University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia's Tommy Barrineau Crowned SEC Heptathlon Champion
February 28, 2010 | Track & Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Georgia junior Tommy Barrineau came from behind to capture the school's first heptathlon title at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday.
In addition to Barrineau's championship, Georgia had seven scorers during the meet's second day and six qualifiers for Sunday finals. The Bulldog men are in second place (26 points) while the Lady Bulldogs have scored 4.5 points and are in ninth place.
Arkansas (57) is leading on the men's side and Florida (50) has taken early control in the women's half of the meet.
"Anytime we have an SEC champion, we have to celebrate and the fact is, Tommy is just a hard-working guy who just keeps getting better and better," said head coach Wayne Norton. "He gutted it out the last two days like he always does and I think this will serve as an inspiration to our whole team. We had three scorers in the heptathlon and qualified a good number of people so I think this continues to show the development we are making with this program. For the men, we are still on track to score what we had on paper and we are looking forward to some more success (on Sunday). The women wanted to score at least 50 or so points and it is going to take a lot to get there. But I think we are about where we should be this year, just not where we may want to be."
Barrineau broke his own school record in the heptathlon with an NCAA automatic qualifying score of 5,700 points. He passed his former mark of 5,608 (set earlier this season in Fayetteville) to claim the Bulldogs' first conference championship in the heptathlon as well as the men's first SEC indoor title in a field event since 2005 (Brad Smith, pole vault).
The Bulldogs will have both the 2010 SEC heptathlon champion as well as the 2009 winner for the 2011 season since Michael Ayers, who won the title with Tennessee last year, will be eligible after transferring from the Volunteers.
"I really don't know what to say other than I knew I didn't want to be almost the SEC champion this year, I wanted to be the champion," said Barrineau. "I wanted (Cory Holman) and I to go 1-2, but I was still satisfied he took third and especially that (David Silverstein) finished where he did. All of the competitors in the heptathlon did a great job over these two days so I am proud of them too."
Barrineau claimed his conference crown in thrilling fashion. Trailing Florida's Gray Horn by 30 points going into the 1000-meter run, which is the heptathlon's final event, Barrineau had to beat Horn by three seconds to win the title. But Barrineau managed to bolt out to an early lead and ended up registering a personal-best 2:36.51 to Horn's 2:43.40, which was almost seven seconds faster. Horn finished with 5,653 points.
"That was the scariest race of my life tonight," said Barrineau, who was ironically recruited to come to Georgia as a middle-distance runner. "There's a lot of pressure to know that if you beat one guy by three seconds you are the SEC champion. I just kept looking behind me expecting him to be there. (Horn) had a great competition, but I am glad I was the one who pulled it out. This has to be the proudest moment of my life."
The Bulldogs also added nine more points in the heptathlon as Holman finished third and Silverstein took sixth.
Making Barrineau's win even more special is that he now joins a club that his father, Jim Barrineau, is also a part of. Jim Barrineau won two SEC outdoor high jump titles (1976-77) for the Bulldogs while earning four All-America certificates.
"I never won an SEC indoor title so I am so proud of him," said Jim Barrineau, who was in attendance on Saturday. "The one thing I can say about Tommy is that he is a competitor."
Barrineau won the pole vault after soaring over the bar at a career-best 16 feet, ¾ inches to add 880 points to his total. While he also improved his position with a career-best showing, Holman finished 11th in the event despite registering a personal-best mark of 11-5.75.
After advancing to the finals in the same event just minutes earlier, Holman had the second-fastest time in the 60 hurdles during his heptathlon competition. He crossed the finish line in 8.10 as Barrineau tied his career-best finish event (8.45) to take fourth.
Holman, who also took 10th in the individual high jump (6-4.75) on Saturday, had a time of 8.20 in the regular 60 hurdle prelims to advance to Sunday's final.
The Bulldogs scored their first points of the meet in the weight throw. Senior Branislav Danis launched his opening throw 66-0.25 to finish fourth. This was the second-longest effort of Danis' career after he finished eighth in 2009 with a mark of 62-8.
Fellow senior David Schiedt tallied two more points for Georgia after taking seventh. Schiedt, who finished with four fouls, had a fair fourth throw of 60-7.25. This improved his finish at last year's meet by seven spots.
Senior John Freeman, who had the third-best throw (68-1) in the conference going into the meet after finishing third last season, had three fouls in the prelims and did not advance to the finals.
Kat Majester made her debut at an SEC meet a memorable one after reaching a personal-best height of 13-6.50 in the pole vault. Majester, who is a graduate student at UGA, finished sixth after picking up her career-best mark on her third attempt and moved to No. 4 on the school's all-time top-10 list.
