University of Georgia Athletics
2004 Season Review
June 14, 2004 | Track & Field
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
June 14, 2004
Just a year after the track and field program had one of its most successful seasons in Georgia history in 2003, the men's and women's teams had an even better 2004 campaign. The 2004 season saw Georgia track and field rise among the Southeastern Conference and nation's elite programs, collecting a combined four NCAA titles, nine All-American certificates and eight SEC crowns.
Georgia's success began during the fall cross country season, where the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs each had one of their most successful seasons in UGA history. The Bulldogs became the first SEC team ever to defeat perennial powerhouse Arkansas since the Razorbacks joined the conference in 1991, winning the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla., scoring 85 points to Arkansas' 95. Despite Arkansas rebounding to win its 13th consecutive SEC cross country title in Athens, the Bulldogs claimed second place and had four individuals earn All-SEC honors at the conference meet. Junior college transfer Simon Ngata, Philip Bett and Ian Dickinson earned All-SEC First-Team honors with second-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively, while Mike Swope finished 14th for All-SEC Second-Team honors. With the second-place team finish, the Bulldogs also qualified for NCAA South Regionals, where Georgia cruised to victory and Ngata won individual honors to claim South Region "Runner of the Year" honors. All five Bulldogs scorers-Ngata, Bett, Dickinson, Swope and Ian Burrell-earned All-South Region honors, while cross country coach Dan Waters also was named South Region "Coach of the Year." With the victory, the Bulldogs earned their first automatic NCAA Championships bid in school history. In 20-degree temperatures, the team's season culminated in a 25th-place finish at NCAAs in Des Moines, Iowa.
The women's team also had one of their finest seasons in history, nearly marking their first NCAA Championships appearance since 1997. The Lady Dogs also posted a second-place finish at SECs, and Lauren Burks and Kristin Heffelfinger garnered All-SEC Second-Team honors with eighth- and 14th-place finishes. Heffelfinger also was named the conference's Freshman of the Year. The honor came as Georgia's second in as many years, as Burks also won the award in 2002. Kelly Cordell became one of the SEC's top runners in just her first full season with the distance squad. Cordell led the team to a third-place finish at South Regionals, just missing the second automatic qualifying team bid. However, Cordell's eighth-place finish at Regionals was good for an at-large bid to NCAAs, where she placed 55th and was the second SEC runner to cross the line.
That momentum carried into the indoor season, where Georgia's success was highlighted with several team and individual honors, including 10 school records. At the SEC Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky., the two teams followed suit by combining for their best finish in program history. The Lady Dogs claimed fourth place with 81 points, the most points and best finish since John Mitchell's 1996 squad (3rd, 83.5 points), while the men's tied LSU for fourth place with 71 points, the most points since 1982 and the best finish since 1994 (3rd).
At the SEC Indoors, the Lady Bulldogs were led by Hyleas Fountain, who earned Commissioner's Trophy honors for the second consecutive year with an SEC record 44 points. Fountain began by winning the pentathlon with an American Collegiate Record 4,417 points, just missing the all-time NCAA mark by eight points. Fountain also took crowns in the high jump and long jump and placed second in the 60-meter hurdles--in a school record time of 8.09--and third in the triple jump. Also capturing an SEC crown for the women's team was Fanni Juhasz, who won the pole vault with a then-career-best jump of 13-10 1/2. Lucais Mackay claimed the men's lone title in the weight throw with a career-best mark of 70-5 3/4. The men's team received several other top performances. The 1,600-meter relay team placed second at the indoor competition, setting a school-record time of 3:07.93, and Bett set a school record in the 5,000 meters (14:21.81) to place fifth. LaRon Bennett also tied the school record in the 400-meter prelims (46.53) before placing eighth in the finals, while Ngata placed in two events, third in the mile (4:03.87) and fifth in the 3,000 meters (8:07.84).
"MacKay came through like the champion he is," said track and field coach Wayne Norton. "Simon was huge in the mile and DMR. He gave us something we haven't had for a while, some consistency in the distance. What can you say about our mile relay team? They were outstanding. We had guys running 46s and "Bud" Bennett ran 45.
"On the women's side, what Hyleas did was nothing short of legendary. She has done things that no one in this conference has ever done. We always knew Hyleas was half of our team scoring wise, but it's nice to have her scoring half of our 80 points instead of half of our 40 points.
"Cordell in the mile and (Jill) Steffens in the 5,000 also have given us legitimate scorers in the distance. It's nice to have two young prospects in those events. If you are going to compete for championships, you must score in a lot of events."
At the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., the Lady Bulldogs scored 36 points-the most in school history-and placed sixth, the best Georgia finish since 1996. Fountain once again led the Lady Dogs, winning the pentathlon with 4,412 points and the long jump with a school-record leap of 21-7 1/4. For her efforts, she was named the SEC Indoor Female Athlete of the Year.
