University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Welcomes Competition For Spec Towns Invitational
April 12, 2007 | Track & Field
The Georgia women, who are ranked seventh in the USTFCCCA poll and ninth at Trackwire.com, and the Bulldog men, who moved from 25th to a tie for 18th in the Trackwire.com poll, return to Athens after spending the last three weekends on the road.
"We are looking forward to competing on our home track because we always have strong performances, no matter who we are competing against. It helps to compete on the same track that we train on and not having hotels, buses and flights to deal helps us stay more rested and relaxed," said head coach Wayne Norton, who will be watching Georgia senior Sarah Gretzmacher battle in the heptathlon on Friday. "The meets during the month of April are the stepping stones to the national championships so we hope the weather cooperates and our team does what its capable of doing."
Georgia will be welcoming Boston University, South Carolina, University of Texas-San Antonio, Oglethorpe College, Kennesaw State and the Minnesota women to town during the team's fifth weekend of outdoor competition.
In addition to the heptathlon events on Friday, senior Jennifer Dahlgren will continue her pursuit for back-to-back NCAA titles in the women's hammer throw at 5 p.m. and the men's hammer, which features the Southeastern Conference's third-ranked competitor in Georgia's Nate Rolfe, will be held at 3 p.m.
The final three events of the heptathlon as well as the men's javelin will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning and the first event on the track (women's 5000-meter run) will begin at 11 a.m.
Unlike many of the home meets the last couple seasons, Georgia's distance runners will be competing on Saturday. Seniors Jill Steffens, who has the fourth best 10,000-meter time in the nation (33:21.63), and Ian Burrell, who is No. 8 on the men's national 10,000 list (28:48.78), are both scheduled to take the track this weekend.
"The distance runners are on a schedule where they compete about every other week and it works out that this weekend's meet fits their schedule, so we are looking forward to having the whole team compete together," Norton said.
Fourteen Georgia seniors will also be honored during the Bulldogs' final home meet of the season. David Dickens, Brian Etelman, Sam Gillespie and Kurt Kimmons from the men's team and Kelly Cordell, Dahlgren, Shenae Dawkins, Yendy Gilchrist, Sarah Gretzmacher, Kristin Heffelfinger, Jill Steffens, Patricia Sylvester, Whitni Wonderlin and Krista Woodward from the women's team will all be recognized at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday morning at the track.
Nine individuals or relay teams wearing red and black this weekend are ranked in the top 10 nationally a month into the season. Leading the way for the men is sophomore Justin Gaymon, who has the county's fastest time in the 400 hurdles (49.75), and senior David Dickens, who sits at the No. 4 spot in both the 200 and the 400.
On the women's side, junior Levern Spencer is the nation's No. 1 high jumper after breaking the school record with an effort of 6 feet, 3 12 inches. In addition, Woodward has the second-longest javelin throw in the country this season after her record-breaking throw of 183-11.
All of Georgia's home track meets are free admission. Full results and a recap from the Spec Towns meet will be located at georgiadogs.com.
30th Annual Spec Towns National Team Invitational
April 13-14, 2007
FIELD Events
*#10:00 a.m. HEPTATHLON - 100m hurdles, High jump, Shot put, 200m
*3:00 p.m. Hammer - Men
*5:00 p.m. Hammer - Women
10:00 a.m. Javelin - Men
10:00 a.m. HEPTATHLON - Long jump
11:30 a.m. Pole Vault - Women
11:30 a.m. HEPTATHLON - Javelin
12:00 p.m. Javelin - Women
12:00 p.m. Long Jump - Men
12:00 p.m. Long Jump - Women
1:00 p.m. Shot Put - Women
1:00 p.m. High Jump - Women
1:30 p.m. Discus - Men
2:00 p.m. Triple Jump - Men
2:00 p.m. Triple Jump - Women
2:00 p.m. Pole Vault - Men
2:30 p.m. Shot Put - Men
2:30 p.m. High Jump - Men
3:00 p.m. Discus - women
* - Events on Friday, April 7th
Running Events
11:00 a.m. 5000m - Women
11:25 a.m. 5000m - Men
11:40 a.m. ­ SENIOR RECOGNITION
11:45 a.m. 400m Relay - Women
11:50 p.m. 400m Relay - Men
11:55 a.m. 1500m - Women
12:10 p.m. 1500m - Men
12:25 p.m. 100m Hurdles - Women
12:40 p.m. 110m Hurdles - Men
12:55 p.m. 400m - Women
1:10 p.m. 400m - Men
1:10 p.m. HEPTATHLON - 800m run
# - Tentative; rolling schedule
#1:30 p.m. 100m - Women
#1:45 p.m. 100m - Men
#2:00 p.m. 800m - Women
#2:25 p.m. 800m - Men
#2:40 p.m. 200m - Women
#3:00 p.m. 200m - Men
#3:15 p.m. 400m Hurdles - Women
#3:30 p.m. 400m Hurdles - Men
#3:45 p.m. 3000m Steeplechase - Women
#4:05 p.m. 3000m Steeplechase - Men
#4:20 p.m. 1600m Relay - Women
#4:35 p.m. 1600m Relay - Men
