[su_spacer size=”40″] Leontia Kallenou, a native of Nicosia, Cyprus, cleared a school record height of 6 feet, 4 inches on her third and final attempt to edge Akron senior Claudia Garcia Jou (6-2.75). This marked Kallenou’s third consecutive NCAA title and her second straight national indoor crown.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Also in the high jump, sophomore Tatiana Gusin went over the bar at 6-0.50 on her first try to take seventh place and score two points. Gusin was making her debut at the NCAA Indoor Championships after finishing ninth at the 2014 NCAA outdoor meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Junior Chanice Porter also earned what is expected to be her second consecutive First Team All-America certificate in the long jump after taking seventh with a mark of 20-7.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the men’s side, Georgia had early success during the first four events of the heptathlon. Junior Garrett Scantling posted two personal bests to end his first day and tallied 3,368 points to move into third place. Sophomore Devon Williams, who is at his first NCAA Championships, went 4-for-4 on career bests to score a day one personal best of 3,201 points for sixth place.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the early team standings, the fourth-ranked Lady Bulldogs are first (14 points) at the Randal Tyson Track Center with Oregon (13.50) in second and Baylor (13), Arkansas (13) and Akron (12) and Kentucky (12) also hanging near the top of the rankings.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the men’s side, Oregon (32) is leading with Arkansas (23), Florida (16), Akron (10) and Wisconsin (10) rounding out the top five.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “It is always nice to win an NCAA title and have scorers so I’d say we had some good things happen today,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “But we also had some bad things happen. Maicel Uibo going down in the first event of the heptathlon hurt and we thought we would have two scorers in the long jump. I think the heptathletes who remain will come through for us (on Saturday) and we have some other big scoring opportunities. We need to stay focused and get back to work in the morning. But we are very proud of Leontia’s accomplishment and how she got there today.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldog pair in the heptathlon cranks back up on Saturday with their final three events at 11:45 a.m. ET, starting with the 60-meter hurdles. Defending NCAA champion Kendell Williams and her senior teammate Quintunya Chapman start their first of five events with the 60 hurdles at 12:30 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia will also have four competitors in the open events on Saturday. Senior Morgann Leleux will be competing at her fourth NCAA indoor meet in the women’s pole vault at 6:30 p.m. Freshman Keturah Orji returns to action in the triple jump at 7 p.m. while senior Nick Vena and junior Ashinia Miller are two of 16 competitors in the men’s shot put field at 7:30 p.m. and will be aiming to score for the first time at an NCAA indoor meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Leontia Kallenou provided a dominating performance to clinch her seventh postseason win in a row dating back to the beginning of the 2014 indoor season. She came in at 5-10 and recorded first attempt clearances at her first five heights, including at her former school record mark of 6-2.75 that won the SEC title two weeks ago. After Jou missed 6-4 for the third time and the NCAA title was official for Kallenou, the Lady Bulldog flew over the bar at 6-4 to top her own Cyprus national record and ended the competition.
[su_spacer size=”40″] This is the 15th NCAA indoor title for the Lady Bulldogs and the fourth in the last three years. Georgia has now captured three NCAA indoor high jump titles, counting Patty Sylvester’s 2007 championship. Kallenou becomes one of six women all-time to win at least two NCAA indoor high jump titles.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Gusin, who finished one spot out of scoring at last year’s outdoor Nationals, rallied for a third attempt clearance at 5-11.25 and then reached a mark of 6-0.50 on her first try to earn expected First Team All-America honors for the first time in her career. This performance gives Gusin three six-foot marks in 2015.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Porter competed for the first time in a month after missing the SEC Championships and left with another scoring performance. The Pratville, Jamaica, native opened with a leading effort of 20-3.75 and then topped out at 20-7 for seventh place. Porter, who was ranked 13th nationally coming into Friday’s action, was second at last year’s Nationals after traveling 20-9.75.
[su_spacer size=”40″] After starting slow in the heptathlon’s 60 and long jump, Scantling locked down personal-best performances in the shot put and high jump to end his day. In the shot, the Jacksonville, Fla., native sandwiched the longest throw of his career (50-6) between to fouls to score 814 points and win the event by nearly three feet. Scantling reached 49-1.75 at the SEC meet to establish his previous career best.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling concluded his day in the high jump with a first attempt clearance of 6-11.75, which bettered his previous personal best of 6-11 set while tying for the win at the 2013 NCAAs. He scored 925 points to surge into third place with three events to go on Saturday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling started his day by finishing 10th in the 60 with a 7.11. His 844 points put him in an early hole since seven heptathletes clocked 7.04s or better to kick off the competition.
[su_spacer size=”40″] During the long jump, Scantling opened with an effort of 22-7 and had fouls on his next two attempts. He was eighth for 785 points in the event as the top seven finishers reached at least 23 feet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Aiming for his high jump performance to be a springboard for his second day, Williams cleared his first three heights on his opening try before reaching a career-high mark of 6-3.50 on his second try. He was 10th in the event for 731 points and moved into sixth place overall. Williams came into NCAAs ranked 13th nationally in the heptathlon.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams’ series in the long jump went from a foul, to a 22-9.75 mark and finally to the best jump of his career at 24-1.75. He tallied 900 points with his performance and was sixth in the event. This marked Williams’ first 24-foot jump after previously peaking at the 2013 SEC Championships (23-9.50).
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams opened with a career-long throw in the shot put (44-6.25) to take fifth for 702 points. This marked his fourth consecutive meet this season of reaching at least 43 feet in the shot put after reaching 39 feet as a freshman in 2013.
[su_spacer size=”40″] To start his day, Williams finished seventh in the 60 after running a personal-best time of 7.04. After starting his season with an earlier personal best of 7.07 in the heptathlon at the McCravy Memorial, Williams scored 868 points on Friday and immediately put himself into play in the standings.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Scantling and Williams’ training partner, junior Maicel Uibo, sustained a hamstring injury in the opening event. The 2014 NCAA runner-up who had the nation’s second-best score this season opened the competition with a 7.43 in the 60 but was forced to limp off the track following the race.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In Georgia’s sole open event on the track, senior Brandon Lord finished 15th after completing his 25 laps in 14:16.73. Lord now prepares for his final outdoor season after also advancing to three NCAA Cross Country Championships and last year’s outdoor Nationals in the 10,000.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Orji started her first NCAA Championships by finishing 13th in the long jump. Opening with a foul, the true freshman from Mount Olive, N.J., traveled 19-8.25 on her last try to narrowly miss the finals. Orji is the national leader in the triple jump and return to action on Saturday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Full results and a recap from the NCAA Indoor Championships will be located at
georgiadogs.com. Updates from this meet and throughout the outdoor season will be posted on Twitter at @UGA_XCTF.