"When you talk about Hyleas, she dominated all season long," said Norton. "She dominated the SEC meet and almost dominated the NCAAs. She took care of business as usual and performed as well as anyone (at NCAA Indoors)."
Juhasz also won her first NCAA title in the pole vault, recording a PR of 13-11 1/4. The pair did receive help from freshman Jenny Dahlgren, who after becoming the first SEC freshman to post a 70-plus-foot heave in the weight throw at the conference meet (for fourth place), finished third with a PR of 72-3 1/2 to earn All-America honors.
Dahlgren was a welcomed addition to the squad in 2004. She began her collegiate career with a school-record toss of 67-6 in the weight at the Clemson Invitational before snapping her own record on numerous occasions throughout the indoor season. For her spectacular start, she earned SEC Field Freshman of the Year honors.
"Jenny is way ahead of any throwers if you look back at their freshman year," said Norton. "What she did during the indoor season was phenomenal."
The Bulldogs collected two All-America certificates at the NCAA Indoor Championships. MacKay earned the honors in the weight throw for the second consecutive year, while Antonio Saunders claimed his first such honor in the triple jump. MacKay placed sixth at 68-9, while Saunders finished seventh at 51-7 3/4.
"I knew after (Friday) night, that no matter what happened in the team standings on Saturday, I was happy in the way our teams competed," said Norton. "I think it all started last year at the outdoor (NCAA) Championships. There, we scored a record number of points and then our cross country teams came back this year to place second and second at the SECs. And at the (SEC) Indoors, we had another record-breaking performance. In less than five years, (our staff) coached nine national champions (heading into the outdoor season). I'm just really satisfied where this program is and where it's going."
Other notable performances during the indoor season included Brad Smith's school-record jump in the pole vault and Greg Sewell's school record in the heptathlon. Smith used a school-record vault of 17-8 1/2 at the Virginia Tech Last Chance meet to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. There, Smith placed ninth, just out of scoring position and All-America honors. Sewell was the first Bulldog to compete at the SEC Indoors in the heptathlon, recording 4,941 points.
Both teams enjoyed much of the same success during the outdoor season, collecting nine school records, three SEC gold medals, six All-America certificates and one national crown, while also combining for the best finish ever at an SEC Outdoor meet.
Georgia celebrated several successful individual performances leading up to the postseason. Dahlgren started the outdoor season off similar to the indoor season by breaking a school record in her first competition. Dahlgren set the UGA hammer throw record at 209-2, bettering Katie McCoy's mark of 205-8 set in 2001. Fanni Juhasz followed suit at the Florida Relays, setting a PR at 14-0, marking the second time a Georgia female athlete has met the 14-foot barrier. At the Florida Relays, Dahlgren extended her school mark at 212-6, also meeting the Olympic B standard for her home country of Argentina, and the following weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational, Bennett set the school's 400-meter hurdles record in 49.70. Two weeks later, four more records would fall. The distance squad erased three records at the Mt. SAC Relays. Ngata, Bett and Steffens all set school marks in their respective events. Ngata broke Sean Nicholl's 19-year-old mark in the 5,000 meters, clocking a time of 13:54.43, while Bett set the 10,000 meters record in 29:17.99, just eclipsing Mark Plaatjes' record of 29:22.00 in 1982. For the Lady Dogs, Steffens clocked a time of 34:28.11 to break Jolly Earle's 1980 record by eleven seconds. That weekend, Fountain also broke the heptathlon 6,000-point mark for the first time in Georgia history at the Ole Miss Invitational. Fountain swept all seven events en route to her 6,033 points. After MacKay and Dahlgren each won hammer throw titles at the Drake Relays, more records were broken the following weekend at the Georgia Invitational, where UGA claimed eleven victories. Bennett broke his own school record in the 400-meter hurdles in 49.48, while Bett set the school's 3,000-meter steeplechase mark in 8:57.27.
Reminiscent of the SEC Indoor Championships, the Bulldogs and Lady Dogs had their finest combined effort in program history at the outdoor competition, each placing third at Ole Miss' brand new track facility. The men's squad scored 115 points for their highest total ever, while the women's team posted 101.50 points, their best total since 1999 and best finish since 1998.
"This has been a three-year process for this particular team," said Norton. "We scored more than 80 points two years ago and had 89 last year, but we blew past that his year. We just continue to improve. It definitely has been a progression. We've gone from adding distance runners to our throwers and adding sprinters to everyone else. We did this with a well-balanced team. I'm just over-joyed with the effort, performance and result. (For the men) to score 115 points in this league is simply fantastic and I just really hope people at UGA realize what a great performance this is. And it started two years ago. This coaching staff really has done a fantastic job. I can't put into words what they have done.
"This women's program has progressed so much in the past few years as well. It has gone up by leaps and bounds. It was the best performance at the SECs since the 1995 SEC Championship team. This team scrapped and hung together. A lot of them went double-back and three-times back. A lot of them did several events. I'm just so satisfied. They were fairly close to being second, just like the men's team. It was a team effort. It was the best day ever in combined men's and women's track and field at the University of Georgia in the SEC."
