T&F: Kyle Garland Named South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year
Bulldog junior Kyle Garland has been named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year for the outdoor season, according to a recent announcement.
Garland, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., is the sixth different member of the men’s team to garner this honor since 2009. His former training partner and 2021 NCAA decathlon champion Karel Tilga won last year’s award, giving the Bulldogs back-to-back accolades in the category.
Garland set a collegiate and school record in the decathlon to earn a silver medal at the 2022 USATF Combined Events Championships thanks to a score of 8,720. His mark was the eighth best for an American in history as it qualified Garland for the coming World Athletics Championships.
Garland scored the second-highest decathlon total of his career at 8,333 points to earn a bronze medal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships during the second week of June. This performance helped the Bulldogs to their third top-five finish at the meet in the last four seasons.
While the collegiate season is now complete, a number of Bulldogs are expected to compete at a variety of summer meets. Garland will represent Georgia at the World Athletics Championships on July 15-24 in Eugene, Ore., and other Bulldogs are expected to compete at the USATF Championships on June 23-26, which are also on the University of Oregon’s campus.
T&F: ICYMI – Georgia Adds Patrick Henner As Cross Country Head Coach
The Bulldogs have added Patrick Henner as the cross country head coach and an assistant track and field coach, according to Georgia head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert.
Henner comes to Athens after coaching Arizona State’s distance corps for the last two years. Prior to his stop in Tempe, Henner had a three-year stay at the University of Southern California under Smith Gilbert.
Most recently, Henner guided Sun Devil freshman Dayton Carlson to finish sixth in the 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships final with a personal record 1:46.72. Carlson arrived at Arizona State with an 800m personal best of 1:51.71. In addition, Arizona State’s Vincent Mauri finished 18th at Nationals. Henner directed Mauri to personal bests of 1:49.40 and 13:39.13 as well as All-America Honorable Mention honors in 2022.
Year one of Henner’s tenure with the Sun Devils saw him push Mauri to a new level. The freshman set new personal records in the 8K, mile and 1500m. Mauri was ASU’s top finisher at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships where he took 22nd in 23:35.3. The freshman then went on to run 3:41.22 in the 1500m at the NCAA West Prelims where he took 15th, just missing the outdoor championships. Henner’s runners also recorded three new all-time top-10 entries.
In three years with the Trojans, Henner brought in two recruiting classes and helped almost every cross country runner set their personal bests in the 6K. In his two seasons working with the distance athletes, runners Robert Ford and Isaiah Jewett won consecutive Pac-12 men’s 800m titles, and he placed two male and female runners into USC’s all-time top 10 in the event. Jewett claimed the Pac-12 title and All-America honors in the 800m during the 2019 spring season, and he also set USC’s 800m indoor record.
At the 2019 USATF Championships, Jewett finished fifth in the 800m, missing a spot on Team USA for the World Championships by only .3. Jewett went undefeated in the 400m and 800m indoors in 2019-20 and was a favorite to win the national title in the 800m prior to the 2020 COVID cancellation.
Under Henner’s guidance, Nicolaus Jakowec set the school indoor 3000m record, and Jemima Russell set the freshman record for the 800m. Henner also helped numerous Trojans crack the program’s indoor and outdoor all-time lists.
Prior to USC, Henner was the director of track and field and cross country at Georgetown from 2007-15, and prior to that he had spent eight seasons as the Hoyas’ head men’s cross country coach and assistant coach for the men’s and women’s track and field team.
Henner’s coaching resumé also includes a nine-year stay at James Madison where he led both the men’s and women’s cross country teams to their first CAA titles, trained 28 track and field All-Americans, and was twice named CAA Coach of the Year. He began his coaching career at Blacksburg High in Blacksburg, Va., where both the men’s and women’s teams won state championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
Georgia’s Camp Sunshine Visits: Special Events Lost To Covid
Camp Sunshine enriches the lives of Georgia’s children with cancer and their families through recreational, educational, and support programs. -Camp Sunshine Mission Statement
For several years Georgia football players made visits to Camp Sunshine each June. The emergence of Covid, of course, ended the practice and that is a shame. If the looks on the faces of the campers (kids with cancer or who have recovered from the disease) are any indication, they loved it! However, equally compelling was the way players warmed to the children and enjoyed the visits as much as the campers.
There is good news, however. Camp Sunshine is operating a full capacity this year. Maybe the team will be back at Camp next year.
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