[su_spacer size=”40″] Thanks in part to Uibo’s championship, the Georgia men have scored 47 points and are only trailing Florida (50) in the team race. The Bulldogs have a 11-point lead on third-place Arkansas (36).
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Lady Bulldogs are also in second place with 46 points with Arkansas taking an early lead at 58.50. UGA has a nine-point edge on Texas A&M (37) with Saturday’s action coming up.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Nine other Georgia scorers who were fourth-place or better, including a trio of runner-up finishes, helped propel both Bulldog squads near the top of the team rankings on Friday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “I thought this was a really good day for us today,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “We had many of our top people competing and they did a nice job. One of the things that happened in the SEC this year is that some of the top marks in the conference, which are always impressive, are way high up there nationally this year, even more than usual.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “For example, Keturah (Orji) in the long jump had some jumps that ranked in the world’s top list and there were still a couple better than here. So anytime you get in the top five at this meet, you are doing something pretty good. Uibo’s mark was awesome for him and for this program and again, his score is not just the top in our record books, but it is one of the best all-time in collegiate history.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We were fortunate to have a lot of strong performances today and some surprise performances. Both Brendan Hoban and Bret McDaniel scored in the top four after strong races in the steeplechase. If we have as good a day on Saturday as we did today, we will finish as a top five team and be where we should be headed to the NCAA meets.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Uibo became only the third SEC competitor in history to win three straight conference crowns in the decathlon. His school and SEC Championships meet record point total made him the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer with the No. 4 all-time collegiate performance. Uibo also leads the 2015 world list with teammate Garrett Scantling sitting second.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Uibo matched his personal best in the pole vault, which was set at last year’s SEC meet and stands ninth in the record books, to win and score 972 points. He cleared 17-0.75 on his second try to win by nearly two feet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Working up to a season-best third throw, Uibo won the decathlon discus for the second consecutive season. He launched his last try 158-6 to score 836 points and extend his lead.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Uibo also finished first in the javelin after topping South Carolina’s Markus Leemet, one of Uibo’s fellow Estonians, by one inch. Uibo scored 692 points with a mark of 186-9.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Uibo won the fourth heat of the 110 hurdles and finished fifth overall after running his fastest time in two years (15.01). His finish added 848 points to his total and gave him a 352-point lead after six events.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Running his fastest 1500 time since 2013, Uibo completed his 10 events by finishing fourth with a time of 4:28.57. This finish added the final 754 points to Uibo’s total and shot him past the 8,300-point mark.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Lady Bulldogs managed to add 13 points to the team total in the heptathlon. Sophomore Kendell Williams scored the second-best total of her career after recording 6,003 points for second place. Mississippi State’s Erica Bougard set the meet record to win with 6,250 points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia senior Quintunya Chapman added the other five points with the second-best score of her career. Chapman scored 5,886 points to take fourth, missing out on third by six points.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams improved on her second and third attempt in the long jump and ended up finishing second in the event for 956 points. The Marietta, Ga., native traveled 20-9.75 and finished two inches behind Bougard’s 20-11.75.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Following a top toss of 120-10 in the javelin, Williams closed to within 66 points through six of seven events. She added 607 points to her total as she worked to get her first heptathlon score of 2015.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Williams completed the competition by scoring 769 points with an 800 time of 2:24.08.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the 800, Chapman managed a third-place finish after finishing her pair of laps in 2:16.21. This scored her final 876 points and pulled her within six points of the overall third-place finisher, Arkansas’ Alex Gochenour.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Chapman recorded the second-best javelin mark of her career (130-2) to take fourth for 661 points. She also sandwiched a mark of 19-1.25 between her first and third jumps and finished sixth in the long jump. The Hinesville, Ga., scored 795 points in the fifth event.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Behind the performances in the multis, junior Leontia Kallenou improved her career best to 6-4 in the high jump and managed a second-place finish. While this broke a streak of seven consecutive postseason victories for Kallenou, she improved her No. 2 spot in the school record books and her No. 2 mark on the NCAA performance list. South Carolina’s Jeannelle Scheper won the contest by equaling the No. 5 all-time collegiate mark in the high jump at 6-5.
[su_spacer size=”40″] A three-time SEC pole vault champion also tallied a third-place finish for the Georgia women. Junior Morgann Leleux went over the bar at 14-2.75 on her second attempt while Arkansas’ Sandi Morris set the NCAA record to win with a mark of 15-5.75.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Senior Nick Vena scored his top SEC finish thanks to a fifth throw of 63-10.50 in the shot put. Vena jumped from third to second on his fifth throw after taking third place at the conference meet three times over his career.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Orji and junior Chanice Porter combined to score 11 points in the women’s long jump with marks over 21-5. Orji passed her teammate on her sixth and final attempt and finished with an effort of 21-8.25. Porter’s sixth jump measured 21-5.25 in a competition that featured six jumpers over 21 feet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On the track, senior Bret McDaniel fought from the middle of the pack to finish third in the steeplechase after taking ninth in 2014. McDaniel ran a career-best time of 10:08.28, which trimmed eight seconds off her previous personal best and bettered her No. 3 spot in the school record books.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Senior Brendan Hoban finished one spot behind McDaniel in the men’s steeplechase after also taking ninth at last year’s SEC Championships. Hoban sprinted on the final straightaway and battled for his 9:04.99 to score at his first SEC track meet.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Although he did not advance, freshman Bryan Kamau clocked a personal-best time of 3:50.25 (his fourth 3:50 in a row) to take 16th in the 1500 prelims.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In the women’s 1500 prelims, junior Brooke Koblitz ran a career-best time of 4:29.30 to also take 16th and finish ahead of her teammates in the race.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Another top Bulldog finisher who set a personal record but came short of the finals was sophomore Ayrian Evans. Evans ran a 47.14 and was 15th in the 400 prelims. In addition, Jon Okoye clocked a season-best 10.72 for 22nd place in the 100 prelims
[su_spacer size=”40″] Live coverage of the meet will air on SEC Network + on Saturday. The coverage will air from 3:50-7:50 p.m. ET on Saturday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] ESPNU will air the SEC Championships as part of a two-hour show on May 21 beginning at 8 p.m. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones (play-by-play), Larry Rawson (analyst) and Jill Montgomery (reporter).
[su_spacer size=”40″] This marks the first of three postseason meets for the Bulldogs. Georgia travels to Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA East Prelims on May 28-30 and then to Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Championships on June 10-13.
[su_spacer size=”40″] On Saturday, junior Freya Jones and graduate student Jenna Wargo start in the women’s javelin and Orji triple jumps at 2 p.m. The men’s 4×100 relay starts the action on the track at 4 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Full results and recaps from the SEC Championships will be located at georgiadogs.com. Updates from this meet and throughout the season will be posted on Twitter at @UGA_XCTF.