University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
SEC Indoor Championships
Jumpers Lead Lady Bulldogs At SEC Indoors
February 27, 2011 | Track & Field
Feb. 27, 2011
SEC Men Full Results (PDF) 
| SEC Women Full Results (PDF)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Junior Colleen Felix cruised to a league title in the triple jump and had three of her teammates also score in the event during final day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday.
Thanks to the 24 points scored by the Lady Bulldog triplers, Georgia finished sixth with 54 points as LSU (135), Arkansas (118), Tennessee (78), Auburn (57) and Florida (55) finished first through fifth.
On the men's side, the Bulldogs were aided by a runner-up finish in the 800-meter run on Sunday and took fifth (55.33). Florida (148), Arkansas (136.50), LSU (98) and Alabama (65.50) were the top four finishers.
Felix, competing for the first year for Georgia after transferring in, opened with a mark of 43 feet, 3 ¾ inches before building to a personal-best effort of 44-3.50 on her fourth attempt. Felix's SEC crown is the first in the indoor triple jump for the Lady Bulldogs since Icolyn Kelly won the championship in 1995.
This is also the first SEC indoor champion for the Georgia women since the Lady Bulldogs claimed three of them in 2007 (Patricia Sylvester-high jump, Jenny Dahlgren-weight throw, Jill Steffens-5000).
"It feels great to be an SEC champion," said Felix, who improved her No. 2 spot in the school record books. "I didn't think I had the best approaches or jumps today that I can have, but it's an amazing feeling to bring another conference championship to Georgia."
Felix was only one of four Georgia competitors to place in the top six in the triple jump. Sophomore Maria Augutis bettered her No. 9 place on the school's all-time top-10 list after soaring 42-3.25 on her third attempt. Augutis passed 40 feet on all but one of her six attempts (second attempt foul).
Finishing one spot behind Augutis was junior Latroya Darrell, despite having two fouls to open the meet. Darrell surged into fourth place on her third jump and then solidified her spot with an effort of 42-0.50.
Sophomore Saniel Atkinson finished sixth in the triple jump with a career-best effort of her own. Also waiting until her fifth attempt to notch her top mark, Atkinson moved into the No. 10 spot in school history with a jump of 41-7.75. She also had four jumps measuring over 40 feet in the competition.
On Saturday, Atkinson finished fourth in the high jump after clearing a personal-best 5-11.50.
In one of the most closely contested finals of the day, junior Aaron Evans came away with a runner-up finish in the 800 meters final after crossing the finish line in 1:49.76. Evans surged into the lead on the fourth lap, but was edged on the final straightaway by Alabama senior Fred Samoei (1:49.76). Evans was also second at last season's SEC outdoor meet before taking third at Nationals.
Evans' finish was a five-place improvement from taking seventh at the 2010 SEC indoors. His time on Sunday was the second fastest indoors of his career as Evans will have to wait to see if his 1:48.07 from earlier in the year will be enough to get him into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Junior Torrin Lawrence matched his season-best time with a 45.82 to finish second in his 400 finals heat and third overall. Lawrence was edged by Florida's Tony McQuay (45.21) in his heat before Alabama's Kirani James shot to the world's fastest time this year (44.80) to win the event out of the second heat.
Before this race, Lawrence had won 12 head-to-head races in the 400 dating back to the 2009 season. Lawrence is the defending NCAA champion and will be fighting to go back-to-back in College Station, Texas, on March 11-12.
With brief breaks to let them catch their breath, Evans and Lawrence returned to the track with freshman Waymon Storey and junior Phillip Adams in the 4x400 relay and added more points to the Bulldogs' total. The foursome sped to their fastest finish of the year (3:08.90) to take fourth after they won the opening heat.
This time for the Bulldogs is the sixth fastest in school history.
Freshman Justin Welch uncorked a career-best throw of 66-5.25 on his third attempt to take fourth in the weight throw during the first event of the competition's last day. Welch came into the meet with the sixth-best throw in the SEC this season and is now just two and a half inches away from breaking into the Bulldog record books.
Also in the weight, senior David Schiedt took eighth and scored a point with a third throw measuring a season-best 60-10.50. This was Schiedt's final meet with the Bulldogs since he has exhausted his outdoor eligibility.
In the women's shot put, two Georgia competitors also broke into the top eight to score with career-best throws. Freshman Hilenn James watched her first toss travel 51-2.25 which allowed her to cruise into fourth place by more than two feet. This personal best boosted her from fourth to second in the Lady Bulldog record books during the first conference meet of her career.
Junior Eve Machovec also forced her way into the scoring column for the first time with a personal-best effort. Bouncing back from a pair of fouls on her fourth and fifth attempts, Machovec exploded for a sixth and final throw of 46-10.75 for seventh place. Machovec is now No. 9 on Georgia's all-time top-10 list.
Leading for two laps in the mile final, sophomore Danny Neff sped to a seventh-place finish after clocking the third-fastest time of his career (4:08.89). This marks the first time Neff has scored at an SEC track event after he took 12th in the prelims in 2010.
Neff returned to the track with sprinter Eric Mills, Miles Svoboda and Brandon Lord in the distance medley relay and finished fifth. Neff put the Bulldogs in second place after crossing the finish line around the 3-minute mark before Georgia settled in at fifth and continued there until they finished with a time of 9:52.90. Only two other DMR groups in school history have clocked faster times.
Senior Aaron LaGarde also scored at his first SEC indoor meet in the triple jump. After opening with a foul, LaGarde soared 50-5.50 on his second attempt and held on for eighth place in the competition.
Back on the track, Brett Richardson completed his laps in the 5000 in a personal-best 14:24.68 for eighth place. Richardson, who had run in the 14:40s earlier this season, stayed with the lead pack throughout the race and was able to put himself at the No. 5 spot on UGA's all-time top-10 list with his performance.
Another scorer for the Lady Bulldogs was freshman Megan Malasarte. A day after recording a personal-best time to join freshman Stella Christoforou in the 800 finals, Malasarte clocked a 2:10.92 for eighth place. Christoforou crossed the finish line just out of scoring position, taking ninth on Sunday.
Malasarte teamed with Christoforou and freshmen Savannah Kirk and Ashley Shiver to put the Lady Bulldogs' final point on the scoreboard in the distance medley relay. The group completed the relay in 11:57.09 for eighth place.
