[break] [break] The Georgia women hold the No. 2 national ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason poll while the Bulldog men also stand at No. 6 for the second consecutive week. This is the best combined regular season ranking in school history.
[break] [break] “This has been one of our best meets over the last 10 or 12 years,” said Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton. “We as a staff have talked about this meet being a turning point for us since we usually start getting better in February. We have had a lot of success there and we want to go back and really continue that success. It also works for us as far as proximity goes.”
[break] [break] UGA established three national leading marks that still stand No. 1 and a host of personal bests at the McCravy Memorial meet on January 23-24 in Lexington, Ky. Norton is anxious to see how his teams do facing another round of talented competition in Virginia.
[break] [break] “We have a different schedule this year since the Kentucky meet was a high-powered meet with some of the country’s best teams so it was kind of a preview of the NCAA Championships,” Norton said. “To go from that meet to the week off gave us a chance to rebound, lick our wounds and recover. This weekend’s meet will feature more of those high-powered teams so three of our meets this year, including the Tyson meet next weekend, will be big ones in our preparation for the postseason.”
[break] [break] In addition to the McCravy and VT Elite meets, Georgia will travel to the site of this year’s NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on February 13-14 for the Tyson Invitational.
[break] [break] “If we had designed it a little better, maybe we would have had a little more time between the Virginia Tech meet and the Tyson meet, maybe take a break,” said Norton. “But we are in the SEC and we might as well get ready for a little heat. We will go hot, rest, hot, hot, rest and then SECs. Ready or not, here we go because we are into February now.”
[break] [break] Training outside during the January and February months for the indoor season has traditionally been a challenge for the Bulldogs. But Norton thinks his teams’ early meet competition will help for their postseason push.
[break] [break] “Getting our feet wet during the indoor season usually works,” Norton said. “However, we have been getting our feet wet in some very hot water. But we have responded very well. We jumped into the Kentucky meet against some very good teams and handled it well. I think we can build on those early performances since we hung in there. If we can get better going forward from that meet, it will be according to tradition and according to plan and put us where we need to be at the end.”
[break] [break] Counting this weekend’s meet, there is only one more weekend of competition for Georgia before traveling to Lexington, Ky., for the SEC Championships on February 27-28. The NCAA meet will be March 13-14on Arkansas’ campus.
[break] [break] The VT Elite Meet starts with the women’s triple jump and women’s mile at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Saturday portion cranks up with the women’s high jump at 11 a.m. with the first running event, the women’s 3000-meter run, at 1 p.m.
[break] [break] Who is making the trip for Georgia?
The Georgia women are traveling 23 team members. Morgan Ainslie, Devon Artis, Shelby Ashe, Natalie Bordes, Hailey Branch, Allie Castro, Quintunya Chapman, Victoria Coppage, Morgan Green, Ashley Henry, Lauren Hovis, Marrion Kalafut, Brooke Koblitz, Morgann Leleux, Addy Lippitt, Kate Northrop, Keturah Orji, Ashley Powell, Erika Ramsey, Molly Schenck, Georgia Stefanidi, Katie Stone and Kendell Williams are all scheduled to compete in the Rector Fieldhouse.
[break] [break] The Bulldogs have 21 team members on the schedule for the weekend. Drew Branch, Jamario Calhoun, Ayrian Evans, Reggie Glover, Christian Harrison, Jimmy Hicks, Brendan Hoban, Raytez Jenkins, Alex Larsson, Ashinia Miller, Jon Okoye, Alex Poursanidis, Garrett Scantling, Zack Sims, Kisean Smith, Maicel Uibo, Sid Vaughn, Nick Vena, Eric Westog, Derrick White and Devon Williams are all traveling for the Georgia men.
[break] [break] Making Their Presence Known
A host of Georgia competitors will be aiming to strengthen their hold as national contenders or establish themselves as forces to be reckoned with this weekend.
[break] [break] WOMEN
● Ashe opened her Lady Bulldog career with a 66 feet, 1 ½ inch performance in the weight throw in Kentucky to shoot to fourth in the school record books. She is still off her personal best set before starting her career at Cal-Berkeley and is poised for another breakout performance.
● Chapman and Williams will be competing in open events after earning what are the sixth (4,257) and top (4,609) scores nationally in the pentathlon. Williams’ score narrowly missed her collegiate and American Junior record mark of 4,635 set last year.
● Leleux surged from an opening meet height of 13 feet, 1 ½ inches to 13-10.50 (10th nationally) at McCravy in the pole vault after working lately on bigger poles.
● Orji jumpstarted her Lady Bulldog career by winning the long jump in her career debut with a then nationally leading mark of 20 feet, 10 ¾ inches. She opened in the triple jump at the McCravy meet and set U.S. Junior and school records with the longest mark in the NCAA this year (45-10.50). Orji will be back in the long jump this weekend.
[break] [break] MEN
● Larsson and Poursanidis get back to work in the weight as they try for their first NCAA indoor meet qualification after both finishing in the top 12 outdoors in the hammer. Poursanidis has positioned himself in the best spot after starting 2015 with a career-long effort of 65 feet, 3 ¼ inches.
● Another thrower, Ashinia Miller, will also be returning to the ring after exploding for a sizeable personal best in the shot put. Miller grabbed the national lead with a school record toss of 66 feet, 7 ¾ inches at McCravy. He currently stands third nationally and first in the SEC by a foot.
● Similar to the pentathletes, Scantling, Uibo and Williams will sharpen their skills in open events at Virginia Tech. The trio currently stands 1-2-7 (1-2-3 in the SEC) in the heptathlon as Scantling (5,886) holds a slight edge on Uibo (5,847). Both Scantling and Williams redshirted last year’s indoor season.
● Vena was overshadowed by his junior shot put teammate at McCravy, but he also locked down a personal best in the event. He had a mark of 64 feet, 5 ¼ inches to surge into the No. 3 spot on Georgia’s all-time top-10 list and is sixth on the national performance list.
[break] [break] Who will be joining the Bulldogs?
The Bulldogs will be joined by Florida (Women: No. 1/Men: No. 2), Florida State (Women: No. 12/Men: No. 19), Kentucky (Women: No. 6), Virginia Tech (Men: No. 10) and Tennessee (Men: No. 25), along with Wake Forest, Virginia, North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, Pittsburgh and others in Blacksburg.
[break] [break] Returning Winners
Last year, Georgia had three winners at the VT Elite Meet who are returning to the competition this weekend. Drew Branch won the 400-meter dash Invitational (47.60), Branch, Calhoun and Glover were three members on the winning 4×400 relay team (3:10.44) and Nick Vena won the shot put (62 feet, 11 ½ inches).
[break] [break] Live and full results and a recap from the Virginia Tech Elite Meet will be located at georgiadogs.com. Updates from this meet and throughout the season will be posted on Twitter at @UGA_XCTF.