TRACK and FIELD: Bulldog’s Keturah Orji SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week

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TRACK and FIELD: Bulldog’s Keturah Orji SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week

UGA Track and Field sophomore Keturah Orji jumps in the long jump event during an NCAA competition (Photo by Sean Taylor)
UGA Track and Field sophomore Keturah Orji jumps in the long jump event during an NCAA competition (Photo by Sean Taylor)

 
 
Georgia track and field sophomore Keturah Orji has been honored by the Southeastern Conference as the Women’s Field Athlete of the Week following her performance at the Virginia Challenge, according to a league announcement.
 
 
Orji (OR-gee, sounds like the letter ‘g’), who is the defending NCAA outdoor triple jump champion and captured the 2016 NCAA indoor title, was also named the Women’s Field Athlete of the Week once during this year’s indoor season.
 
 
Orji, a native of Mount Olive, N.J., made her season debut and quickly reminded the nation who is the most dominant triple jumper. She traveled 46 feet, 3 1Ž4 inches on her first try in the Invite competition. This immediately gave her the national lead by two and a half feet, produced Orji’s third-best meet of her outdoor career and shot her to No. 3 on the current world list.
 
 
Posting a mark of 45-7 on her third try before passing three times in the finals, Orji returned on her second attempt to improve her season best to 46-3.50 and ended up winning by nearly four feet. Her first two jumps gave her the ninth- and 10th-best jumps in collegiate history. Orji now owns three of the top 10 marks in NCAA history, including her winning effort and school record of 46-5.25 at last year’s Nationals.
 
 
Orji is the fourth Bulldog to earn an SEC weekly honor outdoors. Sophomores Karl Saluri and Mady Fagan swept the Field Athlete of the Week awards on April 11. Senior thrower Ashinia Miller was named the SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week on March 22.
 
 
Georgia has its final regular season meet of the year at home with the Georgia Invitational in Athens on Saturday.
 
 
Live stats and full results from the Georgia Invitational will be posted at georgiadogs.com.
 
 
Updates from Georgia’s track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack) and Snapchat (ugatrack).
 
 


 
 
 
 

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