(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] The combined events competition will begin with the heptathlon’s 100-meter hurdles for the women at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The first four events (100 hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200) will be completed on Wednesday with the final three events (long jump, javelin, 800) wrapping up on Thursday starting at 2 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Heptathletes from Georgia, Florida State and North Carolina will be joined by three unattached athletes in the competition.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldog Decathlon will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday with the 100. The next four events (long jump, shot put, high jump, 400) will also be run on Wednesday and the final five events (110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, 1500) are on Thursday’s schedule starting at 1 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs, South Carolina, Middle Tennessee State and High Point University will have athletes competing in the decathlon, along with a pair of unattached athletes.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Lady Bulldog senior Quintunya Chapman will headline the Bulldog Heptathlon field, which is expected to consist of eight women. Chapman is coming off a sixth-place finish in the pentathlon at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships after she scored the fourth-most points (4,259) in Georgia history. She was also a First Team All-American at last year’s NCAA outdoor meet in the heptathlon with 5,610 points for sixth place.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Chapman’s career best in the heptathlon came at the Bulldog Heptathlon last year after she finished fourth with 5,659 points, which ranks No. 5 in the UGA record books.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Sophomore Kendell Williams, who set an American Junior record by winning the 2014 Bulldog Heptathlon with 6,018 points last year, will be resting this week. Williams captured the 2014 SEC and NCAA titles in her first season and then broke her own collegiate record in the pentathlon to repeat as national champion in 2015.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the Bulldog Decathlon, junior Garrett Scantling and sophomore Devon Williams are two of the front-runners in the seven-man field. Scantling returns to competition in the multi-events after finishing second in the heptathlon at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships by just two points with a school record total of 6,068. Last year, Scantling finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a final score of 7,984 in the decathlon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling scored a season-best tally at the 2014 Bulldog Decathlon with 8,169 points to win after taking second in 2013 to teammate Maicel Uibo.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Devon Williams returns for his first multi-events competition since scoring a career-high 5,835 points for fifth place in the heptathlon at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships. He redshirted last outdoor season. In 2013, Williams pulled out of the Bulldog Decathlon after falling during the 110 hurdles but returned to finish sixth at the SEC Championships as a true freshman later that season.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Uibo, a junior who won the 2013 Bulldog Decathlon with a school record total of 8,223 points, finished second behind Scantling at last year’s home meet. The two-time defending SEC champion and 2014 NCAA decathlon champion will be competing in the open long jump and discus this week.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Others In The Field
The Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon will also have other notable performers during the two-day competition on Wednesday and Thursday.
Decathlon
[su_spacer size=”40″] Gonzalo Barroilhet – A former Florida State Seminole, Barroilhet has competed at the last two Olympic Games for his native country of Chile. In 2012, Barroilhet finished 13th in London after scoring 7,972 points. He set school records in both the heptathlon and decathlon at FSU and finished in the top four at four NCAA Championships, including winning the 2008 national heptathlon crown.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Tommy Barrineau – Barrineau won Georgia its first SEC heptathlon championship after scoring 5,700 points indoors in 2010. He remains No. 5 on Georgia’s all-time list in the decathlon (7,654 points) and fifth in the Bulldog record books in the heptathlon with his 2010 SEC score. Barrineau is also the son of former Bulldog Jim Barrineau, who was a four-time All-American at Georgia and won two SEC high jump titles.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Heptathlon
Aliyah Johnson – A true freshman for the Lady Bulldogs, Johnson is redshirting the outdoor season after arriving in Athens from her home in Brisbane, Australia, in January. She competed indoors and finished 12th at the 2015 SEC Indoor Championships after scoring 3,611 points in the pentathlon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] #DogDecHep will be used as the hashtag on Twitter for the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon and #SpecTownsInvite will be used for this weekend’s meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Spec Towns Invitational will start on Friday at 12 p.m. and then again on Saturday at 12 p.m. All men’s events will be run on Friday while all women’s events will be run on Saturday. This format is similar to how the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships have been organized, which will be held in Eugene, Ore., on June 10-13.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Meet Coverage
Live and full results and recaps from the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon as well as the Spec Towns Invitational will be located at georgiadogs.com. Updates from this meet and throughout the season will be posted on Twitter at @UGA_XCTF.