[su_spacer size=”20″] A Lady Bulldog and a member of the Georgia men’s team both surged to the top of the standings to start the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon at the Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday afternoon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Senior Quintunya Chapman scored a day one personal-best score of 3,600 points thanks to notching personal bests in three of four events to highlight the Bulldog Heptathlon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Junior Garrett Scantling came away with a personal-best of his own following the first day of the Bulldog Decathlon. Scantling scored 4,279 points and checked in with four career bests out of his five events. Sophomore Devon Williams also finished the day in sixth place with 3,832 points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “The weather and the setting for this first day of the multis was excellent,” said Bulldog associate head coach Petros Kyprianou. “This meet has been one of the best in the country performance wise over the last couple of years and this year looks to be no different. Quintunya had a tremendous day with huge performances throughout. I think she is on the way to a really great final score. This is her final year and she wants to go out with a bang.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “Garrett is also ahead of his personal best. He came through in the 400-meter dash and I know he, like Quintunya, is hoping to finish strong on Thursday.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Chapman fired out of the gates with a monstrous personal-best time in the 100-meter hurdles to win the event. After clocking a 13.96 during last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, Chapman ran a 13.56 on Wednesday to move to No. 6 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list and score 1,041 points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] To wrap up her day, Chapman blazed to the fastest time of her career in the 200 to leave the field behind. Chapman added 1,009 points to her total and won by nearly a second with her first career time under 24 seconds.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Chapman returned in the third event of the day to finish with another sizable personal record in the shot put to win and score 814 points. The Hinesville, Ga., sandwiched a throw of 46 feet, 11 inches in her three-throw series to improve her previous top performance of 42-6 from last year’s Bulldog Heptathlon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the high jump, Chapman posted a third-attempt clearance of 5-3 to tie for fifth in the event and score 736 points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling matched his career best in the 100 to start the decathlon. The Jacksonville, Fla., native equaled his time from the 2013 Bulldog Decathlon of 10.85 to score 894 points and take an early lead.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Also on the track, Scantling ran a lap in a career-best time of 49.04 to edge former Bulldog and Finland’s Tommy Barrineau by a hundredth of a second. Scantling scored 859 points in the event. Barrineau scored a day one personal best of 3,934 and is in second place overall.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Thanks to a career-best effort in the shot put on his third try, Scantling won with 793 points during the third event of the day. Opening with a mark of 47-0.75, Scantling bounced back from a second attempt foul and launched the longest toss of his career.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling worked up to the best mark of his career in the long jump of 23-9.50 for second place and 874 points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling was a half-inch below his personal-best clearance of 6-9.50 and won the high jump. Scantling cleared 6-9 to score 859 points and position himself in the lead heading into the 400.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams opened his first decathlon competition since 2013 with the second-best time of his career. He ran a 10.87 to take second in the 100 and score 890 points to finish the first event four points behind Scantling.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams took third in the long jump (23-8.25) after taking third for 866 points. In the shot put, Williams avoided trouble after fouling on his first two attempts and finished sixth with a top effort of 39-7.
[su_spacer size=”40″] During the high jump, Williams reached 5-11.50 to score 644 points and take seventh in the event. He ran a 49.85 for 822 points in the 400 to conclude his day.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The 110 hurdles for the decathletes starts at 1 p.m. on Thursday and the next four events (discus, pole vault, javelin, 1500) will be completed later that day. The heptathlon long jump is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday and the other two events (javelin, 800) will start later in the day.