(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We didn’t have a great day with the weather or performances over all,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “But there were two notable results. Chanice Porter continues her improvement in the long jump and it was especially nice to have Freya (Jones) start her season. We are still set up to have a successful postseason.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Junior Chanice Porter surged into the nation’s top four this season by winning her second consecutive meet in the long jump. Porter, who has scored at the last three NCAA Championships, took off for an effort of 21 feet, ¾ inches to win the competition by more than a foot.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Ten months since taking sixth at last year’s Nationals, junior Freya Jones made her 2015 outdoor debut on Friday and was the top collegiate finisher (second overall). Jones shot into the nation’s top 11 with her second throw that measured 168 feet. She had a mark of 174-1 at the 2014 NCAA Championships and was the 2013 NCAA champion as a true freshman with a throw of 180-3.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Jones finished second at the 2013 Drake Relays and has now gone back-to-back for the last two titles in Des Moines.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the track, Reggie Glover, Raytez Jenkins, Jamario Calhoun and Drew Branch ran the 4×400-meter relay team’s second season-best time in a row to earn runner-up honors. The Bulldogs finished .10 seconds behind Illinois overall with a time of 3:05.73 to win the second heat. This ties the eighth-best time in school history (Branch was also on that relay in 2014) and moves Georgia into the top 10 nationally.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Devon Artis, Natalie Bordes, Ashley Henry and Katie Stone worked together to register a season-best time of 3:45.73 in the women’s 4×400 relay. The Lady Bulldog quartet finished 20th after also taking 20th in 2014 with a 3:43.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The men’s sprint medley relay team starts a day on the track for the Bulldogs at 11:20 a.m. ET on Saturday morning.