Bulldog senior Marie-Therese Obst surged from being the No. 10 all-time collegiate performer to the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer in the javelin with her win at the Florida State Relays on Friday.
Obst, a native of Oslo, Norway, answered an opening foul with a toss of 201 feet to win the competition by nearly 17 feet. This national leading mark topped her previous school record of 195 feet set last weekend at the Yellow Jacket Invitational. Obst is ranked fifth on the 2021 world list after having the longest throw in the NCAA since collegiate record holder Maggie Malone of Texas A&M launched the current record mark of 204-1 at the 2016 NCAA Championships.
When Do The Dogs Start Saturday: Friday’s action wrapped up the FSU Relays. Sophomores Anna Marian Block opens action at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. ET in the 800-meter run to start the meet’s final day.
Live Results: For full results of the FSU Relays, please visit: http://gado.gs/6n2
For live results of the Raleigh Relays, please visit: https://gado.gs/6n0
Kyprianou’s Comments: “Today was a solid day in Tallahassee with Marie being the star of the weekend for second time in a row,” said head coach Petros Kyprianou. “Anna Hall had a couple of personal records in her preparation for her first heptathlon and we generally a good showing by both of our teams. I can’t wait to get our teams to compete at our home track in front of familiar faces and hopefully improve upon our quest for NCAA Championship marks! Go Dawgs!”
The Lowdown: While Obst stole the show yet again, Georgia also had a win the women’s 800-meter run and made an improvement to the 400m hurdle record books.
Senior Halle McClintock stormed back from fifth place after a lap to win the 800m with a personal-best time. With three other runners finishing within a second of her, McClintock battled for a 2:09.15, which ranks in the top 12 nationally this year.
Fellow senior Chelsea Zoller blew past her former personal best of 1:01.58 to finish fourth in the 400m hurdles with the fifth-best time in UGA history. Zoller clocked a 1:00.05 to move to No. 16 on the current national performance list with the top time for the Lady Bulldogs since Gudrun Arnardottir registered a school record of 54.93 in 1996.
Julia Hall, Zoller, McClintock and Amber Tanner combined to earn a bronze medal in the 4x400m relay thanks to a season-best time of 3:38.89.
Tanner also continued her training for the 800m by running the 400m in Tallahassee. The 2020 SEC indoor 800m winner clocked a 55.00 to finish her lap in fourth place.
Sophomore Anna Hall also made strides in her training for the multi-events. She opened with an exceptional javelin mark if inserted into a combined events competition after reaching 148 feet to take ninth. Hall was also sixth in the 100m hurdles with a 13.88.
In just his second meet competing for Georgia, senior Alec Collins bumped his top distance in the javelin up six feet to take sixth. He reached 181 feet on his fourth try and then wrapped up the competition with a toss of 188-6.
During the 1500m, a pair of Bulldogs each had substantial personal records. Junior Grace Clements shaved 12 seconds off her previous career best with a 4:47.42 to take 13th while senior Jack Bradley trimmed nine seconds off his previous personal best thanks to a 4:06.75 for 17th.
Also of note, junior Labo Oke had his only fair attempt on his first triple jump and finished fourth with a mark of 48-11.