The first day at the SECs was a good one for Georgia, as MacKay won the conference hammer throw title for the Bulldogs, and Dahlgren (hammer) and Steffens (10,000 meters) each turned in second-place performances for the Lady Bulldogs to earn All-SEC Second Team honors. On day two, Fountain tied a school mark in the long jump at 21-7 1/2 to win the title and also won the high jump, marking her fifth SEC crown of the year. Juhasz (pole vault) and Bett (3,000-meter steeplechase) also earned silver medal honors on day two.
The Georgia teams saw more solid performances on the final day of competition. MacKay turned in a second-place finish in the discus and was followed by Bradford Williams and Chad McClendon in third and fourth place, respectively. Ngata used a school record time of 3:42.82 in the 1,500 meters and also finished third in the 5,000 meters. Other third-place finishers included Bennett (400-meter hurdles), the men's 1,600-meter relay team (David Dickens, Andrell Roberts, Shaun Foster and Bennett) and Trevor Snyder (javelin).
Fountain scored in five more events on the final day of conference competition for the women, including a career-best distance in the triple jump (43-11 3/4) for third place. Immediately following the triple jump, Fountain trotted to the javelin, where she managed sixth place with a then-season's best mark of 125-9. After the javelin, she helped the 400-meter relay team (Yendy Gilchrist, Hagar Badawy and Krysha Bayley) to seventh place and just 40 minutes later, finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in a career-best time (13.11), just missing the school mark by one-hundredth of a second. Finally, Fountain ran the second leg on the 1,600-meter relay team (Jasmine Dixon, Badawy and Bayley) that finished eighth. Fountain collected another 34.75 points alone to capture Commissioner's Trophy honors. Other medalists on the final day included Sultana Frizell in the javelin (silver) and Cordell in the 5,000 meters (bronze). In addition to competing on both relay teams, Bayley also scored in the 100 meters and 200 meters.
Following a weekend off, Georgia traveled to Gainesville, Fla., for the second year of NCAA Regional competition where the two teams automatically qualified 15 for the NCAA Championships. The Bulldogs captured second place with 65 points, and the Lady Dogs were well on their way to a similar finish had it not been for Fountain suffering a hamstring injury that pulled her from three finals competitions. The women's team still finished in fifth place with 47 points. Neither team won an individual title, but had several second-place finishers. The Bulldogs were led by Bennett, who once again bettered his own 400-meter hurdles time (49.04) and was just behind national leader Kerron Clement of Florida (49.01). Other second-place finishers included Fountain (long jump), Juhasz (pole vault), McClendon (shot put), Dahlgren (hammer throw), Ngata (5,000 meters), the men's 1,600-meter relay team and Bayley (200 meters). Bayley set a PR in the 200 (22.89), becoming only the third Lady Dog ever to break the 23-second plateau (Debbie Ferguson-22.35 and Gwen Torrence-22.37).
"It was a great weekend for us," said Norton. "Both teams really competed really hard. It was very difficult to compete with the SEC Championships just two weeks earlier, but we had a lot of energy and effort that allowed us to get to that point. It was really a team effort for both the men and women. We scored in all event areas and qualified in a lot of events for the national meet. That's just the kind of team we have. They continued to put forth the extra effort."
The season came to an end at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, where Fountain won Georgia's only title in the long jump with a school-best leap of 21-8 1/4 and also captured second place and All-America honors in the heptathlon with 5,785 points, just 22 points from first place. MacKay also garnered All-America honors in the hammer throw and discus, using a seasonal-best throw of 224-2 in the hammer to capture fourth place. MacKay placed 12th in the discus, but finished as the eighth America to earn his sixth All-American certificate in just two years at Georgia. Meanwhile Bennett received his second All-American certificate in the 400-meter hurdles in as many years, taking fourth place, and Saunders (triple jump) also earned his second certificate of the year with his eighth-place finish in the triple jump (52-9 1/2). Dahlgren was the only other scorer besides Fountain for the Lady Dogs. The freshman placed third in the hammer throw after a career-best heave of 216-11. The Lady Dogs finished seventh with 24 points, their best finish since 1999, while the Bulldogs tied for 26th place with eleven points.
"I'm fairly happy with how we finished up based on what we knew we had coming in," said Norton. "We could have finished higher, but realistically it was not far off where we should have been. I'm not going to evaluate this season on this one meet because we had a record-setting, history-making season from the cross country season all the way through. Looking at the overall year, it's been an A.
"We've had a lot of highlights this season. One more champion in the outdoors makes four this year, which is pretty good in most programs. Still though, I'm not satisfied because the goal is to win the SEC championship and challenge for an NCAA championship. But with the progress we've made, I'm pretty happy with that.
"I'm proud of where the men's and women's programs are within the SEC. What our athletes have accomplished validates the vision I have had for Georgia. Our athletes have competed extremely well in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track."
