Georgia’s track and field teams have qualified 12 entries for next week’s NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
Five Bulldog men in a total of five different events and six Georgia women in a total of six events will be representing the sixth-ranked UGA men and the eight-ranked UGA women on March 8-9 in the CrossPlex facility.
The Lady Bulldogs are the defending NCAA indoor champions while the Georgia men had a record-breaking third-place finish before winning the program’s first national outdoor team crown last June.
Here is a breakdown of the Bulldog qualifiers for the NCAA Indoor Championships:
WOMEN
- Sophomore Lynna Irby: No. 1 seed in the 400-meter dash with a
season best 52.02 set to win the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships; also ran the anchor leg on the 4x400m relay that has qualified for Nationals with a school record time of 3:31.97 to take fifth at SECs; finished third in the 400m at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. - Junior Amber Tanner: No. 16 seed in the 800-meter run with a personal record of 2:05.59 to take third at the SEC meet; ran the third leg on the 4x400m relay that has qualified for Nationals with a school record time of 3:31.97 to take fifth at SECs; this will mark her first appearance at the NCAA Championships.
- Junior Micaiah Ransby, freshman Sterling Lester: Ran the first and second legs, respectively, on the No. 6 seed 4x400m relay that has qualified for Nationals with a school record time of 3:31.97 to take fifth at SECs; both will be debuting at the NCAA Championships.
- Freshman
Titiana Marsh: No. 5 seed in the triple jump after traveling a personal record of 44 feet, 3 ¼ inches to taking fourth at the SEC Championships; will be making her first appearance at Nationals. - Sophomore Aliyah Whisby: No. 2 seed in the pentathlon thanks to her score of 4,372 points to be the top collegiate finisher at the Bob Pollock Invitational; scored 4,305 for runner-up honors at SECs; No. 16 seed in the high jump as well after reaching 5-11.50 to win the pentathlon high jump at SECs; will be debuting at the NCAA Indoor Championships after competing for Kennesaw State at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships before transferring to UGA.
MEN
- Sophomore Johannes Erm: No. 1 seed in the heptathlon after winning his second consecutive SEC indoor meet with a personal record of 5,996 points; finished fourth in the event at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
- Senior Denzel Comenentia: No. 3 seed in both the shot put and weight throw; won the second SEC indoor shot title of his career this year and had a school record mark of 67-11.75 to finish first in the Tyson Invitational in 2019; was runner-up in the weight at SECs and has a personal record of 77-2 at the site of the NCAA meet in Birmingham earlier this season at the UAB Blazer Invitational; took second in the shot and sixth in the weight at last year’s Nationals.
- Senior Michael Nicholls: No. 5 seed in the 60m hurdles after speeding to a school record of 7.67 at the 2019 Clemson Invitational; was fourth at this year’s SECs thanks to a time of 7.78; finished seventh in the event at the 2018 NCAA indoor meet.
- Senior Keenon Laine: No. 4 seed in the high jump thanks to a school record clearance of 7-5.75 for runner-up honors at the SEC Championships; was sixth at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.
- Junior Darius Carbin: No. 8 seed in the high jump after going over the bar at 7-5 earlier this year at the Tyson Invitational; finished seventh in the event at the 2019 SEC Indoor Championships, registering a mark of 7-1; also was seventh at last year’s Nationals.
Following the NCAA Championships, the outdoor season begins immediately at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta on March 15-16.