The Bulldog track and field program traveled to Eugene, Ore., on Sunday to acclimate before the NCAA Outdoor Championships arrive at historic Hayward Field on Wednesday through Saturday.
The top-ranked Georgia women and the third-ranked Bulldog men return to action two weeks after qualifying 14 individual competitors and the men’s 4×100-meter relay team at the NCAA East Prelims in Tampa, Fla. Decathletes Karl Saluri and Johannes Erm and heptathlete Louisa Grauvogel had already qualified automatically for the final round because of their earlier scores.
This marks the Bulldogs’ first NCAA Championships since the Lady Bulldogs collected the program’s first national team championship indoors in March. The Georgia men also posted a team-best third-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
There are a combined 20 Southeastern Conference teams in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top-25 polls, including 11 in the top 10. Last year, the Lady Bulldogs finished second at the NCAA Outdoor Championships by just 1.8 points and the men left the University of Oregon campus with a sixth-place finish.
When Do The Bulldogs Start Competition? Saluri, a senior, and Erm, a freshman, start the meet for the Bulldogs in the decathlon’s first event (100m) at 3:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The decathletes will complete four more events (long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m) on the first day before wrapping up the final five on Thursday.
Junior Denzel Comenentia begins the open events for Georgia in the men’s hammer throw at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Freshman Tara Davis is the first Lady Bulldog to compete (100m hurdle semifinal) on Thursday at 8:02 p.m. Other than the decathlon running Wednesday-Thursday and the heptathlon going Friday-Saturday, the meet is set up to be a men’s competition on Wednesday and Friday and a women’s competition on Thursday and Saturday.
Where To Catch The NCAA Championships: ESPN has exclusive rights to broadcast the meet and will feature the Nationals on a variety of platforms:
*Wednesday: 7:30 p.m. – 11 p.m., ESPN2; 3:20 p.m. – 11 p.m. – ESPN3
*Thursday: 7 p.m. – 10:30 p.m., ESPN2; 12:50 p.m. – 10:45 p.m., ESPN3
*Friday: 8:30 p.m. – 11 p.m., ESPN; 3:20 p.m. – 10:30 p.m., ESPN3
*Saturday: 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., ESPN; 2:20 p.m. – 8:15 p.m., ESPN3
*tentative schedule
Live Results: To check out live results throughout the four-day season finale, please check: gado.gs/969
Kyprianou’s Comments: “We have arrived at what I think it will be the best NCAA Championship in history,” said head coach Petros Kyprianou. “This marks the last year competing on Hayward Field before it is demolished and massively upgraded. There is track magic there and we have felt it every year. Our teams are excited and ready to give these Championships a great run as we are prepared and ready for action! We have been talking about this ever week since August. Every step of the way, every argument, every tough moment, none of it seemed that important as we were going through it but it was a part of the process of getting here in the best shape possible.
“I feel good about where we are and can’t wait to watch our student-athletes go out and have fun. We sit in a very good spot but there are some serious teams that want the titles as bad as we do it, and it is seems closer than ever with the top five teams within three to five points of each other. We can control what we can control and I personally think that’s a lot! We have to go in punching first and not waiting for a ‘moment.’ This is track and field and anything can happen.
“Last time we were here, we set records and made history. However, the meet had a bittersweet ending. We have been talking about that moment and how we controlled everything we could but came up short. It is time to duplicate that effort and make a serious push in both genders and see where that leads us. All I know is that both of our teams, coaches and staff will leave it all on the track. The outcome will be fun if we do stay focused and just accomplish simple things extraordinarily well, like we have been talking about the last three years. I just want our student-athletes to come out swinging first and have as much fun doing it as they can. Go Dawgs!”
What Bulldogs Are Competing: Seniors Cejhae Greene (100m, 4x100m relay), Saluri (decathlon), Tatiana Gusin (high jump), Keturah Orji (triple jump, long jump), juniors Comenentia (hammer throw, shot put), Kendal Williams (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay), Raytez Jenkins (4x100m relay), Keenon Laine (high jump), Michael Nicholls (4x100m relay), Jonathan Raines (4x100m relay), sophomores Jessica Drop (5000m), Samantha Drop (10,000m), Kate Hall (long jump), Grauvogel (heptathlon), Tairyn Montgomery (javelin), Marie-Therese Obst (javelin) and freshmen Erm (decathlon), Justes Nance (4x100m relay), Lynna Irby (200m, 400m), Davis (long jump, 100m hurdles) and Antonios Merlos (high jump) are slated to compete (or be relay alternates) over the weekend.