The Georgia women’s track and field team finished third for the third straight year during the final day of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday.
Sophomore Keturah Orji topped her own school record set two weeks ago at the Southeastern Conference Championships to win the triple jump title and highlight the second and final day of Nationals.
Orji’s national championship was the second for the Lady Bulldogs on the weekend after junior Kendell Williams set a collegiate record to win her third pentathlon crown in a row on Friday.
Oregon (53) edged Arkansas (50) for the women’s team title. Georgia’s 45 points set a school record after the previous high was 40.5 scored for third at the 2014 meet.
The Bulldog men scored nine points with three scorers and tied for 24th. Oregon (62) completed the sweep by winning the men’s side as Arkansas (39), Tennessee (34), LSU (28) and Texas (25) rounded out the top five.
Also on Saturday, junior Tatiana Gusin surpassed 6 feet for the second time this year and finished a career-best second in the high jump to add a valuable eight points to Georgia’s total.
Despite an injury during Saturday’s competition, senior Garrett Scantling finished in the top three in the heptathlon at the NCAA meet for the third time while sophomore Karl Saluri finished seventh to add two more points for the men.
Finally, true freshman Denzel Comenentia unleashed a personal-best effort in the shot put to pick off one point for the Bulldog men with an eighth-place finish.
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be replayed two times. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones (play-by-play), Larry Rawson (analyst), John Ander¬son and Larra Overton (sideline reporters).
Replay Schedule for NCAA Indoor Championships:
Replay (Sunday, March 13 – 7 p.m.) – ESPN2
Replay (Wednesday, March 23 – 10 p.m.) – ESPNU
“We set a school record with 45 points on the women’s side with just six women competing in the jumps and multis so I am extremely proud of our team’s performance,” said Bulldog head coach Petros Kyprianou. “Keturah capped the meet with a huge mark in the triple jump and I was happy that Tatiana came away with the best national finish of her career, even though I know she wanted to jump higher. The women’s team has now finished third for three straight years so I think we are setting the precedent for the future of this program. We are looking forward to getting even stronger as the outdoor season begins.
“The men had kind of a rough time with Maicel Uibo going out in the heptathlon and Ashinia (Miller) not having the meet he wanted to have. But I was pleased with the way Garrett Scantling fought in his final meet for us after getting banged up in the heptathlon and still finishing third. Better things are to come for the men and like the women, I am excited to see what the men can do outdoors.”
Opening with a meet and school record mark of 46 feet, 2 ½ inches at SECs, Orji again opened with her best triple jump on Saturday. The Mount Olive, N.J., native traveled 46-4, which gave her a new school record and put her in a tie as the No. 5 all-time collegiate competitor. She also had a mark of 45-8 in her series, which would have clinched the championship by more than a foot and a half.
This improves on Orji’s second-place finish as a true freshman in 2015 and gives her two NCAA titles after she also won the 2015 outdoor crown. Orji finishes the meet scoring a team-high 15 points after also taking fourth in the long jump on Friday.
Gusin matched her clearance from the 2015 NCAA meet and in doing so, shaved five spots off of her seventh-place finish last year. Gusin opened at 5-9.25 and cleared her first three heights on her first attempt, including her last clearance of 6-0.50. Her finish gives the Lady Bulldogs a competitor in the top two at the national indoor meet for the third consecutive year after Leontia Kallenou brought back-to-back titles home in 2014-15.
Also in the high jump, sophomore Mady Fagan was 10th, senior Chanice Porter took 14th and senior Kendell Williams, who had already won the pentathlon title and scored in the long jump to tally a combined 14, did not reach a height. Fagan posted two clearances, including her final mark of 5-11.25 on a third attempt. Porter reached 5-9.25 on her third try and finished 14th.
Following a near fall on the second hurdle of the heptathlon that injured his knee, Scantling had a rough finish in the 60-meter hurdles and crossed the finish line in 11th place with an 8.35. While this earned him 896 points, Scantling was slowed in the pole vault and 1000 after his encounter in the hurdles.
Scantling battled through the soreness and finished fifth in the pole vault for 910 points after clearing 16-4.75. He trailed Wisconsin’s Zach Ziemek by 111 points going into the seventh and final event.
Knowing it was his final collegiate race, Scantling powered through the 1000 with a 3:04.81 and held onto third place. Arizona’s Pau Tonneson ran the final race 16 seconds faster than Scantling and slipped into second place with 6,027 points while Ziemek (6,173) won the title.
Scantling completes his career as a four-time First Team All-American with a conference record three SEC heptathlon titles.
Saluri registered his fourth personal record of the weekend in the heptathlon’s fifth event. He ran an 8.30 to finish second in his hurdles heat and eighth overall for 908 points. Saluri moved from seventh overall to sixth with his performance.
With a first attempt clearance at 15-1, Saluri stayed in scoring position after the pole vault. He scored 790 points and was eighth going into the 1000.
Saluri went out with the first group in the 1000 and stayed in the front for the entire five laps. He ran a 2:41.89 to take 2nd and hold off Michigan’s Steven Bastien for seventh place overall by 46 total points.
Senior Maicel Uibo, who was competing in the final day of his indoor collegiate career, sustained a fall at the end of the 60 hurdles and ended up crossing the finish line in 9.00 (746). He later pulled out of the competition before the pole vault. Uibo was second at the 2014 meet and took fourth as a freshman in 2013.
Seeded 13th in the shot put coming into Nationals, true freshman Denzel Comenentia earned his first expected First Team All-America certificate and put the Georgia men on the scoreboard with a point. The Amsterdam native built his series to a career-best fifth throw of 63-3.50, which improved his No. 6 spot in the school record books, for eighth place.
Senior Ashinia Miller, who came in ranked fifth nationally, had only a single fair toss of 57-9 in the shot put. He followed that with two fouls and was 16th overall.
The Bulldogs will now have a six-day break before they open the outdoor season in Athens at the Georgia Relays on March 18-19.