The Lady Bulldogs had five scorers on the final day and the UGA women finished third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Georgia women finished third with 37.5 points. USC (74), Texas A&M (63), Alabama (31) and North Carolina A&T (31) completed the top five. This marks the sixth national top-five finish outdoors since 2014 during a stretch that includes a pair of runner-up finishes.
The men’s portion of the meet wrapped up on Friday. Georgia scored 25 points to take eighth with their fifth top-10 finish since 2014. LSU (84 points) captured the men’s team title.
Other than the decathlon that ran Wednesday-Thursday and the heptathlon going Friday-Saturday, the meet was set up to be a men’s competition on Wednesday and Friday and a women’s competition on Thursday and Saturday.
Two days after her bronze medal in the long jump, sophomore Jasmine Moore saved her best mark for her last attempt in the triple jump to earn a silver medal. The Grand Prairie, Texas, native completes her first full year with four First Team All-America certificates. Teammate and training partner Titiana Marsh became a scoring All-American for the first time in her career by taking seventh in the triple with her top effort also coming on her sixth attempt.
Georgia had a duo of high jumpers tally points thanks to finishes in the top seven. Sophomore Shelby Tyler hit a personal record to finish fifth at her first NCAA outdoor meet while sophomore Anna Hall had a safe clearance at 5-11.25 to tie for seventh place. Hall was the country’s second-ranked heptathlete but opted to qualify for Nationals in an individual event as she prepares for the Olympic Trials.
Graduate transfer Asya Reynolds, who finished day one in seventh, also completed the seventh and final event of the heptathlon in seventh place to earn a First Team All-America certificate. She scored 5,754 in her final collegiate action. Reynolds earned her undergrad degree at Michigan State before joining the Bulldog program prior to the 2020-21 school year.
The Bulldog men had three scorers in their final day of competition on Friday. Arian Smith, Elija Godwin, Delano Dunkley and Matthew Boling clocked a school record to take second in the 4×100-meter relay and Boling returned to finish sixth in the 100m and then took fifth in the 200m to become the first Georgia sprinter to score in three sprint events at the same NCAA outdoor meet since Mel Lattany in 1981.
On Thursday, Georgia had a pair of NCAA champions in Olympic hopefuls senior Marie-Therese Obst (javelin) and junior Karel Tilga (decathlon) to go along with another pair of scorers in Moore (third – long jump) and senior Kayla Smith (fifth – pole vault).
Unlike their teammates, Tilga and Reynolds advanced to the NCAA Championships from their national rankings and did not have to compete at the NCAA East Prelims two weeks ago.
Live Results:To check out live results throughout the four-day season finale, please check: http://gado.gs/75t
The Lowdown: Moore shot to the front of the standings after her first attempt of 45 feet, 9 ¾ inches. However she followed with a trio of fouls before having another 45-foot jump and slipping to third. On her sixth and final attempt, Moore stretched for a mark of 46-4.25 to move back into second and come within two inches from the eventual winner.
Marsh also popped a competitive mark on her first try going 44-9 to easily earn a spot in the final. On her last attempt, Marsh took off for a wind-legal personal best of 44-10.75 to take seventh and better her No. 4 spot in the school record books.
Tyler, a native of Noblesville, Ind., passed her previous career best of 5-11.50 set at the NCAA East Prelims with a mark of 6-0.50 to take fifth on Saturday. Her third attempt clearance, which was her second straight third attempt clearance of the competition, put her into a tie for 10th in the school record books and added four points to Georgia’s total.
Hall posted a second attempt clearance at 5-11.25 to tie with LSU’s Abigail O’Donoghue for seventh place. This gave Hall two national scoring showings in the event in 2021 after taking third at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Reynolds began her second day of the heptathlon by saving her top effort in the long jump for another 856 points. She traveled 19-9 to finish fifth in the event and was in seventh place headed into the javelin.
Reynolds boosted her distance in the javelin by 23 feet on her second toss and finished with a mark of 117-10. This performance scored her 589 points and put her in eighth place headed into the hep’s finale, the 800m.
Reynolds ended her heptathlon in the same fashion as she started with a personal record. She knocked out her two laps in 2:16.59 to take eighth in the event and nudge her from eighth to seventh in the overall standings.
Also of note, senior Amber Tanner completed her collegiate career by taking 10th in the 800m final with a 2:04.27. The Brentwood, Tenn., native finishes her time at UGA as a two-time SEC champion and a scoring All-American for the Lady Bulldog 4x400m relay team at the 2019 NCAA indoor meet.