have to keep trying to do what we do, not worry about rankings and stay focused for on our ultimate goal.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] This marks the first of three postseason meets for the Bulldogs. Georgia travels to Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA East Prelims on May 28-30 and then to Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Championships on June 10-13.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Freshman Keturah Orji is tied for the conference’s leading mark in the long jump (21 feet, 9 inches) and is leading the triple jump with an effort of 45-2.25 at one of Georgia’s home meets. Sophomore Alex Poursanidis, who won the hammer throw title as a freshman in 2014, leads the league with a toss of 229-11. Finally, senior Quintunya Chapman (heptathlon) and senior Garrett Scantling (decathlon) are in the No. 1 spot in the multi-events headed into the weekend, although Scantling will only be competing in the open javelin and pole vault at SECs while he trains for NCAAs.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia is coming off on one of its most successful meet weekends of the season. The Bulldogs posted 13 top collegiate finishes, including Orji’s national leading mark in the long jump and junior Chanice Porter winning mark of 6-0.50 in her first collegiate high jump competition.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the men’s side, junior Jamario Calhoun took off for the country’s eighth-best effort in the long jump (25-6.25) to win the Georgia Invitational last weekend in Athens.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Last year, the Bulldog men scored 92 points for fourth place while the Lady Bulldogs scored 70.50 for fifth place. UGA had six individual champions with Poursanidis (hammer), Kendell Williams (heptathlon), Uibo (decathlon), Brandon Lord (10,000) and Leontia Kallenou (high jump). Lord, however, will be running in the 5000 this weekend as he trains for the coming NCAA Prelims in the 10,000.