Also in her first league championship, freshman Jade Riebold went over the bar at 13-2.50 to add 1.5 points for Georgia after tying for seventh.
The current world leader in the 400, sophomore Torrin Lawrence, cruised to a spot in the finals in his featured event after winning the fourth heat with a time of 45.88. Lawrence tied for the fastest time in the prelims with Florida's Calvin Smith.
Lawrence will also be competing in the 4x400 relay for the Bulldogs during the last event of the meet Sunday.
Sophomore Odeika Bent shredded her previous fastest time in the 400 to record a 54.67 and advance to the finals as the ninth and final qualifier. Bent moved from 10th to sixth in the Lady Bulldog record books with her finish. This is the fastest time for the Georgia women in the last eight years.
Battling in his first SEC Championships since transferring from Memphis, sophomore Aaron Evans had a career-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:50.36 to win the opening heat as well as the overall prelims and advance to the finals. Evans, who surged past LSU's Richard Jones on the final straightaway, improved his No. 4 spot on Georgia's all-time top-10 list.
Senior Taylor Adams finished fifth in her heat and ninth overall to qualifying for the 800 finals with a season-best time of 2:12.31. This will be Adams' first 800 finals after taking 11th in the prelims in 2009.
In the women's mile, sophomore Kristie Krueger traded the lead back in forth in her heat back with Tennessee's Brittany Sheffey before clocking a 4:49.20 to qualify for the finals. Krueger finished fourth overall and will be gunning to improve on her eighth-place finish in 2009 on Sunday.
Also of note, Aaron LaGarde moved to a tie for eighth on UGA's all-time top-10 list in the long jump after traveling 24-5.50 on his sixth and final attempt. He finished ninth and missed scoring by one spot.
Another narrow miss for the finals was junior Georgina Nembhard in the 200. Nembhard improved her career-best time by one hundredth of a second to 24.14, but missed the finals by four hundredths of a second, taking 10th.
In addition, freshman Danny Neff went across the mile finish line in a career-best 4:10.15, missing the finals by just two spots after taking 12th.
The women's weight is the first individual event on Sunday and is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT. Sophomore Nikola Lomnicka is leading the conference in the weight with a top mark of 67-6.75, which was also set at the Tyson facility.
The first individual event for the men is the pole vault at 1:30 p.m.
Live results and a recap from Friday's action can be found at georgiadogs.com.
Georgia's Scorers On Saturday
| Name | Event/Place | Mark/Time |
| MEN | ||
| Tommy Barrineau | Heptathlon/1st | &*5,700 pts. |
| Cory Holman | Heptathlon/3rd | ^5,478 pts. |
| Branislav Danis | Hammer/4th | ^66-0.25 |
| David Silverstein | Heptathlon/6th | *4,900 pts. |
| David Schiedt | Hammer/7th | 60-7.25 |
| WOMEN | ||
| Kat Majester | Pole vault/6th | ^*13-6.50 |
| Jade Riebold | Pole vault/T7th | ^13-2.50 |
& - NCAA automatic qualifying mark; ^ - NCAA provisional qualifying mark; * - personal-best mark at Georgia
Georgia's Qualifiers For Sunday
| Name | Event/Place | Mark/Time |
| MEN | ||
| Torrin Lawrence | 400m/T1st | &45.88 |
| Aaron Evans | 800m/1st | ^*1:50.36 |
| Cory Holman | 60mH/8th | 8.20 |
| WOMEN | ||
| Kristie Krueger | Mile/4th | 4:49.20 |
| Odeika Bent | 400m/9th | *54.67 |
| Taylor Adams | 800m/9th | 2:12.31 |
Results for Georgia's heptathletes on Friday
Tommy Barrineau
60m – 7.28
LJ – *22-2.25
SP - *43-10.75
HJ - *6-6.75
Day One Total – 3,035 pts.
60mH – *8.45
PV - *16-0.75
1000m – *2:36.51
TOTAL – 5,700
Cory Holman
60m – 6.96
LJ – 23-2
SP - *38-0.25
HJ - $*7-1.75
Day One Total – 3,280 pts.
60mH – 8.10
PV - *11-5.75
1000m – 2:50.67
TOTAL – 5,478
David Schiedt
60m – 7.29
LJ - *22-8
SP - *37-0.25
HJ - *5-9.25
Day One Total – 2,730 pts.
60mH – 8.65
PV – 12-9.50
1000m – 2:52.04
TOTAL – 4,900
$ - SEC Championships record
