2018 Bulldog Outdoor Bulldog Men Notch Their First NCAA Team Track & Field Title Thanks In Part To Two National Crowns Georgia Concludes The Year With Four Final Ranking: Women - 2nd (52 pts.), Men - ^*1st (*52 pts.) Top-Three NCAA Team Finishes ^first NCAA team title; *school records During Petros Kyprianou’s third year as head coach and 10th year overall with the program, the Bulldogs produced the 2018 Schedule / Results most outstanding two seasons by both teams in UGA history. Date Event (Location) Results Outdoors, the Georgia men followed up their record-breaking 3/16-17 Yellow Jacket Invitational (Atlanta, Ga.) NTS third-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships 3/28-31 Texas Relays (Austin, Texas) NTS by winning the squad’s first national team championship 3/29-31 Bobcat Invitational (San Marcos, Texas) NTS by a convincing 10 points. Kyprianou was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Associa- 4/6-7 Spec Towns Invitational (ATHENS) NTS tion (USTFCCCA) National Men’s Coach of the Year. Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon Meanwhile, the Lady Bulldogs finished one point shy of 4/19-21 Mt. SAC Relays (Torrance, Calif.) NTS sweeping the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets after taking 4/20-21 Beach Invitational (Long Beach, Calif.) NTS second at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. 5/5 Torrin Lawrence Memorial (ATHENS) NTS The Georgia men had junior Denzel Comenentia earn 5/11-13 SEC Championships (Knoxville, Tenn.) W-8th (61), M-5th (71) the Commissioner’s Trophy for being the top scorer at the SEC 5/24-26 NCAA East Prelims (Tampa, Fla.) 20 qualifiers Championships and that success continued. He became just 6/6-9 NCAA Championships (Eugene, Ore.) W-2nd (52), M-*1st (*52) the third competitor in NCAA meet history (and only second to accomplish the feat on the same day) to sweep the shot *School records; NTS - No Team Score put (67 feet, 7 1/2 inches) and the hammer (250-8, Dutch national record) to be the meet’s top scorer and was named Bulldog Postseason Awards NCAA Champions the USTFCCCA National Men’s Field Athlete of the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Year - Keturah Orji *Sr. Keturah Orji - Long Jump - 1st (21-10.75) Year (after already earning the same South Region honor). SEC Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year - *Fr. Lynna Irby - 400m - 1st ($49.80) An Amsterdam native, Comementia also won both the shot Keturah Orji *First Team All-American; @meet/facility record; (68-6) and the hammer (249-1) and was sixth in the discus SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year - $school record at SECs, which made him only the second thrower to finish Denzel Comenentia first in those events for two years in a row. He also finished USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Field Athlete of the NCAA All-Americans as the SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year. Year - Keturah Orji *Sr. Keturah Orji - Triple Jump - 1st (46-0.75) Featuring a senior and a freshman in the decathlon, the USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the *Sr. Keturah Orji - Long Jump - 1st (21-10.75) Bulldogs went 2-3 with a pair of personal records after 10 Year - Denzel Comenentia *Jr. ~Denzel Comenentia - Shot Put - 1st (67-7.50) events to inject 14 points into Georgia’s total tally. Karl USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the *Jr. ~Denzel Comenentia - Hammer Throw - 1st (+250-8) Saluri exploded for 8,137 points to secure runner-up honors Year - Lynna Irby *Fr. Lynna Irby - 400m - 1st ($49.80) in his final collegiate meet and Johannes Erm collected his USTFCCCA National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year *Sr. Karl Saluri - Decathlon - 2nd (8,137 pts.) second First Team All-American certificate of his first year - Keturah Orji *So. Louisa Grauvogel - Heptathlon - 2nd (6,047 pts.) after piling up 8,046 points. USTFCCCA National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year - *Jr. Keenon Laine - High Jump - 3rd (7-3) While one of their top high jump weapons in Darius Denzel Comenentia *Jr. Kendal Williams - 200m - 3rd (20.32) Carbin did not make it out of the Prelims, Georgia’s high USTFCCCA National Men’s Coach of the Year - Petros *Fr. Lynna Irby - 200m - 3rd (22.92) jumpers were third and fifth at Nationals to combine for Kyprianou *Fr. Johannes Erm - Decathlon - 3rd (8,046 pts.) 10 points. Junior Keenon Laine went over the bar at 7-3 *Fr. Tara Davis - Long Jump - 5th (21-3.25) in rainy, windy conditions while true freshman Antonios sweep of the SEC 200m. Her performances outdoors