Track and Field Teams both finished 2nd at Indoor Championships. 6 National Champions

[Top Row Dawg]

The Georgia women finished 2nd and posted their third consecutive top-five finish and the Bulldog men registered their second runner-up finish in the last three years at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va., Saturday.



The Oregon women tallied 55 points to grab top honors ahead of Georgia (39), USC (35), Oklahoma (31), Washington (31) and Arkansas (31).  

On the men's side, USC won with 39 points while Georgia (33), Auburn (32), Arkansas (30) and Oklahoma State (26) rounded out the top five.

This marks the fifth combined top-five finish for the program.  Other than 2018 when the women won and the men took third, this is the best combined finish for UGA.

The Lady Bulldogs capped the two-day meet by setting a school record (3:26.07) in the 4x400-meter relay for second place.  Junior Dejanea Oakley, freshman Michelle Smith, junior Haley Tate and junior Aaliyah Butler became the No. 7 all-time collegiate performer to deliver the Georgia women its third second-place team indoor finish in history.

Georgia finished with a trio of individual event national championships - 6 competitors.  

1 - Earlier in the day, senior Elena Kulichenko continued to develop into one of the school's all-time greats by winning her second NCAA high jump title (first indoors) and scoring at the seventh NCAA Championships of her career.  

2 - Near the end of Saturday, sophomore Will Floyd won Georgia's third consecutive men's 400m crown by edging his nearest competitor by .01 before returning in the 4x400m relay.

3 - In the meet's finale, Floyd-Shemar Chambers-Xai Ricks-Ervin Pearson ("Flash") came out of the second heat and dropped a 3:03.44 on the field to finish in front of Texas Tech (3:03.77).  This marks the first national championship in the relay for the Bulldog men.

Georgia had nine scorers on Saturday to complete the meet, including the aforementioned relays:  

The Lady Bulldogs tallied a monstrous 14 points in the 400m final with a 2-3 finish.  Junior Aaliyah Butler ran her second sub-50 in the last two weeks to secure a silver medal finish, which is the best of her career.  Fellow junior Dejanea Oakley made a 13-spot improvement from her 2024 while suiting up for Texas and won bronze in the 400m for Georgia.

Sophomore Riyon Rankin, a native of Brunswick, Ga., recovered from a third attempt clearance a round before in the men's high jump to soar over 2.19m/7-2.25 in the next round on his first try to lock down runner-up honors.  This marked Georgia's third silver in the event but first since Dothel Edwards took second in 1986.  Georgia had never gone 1-2 in the women and men's high jump in the same meet.

Junior Kaila Jackson scored for the third consecutive time in the 60m at the NCAA Indoor Championships, this time earning bronze in the middle straightaway.  She returned less than an hour after the 60m to score for the third time in a row in the 200m, taking seventh.

[ugafan49]

Thanks TRD..