ATHENS, Ga. — The Bulldog track and field teams traveled to Austin, Texas, on Wednesday in anticipation for their second outdoor meet of the year at the Texas Relays.
The third-ranked Lady Bulldogs and the fifth-ranked Georgia men will join more than 7,000 other competitors at the 91strunning of the meet, which will last for UGA from Thursday through Saturday at the Mike A. Myers Stadium. This marks the Bulldogs’ second trip to the Relays in as many years.
When Do The Bulldogs Start On Thursday, Friday & Saturday? Senior Alex Larsson and junior Denzel Comenentia will start the meet for the Bulldogs in the hammer throw at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Junior Kendal Williams, senior Cejhae Greene, junior Michael Nicholls and freshman Justes Nance are expected to jumpstart the action in the first round of the 4×100-meter relay on Friday at 10:55 a.m.
On the meet’s final day, the Bulldog relay team will return to the track for the final at 2:30 p.m. and be the first of a number of Georgia competitors on the track Saturday.
Live Results: For the results throughout the weekend, please visit: http://gado.gs/8sk
Two For One In Texas: In addition, Georgia will be competing eight team members at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas. Hosted by Texas State, Larsson will begin the action in the men’s hammer throw at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Seniors Emily Savage, Anna Machovec, juniors Joe Kimura Smith, Jeramey Hampton, Jonathan Raines and freshmen Allie McClintock and Nance will also be competing.
Live Results For Bobcat Invite: http://gado.gs/8so
Next Stops For The Dogs: The Texas Relays mark the second of five scheduled regular season outdoor meets, including the Spec Towns Invitational (April 6-7) next weekend and the second-annual Torrin Lawrence Memorial (May 5). The Southeastern Conference Championships will arrive on May 11-13 in Knoxville, Tenn., and the NCAA Championships are in Eugene, Ore., on June 6-9.
Kyprianou’s Comments: “The Texas Relays are here and our teams are excited to fly to Austin and enjoy some warmer weather, which should produce some fast times,” said third-year head coach Petros Kyprianou. “We have still not arrived at our major outdoor opener as the majority of the NCAA indoor student-athletes are still training through team relays, traveling to this meet and doing different events or staying in Athens and training. This meet will serve as a good opportunity for our teams to participate in one of the best and most popular, as far as for the track fan base goes, competitions in the country.
“Texas has done a terrific job in the past hosting this big event that is a model for generating revenue in our sport. Our goal and expectation is to get qualifiers for the NCAA Prelims so we can be in position to qualify for the NCAA Championships. That’s what matters to us, that’s what makes sense and all our focus should be directed at that. Big marks early are good indicators but mean absolutely nothing until you duplicate them in Eugene. Our priority is to get healthy as that continues to be a burden but that’s life and we have to continue pushing without excuses.
“The culture of his team is changing and as we always say, ‘success only comes when doing things extraordinarily well’ and this outdoor season we will try to give our student-athletes the opportunity to have fun competing and scoring points for this amazing team. The Texas Relays are the first steps to #FindYourGreatness outdoors. Go Dawgs!”
Who Else Is Traveled For Georgia? In addition to the Bulldogs listed above, these competitors are slated to compete at the Relays: seniors Addy Lippitt, Jon Moses, Henry Dwyer, Bryan Kamau, Karl Saluri, juniors Hailey Branch, Austin Sprague, Eric Westog, sophomores Amber Tanner, Jonathan Pelham, Samantha Drop, Yanely Gomez, Katie Jackson, Tairyn Montgomery, Jessica Drop, Micaiah Ransby and freshmen Michael Hans, Marie-Therese Obst, Lynna Irby and Tara Davis.
Hampton, Raines, Machovec, McClintock and Kimura Smith will also be competing at the Relays in addition to the Bobcat Invitational, along with Larsson and Nance.
A Flashback At The 2017 Texas Relays: At last year’s Texas Relays, a number of returning Bulldogs left the facility with memorable performances, including:
- Comenentia posted a runner-up finish in the hammer with one of his top efforts of the year (233 feet, 8 inches).
- Hampton sped to a near personal record in the 800m thanks to a 1:48.18 for third place overall.
- Kamau won the 1500m after completing his laps in 3:49.72.
- Williams clocked his fastest wind-legal time of 2017 with a 10.06 to finish first in the 100m prelims before shooting to a wind-aided 9.99 to win the finals.
A Glimpse From The Dogs’ 2018 Opener: Georgia opened this season at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta on March 16-17. The Bulldogs combined for seven top collegiate finishes, including Comenentia setting the Dutch record in the hammer with the second-longest throw in school history (238 feet, 3 inches), which currently stands second nationally.