Georgia Track & Field Begins Outdoor Postseason At SEC Championships
May 10—BATON ROUGE — The eighth-ranked Georgia women and 16th-ranked Bulldog men traveled to Baton Rouge, La., on Tuesday in preparation for the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium scheduled for Thursday through Saturday.
LSU last played host to the SEC meet in 2012 during a meet that the Georgia men scored a program record 109 points for third while the Lady Bulldogs tallied 108 points for fourth place.
When Do The Bulldogs Start?: Collegiate record holder Kyle Garland begins the decathlon competition for Bulldog men with the 100-meter dash at 12:30 p.m. ET p.m. on the first day followed by the dec's long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. Fellow senior Alencar Pereira will battle in the first open event on Thursday at 1 p.m. in the men's hammer throw. The first open event on the track for UGA is the men's 800m prelims with freshman and 2023 SEC indoor champion Will Sumner and 2022 outdoor bronze medal winner Clay Pender slated to line up at 6:30 p.m.
Who Is Ranked In The SEC?: A total of 16 SEC men and women's track and field programs are included in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top 25 national rankings released Monday, including 12 in the top 10. A nation-leading seven SEC men's teams are ranked: No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 LSU, No. 16 GEORGIA and No. 24 Auburn.
A nation-best nine SEC women's teams are also ranked in the top 25: No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 GEORGIA, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 18 Alabama and No. 20 Tennessee.
Where To Catch The SEC Championships: The ESPN broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones, Dan O'Brien, John Anderson and Larra Overton during the meet coverage.
SEC Network+ / SEC Network info:
Day One — Thursday, May 11
SEC Network+ — 1:00-5:30 PM ET: http://gado.gs/ajd
SEC Network+ — 6:30-10:00 PM: http://gado.gs/ajd
Day Two — Friday, May 12
SEC Network+ — 12:30-5:30 PM: http://gado.gs/ajd
SEC Network+ — 6:00-9:30 PM: http://gado.gs/ajd
Day Three — Saturday, May 13
SEC Network+ — 3:00-4:30 PM: http://gado.gs/ajd
SEC Network — 6:00-10:00 PM
Live Results: For results throughout the weekend, please visit: http://gado.gs/ajc
Coach Caryl's Comments: "After having started our first indoor meet nearly four months ago, we are excited to have finally arrived at the outdoor postseason," said second-year Bulldog head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. "The SEC Championships are a preview of the NCAA Championships every year, and the meet features many of the same student-athletes who compete at the Olympics or World Championships any given year. We know we have to bring our best and we are confident that we are prepared. This meet is a springboard for the next two rounds of the postseason so let's get started. GO DAWGS!"
What Bulldogs Are Competing?: For the Lady Bulldogs, Leah Anderson, Mia Anderson, Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker, Aaliyah Butler, Ana da Silva, Kenondra Davis, Lorel Golden, Ellie Hall, Julia Harisay, Kaila Jackson, Elena Kulichenko, Titiana Marsh, Erin McMeniman, Dominique Mustin, Gracie O'Neal, Brandee Presley, Haley Tate, Mikeisha Welcome, Autumn Wilson and Bella Witt traveled for SECs.
On the men's side, Gavin Beverage, Keshaun Black, Matthew Boling, Sam Bowers, Caleb Cavanaugh, Kyle Garland, Elija Godwin, Cole Heron, Wesley John, Marc Minichello, Christopher Morales Williams, Clay Pender, Alencar Pereira, Alon Rogow, Will Sumner, Zack Truitt and Nikolai van Huyssteen will represent Georgia.
Diploma Dawgs: A total of 22 Bulldogs are graduating with either Bachelor's or Master's degrees on Friday, including Mia Anderson, Hall, Harisay, Presley, Boling, Bowers, Cavanaugh, Garland, Godwin, John and Pender who are competing at SECs.
Boling Does It . . . Again: Boling has been named the SEC Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year for a record-breaking fourth time. The Houston, Texas, native shares this SEC Men's Outdoor Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year with Arkansas' Ayden Owens-Delerme. No other SEC student-athlete has ever received four of these honors.
While Boling was named the 2021 SEC Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well, he garnered the 2022 outdoor honor to close last year and earned the indoor accolade to conclude the 2023 season. Brandon Lord (2014) is the only other Bulldog to earn this accolade outdoors other than Boling since its inception in 2004.
Top-10 Bulldogs Abound: The Bulldogs have 13 individuals who are ranked in the top 10 nationally in eight different events (SEC rankings also listed).
For the men:
4x400m relay — 1st — Godwin, Boling, Cavanaugh, Sumner (2:58.82). *1st in SEC
Javelin — 3rd — Marc Minichello (80.62 meters/264 feet, 6 inches) *2nd in SEC
Hammer throw — 6th — Pereira (72.85m/239-0) *1st in SEC
400m hurdles — 9th — Cavanaugh (49.92) *5th in SEC
For the women:
Triple jump — 1st — Welcome (14.07m/46-2) *1st in SEC
4x100m relay — 4th — Jackson, Wilson, Presley, Davis (42.94) *2nd in SEC
High jump — 2nd — Kulichenko (1.90m/6-2.75) *2nd in SEC
200m — T-6th — Wilson (22.56) *2nd in SEC
Triple jump — T-9th — Marsh (13.61m/44-8) *4th in SEC
Returning To SEC Action: While most of the Bulldogs trained through the weekend before the 2022 SEC Outdoor Championships, Garland competed at the USATF Combined Events Championships as he attempted to earn a spot on Team USA for last summer's World Championships. Garland, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., annihilated the collegiate record in the decathlon to take second at the meet with 8,720 points and represented his home country at Worlds. This also meant Garland missed last year's SEC outdoor meet.
