The Georgia track and field teams qualified four for the coming NCAA Championships and had another duo advance to quarterfinal races during day two of the NCAA East Prelims on Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs had a pair of top-five finishers in the long jump to extend the seasons of both sophomore Jasmine Moore and junior Titiana Marsh. Moore, who has now advanced to her first NCAA outdoor meet, and Marsh, who will be competing in the long jump for the first time at outdoor Nationals, finished second and fourth, respectively, during the meet’s first day for the women.
This will mark the third trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for senior Kayla Smith after the Indianapolis, Ind., native had three first attempt clearances in the pole vault, topping out at 14 feet.
Senior Marie-Therese Obst lifted her opening attempt in the javelin 179 feet and that is all she needed to advance to Nationals after taking second overall.
Georgia also had two qualifiers for Saturday’s quarterfinals on Thursday. Junior Imani Carothers (100-meter hurdles) and senior Amber Tanner (800m) each had times that will send them into the quarterfinals of their races on Saturday.
There are 48 competitors from the East Region in every individual event and 24 in the relays. The NCAA West Prelims is running simultaneously in College Station, Texas, with the same format. The top 12 in each event from both regions advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore, on June 9-12.
On Wednesday, junior Alencar Pereira advanced to the NCAA Championships with a personal-best toss in the hammer throw and sophomore Matthew Boling (100m, 200m), junior Elija Godwin (400m), sophomore Caleb Cavanaugh (400m hurdles) and freshman Arian Smith (100m) advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Two Bulldogs ranked in the nation’s top five in the multi-events earned the right to skip the Prelims by automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships (Asya Reynolds – heptathlon; Karel Tilga – decathlon). Anna Hall (high jump, long jump) and Kyle Garland (long jump, 110m hurdles) were also in that category, but chose to compete in open events and not compete in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively, in Eugene.
When Do The Bulldogs Start Competition? Similar to the NCAA Championships, this meet is set up where one gender competes one day and then the other gender competes the next, and that pattern is followed all four days.
The men’s second day of action will be on Friday. Junior Labo Oke will start the action in the men’s triple jump at 3:15 p.m. ET while the Bulldogs 4x100m relay team, consisting of Smith, Godwin, Cavanaugh and Boling, will start the track action at 5:30 p.m.
Temperatures are expected to be in the low 90s with partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies for the meet. The winds are predicted to hover around 10 miles an hour each competition day.
Live Results: For live results, please click on: http://gado.gs/72u
Live Stream:The NCAA East Prelims will be live streamed by ESPN all four days.
Here are the links for the remaining days:
Day 3 (Friday) – http://gado.gs/730
Day 4 (Saturday) – http://gado.gs/732
The Lowdown: Moore, a native of Grand Prairie, Texas, put a wind-aided mark of 21-9 after her opening try of 21-6.75 to cruise into the next round. Marsh, a native of Chester, Va., built to a career-long windy mark of 21-7.25 for fourth place. While this will be Marsh’s first time competing in the long jump at Nationals, she has lined up in the triple jump at four separate NCAA Indoor/Outdoor Championships.
Moore and Marsh will attempt to qualify in the triple jump on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. Moore was a First Team All-American in both jumps at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Already a scoring All-American in 2017 and a competitor at the 2019 outdoor Nationals, Smith was perfect in the pit on Thursday after setting a school record (14-8.75) her last time out at the SEC Championships. The sixth-year senior recently earned her Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership.
Obst, an Oslo, Norway, native who earned her degree in Criminal Justice two weeks ago, punched the second ticket of her career to the NCAA meet despite finishing her three-throw series with two fouls. Obst last advanced to the 2018 NCAA Championships by securing the 12th and final qualifying spot.
Carothers was the first Georgia competitor to advance on the track during day two. The Chicago native was fourth in her heat to grab the 24th and final qualifying spot in the 100m hurdles with a 13.19. Carothers will race again on Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
Tanner, a native of Brentwood, Tenn., cruised to a 30-second victory in the second heat and was third overall with a 2:03.29. Two years after snagging the 12th and final spot to get into the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the UGA graduate captured this year’s SEC outdoor title and the 2020 SEC indoor crown. Tanner will race in the 800m quarterfinal at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday.
Senior and recent UGA graduate Chelsea Zoller registered the second-fastest 400m hurdle time of her career at 59.29 to take 28th. She is expected to run a leg of the upcoming 4x400m relay on Saturday.
After opening with a foul, freshman Charlotte Williams sent her second attempt 185 feet at her first NCAA East Prelims. This gave her a 39th-place finish.
Also of note, junior Anna Marian Block started the 1500m but did not finish her first round race.