[su_spacer size=”40″] Rankings:
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldog men hold the No. 7 spot in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region rankings out of 15 teams while the Georgia women are in the No. 8 spot. The Georgia men are also picked to finish seventh in the Southeastern Conference while the Lady Bulldogs carry a No. 12 preseason conference ranking into this weekend’s meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Teams Competing:
[su_spacer size=”40″] Alabama A&M (women), Alabama State, Birmingham Southern, Clark Atlanta, Clayton State, Delta State (women), Georgia State (women), Georgia Tech, Jacksonville State, Mercer, Miles (women), North Georgia (women), Shorter, Stillman, Troy, Tuskegee and West Georgia are all expected to compete versus Georgia on the course that winds around the Oxford Lake Complex.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “Although we are kind of training right through this first meet, all of us feel a lot of excitement to get the season started,” said Patrick Cunniff, who is starting his fourth season as the Bulldogs’ distance coach. “Especially compared to last year when we knew we were going to sit out a lot of our top runners and in turn deal with the results. This year, we will have all of our top people in uniform and getting ready to contribute.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Bulldogs Taking The Course:
[su_spacer size=”40″] Cunniff will be traveling 11 women to run in the 4k race at 7:15 p.m. ET. Redshirt sophomore Morgan Ainslie, redshirt freshman Hailey Branch, sophomore Sara Dort, redshirt freshman Dorie Faber, redshirt freshman Anna Gandolfo, sophomore Lauren Hovis, sophomore Courtney Howley, redshirt freshman Ashley Powell, sophomore Laurel Sumner, redshirt freshman Grace Tavani and redshirt freshman Lara Way. Only Dort, Hovis, Howley and Sumner ran for UGA last year as the other seven redshirted in 2014.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the men’s 5k at 7:45 p.m., 13 Bulldogs are scheduled to take the course in the season opener. Redshirt sophomore Henry Dwyer, redshirt freshman Terrell Estime, senior Michael Giuliano, junior transfer Eric Graf, freshman Jeramey Hampton, junior Christian Harrison, junior Jimmy Hicks, sophomore Bryan Kamau, junior Morgan Malanoski, senior Zack Sims, junior Kisean Smith, senior Steven Spevacek and junior Sid Vaughn are set to battle the competition. Estime, Harrison, Sims and Vaughn redshirted last year, Hampton started school this fall and Graf transferred from Oklahoma this summer.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We had a hard, high-volume workout on Tuesday so this meet is designed just to get our season started and to bust the rust off and get the juices flowing,” Cunniff said. “We will try and be completely ready at the end of October.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] This year’s men’s team will have a much different look than last year’s squad. Sims, who was a 2013 All-Region performer, and Vaughn, who earned a spot on the 2012 All-SEC Freshman Team, will join Spevacek, who led the Bulldogs in all six meets last year, at the front of the pack. Earning All-Region honors for the Sooners last season, Graf is also expected to help the Bulldogs make a push for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2013.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Since this is a shorter 5k for the men, middle-distance runners Hampton, Harrison and Smith will also be competing for the Bulldogs on Friday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the women’s side, Ainslie, who ran in three meets in 2013 as a true freshman, and Dort, who competed in four meets last season in her first year, are expected to lead the team in Oxford this weekend.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We are really looking forward to have Zack and Sid rejoin us after redshirting last year and we are excited to see what a guy like Eric Graf will add to our team this season,” Cunniff said. “For the women, I think Sara Dort and Morgan Ainslie should be setting the tone this weekend and starting our team off in the right direction for the year.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] What’s Next:
[su_spacer size=”40″] Following Friday’s action, Georgia will return to action at the Furman Cross Country Classic in Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 12. The Bulldogs have regular season stops in Boston for the Coast-To-Coast Battle in Beantown (Sept. 25) and in Louisville, Ky., for the NCAA Pre-Nationals (Oct. 17) before the postseason begins with the SEC Championships in College Station, Texas, on Oct. 30.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia will then travel a crew to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the NCAA South Regionals on Nov. 13 in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Championships in Louisville on Nov. 21.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “The nice thing about going to a smaller meet like the one we are going to this weekend is that it gives our younger runners an opportunity to get their feet wet and soak in the college atmosphere,” said Cunniff. “They shouldn’t be facing as much of an overwhelming type of competition. Furman will give us another step in that direction and then by the meet in Boston or at Pre-Nationals, they better be ready to sink or swim.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Last Year’s Results:
[su_spacer size=”40″] In 2014, the Georgia women were 10th at the SEC Championships and eighth at the NCAA South Regional. Junior Lauren Kelly led her teammates at the Regional meet with a 32nd-place finish (20:37.80) in the 8k race.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Kelly returns to this year’s lineup and is expected to open her season on September 12 at the Furman Cross Country Classic, along with fellow returning scorers sophomore Addy Lippitt and senior Erica Ramsey.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldog men finished 11th at last year’s SEC Championships and were ninth at the Regional. Spevacek was Georgia’s top finisher in both, taking 34th (25:25.66) in the 8k SEC race and 10th (30:41.50) in the 10k Regional for All-Region honors.