included *Fr. Antonios Merlos - High Jump - 5th (7-1.75) Merlos stayed clean early and reached 7-1.75 for fifth place. the No. 3 wind-aided 200m time in collegiate history (22.06, *Sr. Tatiana Gusin - High Jump - 7th (5-10) Eight more points came from the Bulldog sprinters as 2.4m/s) and only the third sub-50 wind-legal 400m time in *Sr. Cejhae Greene - 100m - 7th (10.37) junior Kendal Williams, who broke the school’s 100m record NCAA history. *So. Jessica Drop - 5000m - 7th (15:46.39) (legal 9.99) to win the SEC title, crossed the line third in the The Lady Bulldogs, as usual, were dominant in the jumps. %Fr. Tara Davis - 100mH - 14th (13.09) 200m and senior Cejhae Greene ran a 10.05 in the 100m Adding to Orji’s national titles in the long and triple jumps, %So. Marie-Therese Obst - Javelin - 15th (159-3) semis before clocking a 10.37 for seventh in the final. freshman Tara Davis was fifth (21-3.25) in the long and %So. Kate Hall - Long Jump - 16th (20-1.75) A year after falling to Oregon by 1.8 points at the 2017 senior Tatiana Gusin battled for a seventh-place finish %Jr. Kendal Williams - 100m - 16th (10.16) NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Lady Bulldogs came up one (5-10) in the high jump. ^So. Tairyn Montgomery - Javelin - 20th (153-5) point short of USC at the 2018 meet despite three individual Another of Georgia’s traditional strengths, the multi- ^So. Samantha Drop - 10,000m - 21st (35:03.81) crowns. Senior Keturah Orji wrapped up her four years as events, also provided eight points for their second-place ^4x100m Relay - 22nd (40.59) one of collegiate track and field’s all-time greats. The three- finish. Sophomore Louisa Grauvogel moved to No. 3 on R. Jenkins, M. Nicholls, J. Nance, J. Raines time Bowerman finalist followed up her collegiate record in Georgia’s all-time list after scoring 6,074 to take second in $meet/UGA record, No. 2 all-time collegiate performer/ the triple jump at SECs with a winning mark of 46-0.75 at the heptathlon. Former Lady Bulldog Kendell Williams had performance; ~meet’s top scorer; +Dutch national NCAAs, which made her the first competitor in history to win won the last two NCAA hep crowns. record; %Second Team All-American; ^Honorable Men- the event four consecutive years. Orji tied as the meet’s top Showing the versatile scoring threats that UGA brings, tion All-American scorer after also capturing her first national long jump crown sophomore Jessica Drop added two points in the 5000m with an effort of 21-10.75. The SEC Women’s Field Athlete with a seventh-place finish (15:46.39). SEC Champions of the Year was named the USTFCCCA National Region The Georgia men finished fifth at the SEC Championships Sr. Keturah Orji - Triple Jump (@47-11.75) Women’s Field Athlete of the Year and finished as the while the Lady Bulldogs were eighth and combined for a Sr. Keturah Orji - Long Jump (=22-4.25) owner of the top six triple jump marks in NCAA history. record nine individual titles. Orji (triple, long jumps-meet/ Sr. Tatiana Gusin - High Jump (6-0) The next generation of Georgia’s all-time greats also UGA record 22-4.25), Williams (100m/200m) and Comenentia Sr. Karl Saluri - Decathlon (7,934 pts.) continued to develop. True freshman Lynna Irby, who was (hammer/shot put) all won a pair of championships each Jr. “Denzel Comenentia - Shot Put (68-6) the USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Track Athlete while Saluri (decathlon), Irby (200m) and Gusin (high jump) Jr. “Denzel Comenentia - Hammer Throw (!249-1) of the Year both indoors and outdoors, became the No. 2 captured crowns of their own. Orji’s facility/meet/collegiate Jr. Kendal Williams - 100m (#9.99) all-time collegiate performer with the No. 2 all-time collegiate triple jump record of 47-11.75 made her the first competitor Jr. Kendal Williams - 200m (20.15) performance (49.80) to win the NCAA 400m title with a meet in SEC history to win any event all four years both indoors Fr. Lynna Irby - 200m (22.25) record. Irby also matched her national indoor performance by and outdoors. @facility/meet/UGA/collegiate record; =meet/UGA taking third in the 200m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Orji also earned her third straight CoSIDA Academic All- record; #UGA record; !-meet record; “Commissioner’s to score 16 points for UGA. This came on the heels of Irby America certificate and was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete Trophy winner winning the NCAA East Prelims with a meet/facility record of the Year. In addition, Samantha Drop was named an of 50.44 and weeks after she completed the indoor-outdoor All-District Academic selection.