University of Georgia Athletics
Roommates Led Women's Squad to Strong NCAA Finish
June 17, 2015 | Track & Field
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
ATHENS, Ga. -- Keturah Orji had a freshman year to remember, capped off by a national outdoor title in the triple jump -- she's the first freshman to win it -- at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., last week.
Kendell Williams had a freshman year to remember last year, and she came up one spot short as a sophomore of back to back NCAA heptathlon titles.
Quintunya Chapman, in just her second season competing in the heptathlon, closed out her collegiate career with a third-place finish at the NCAAs.
They're three exceptional athletes, and during the 2014-15 school year they were three ultra-successful roommates, who combined to score 26 of the Georgia women's track and field team' s 41 points -- good enough for fifth place -- at the NCAA Championships.
"It's so helpful because we have such a great energy between us," Williams said of living together. "We're such good friends that we come home from practice and we can relieve the stress and talk about anything away from the track, and then also bring some of the jokes or whatever to the track and make track practice a better experience.
"If you don't know, track practice is really, really hard, especially when you're out there every day, so it's good to have people you can laugh with. I think it helps to make all of us better."
At the SEC Championships in May, Orji took first place with a jump of 46 feet, 4 1/4 inches. It was a person best and improved on her school record, and at the time it was the third best jump in the world this year.
At the NCAAs, Orji took command of the meet on her second jump, covering 46-5 1/4. Another school record and personal best, and nobody came within two feet of Orji. Auburn's Marshay Ryan placed second with a jump of 44-4 3/4.
"I don't really look at how well I do compared to the competition," said Orji, who also scored for Georgia by placing seventh in the long jump. "I just focus on myself and (setting a new personal record)."
There were plenty of P.R.s among the trio.
Chapman set P.R.s in five of the heptathlon's seven events, finishing in third overall with 6,147, one point better than her personal best set earlier this season. Williams, who has won the NCAA indoor pentathlon title in her first two collegiate seasons, placed second in the heptathlon with a P.R. (and new school record, topping Chapman's mark) of 6,223.
"You always want a P.R. at the big meets," Williams said." That's really my main goal, to get the P.R. at the big meets, and that's something we both did. It's a really great note to end on."
The end of this season also marks the end of the three living together. Chapman, who said she will graduate next spring, has moved into a new place off campus. Not that she won't be a regular at Spec Towns Track.
"I decided that I am going to be in Athens, taking classes, so why not train and keep Kendell on her A game," Chapman said. "I can still be around my teammates, it's really hard to let them go, and just prepare for some track meets next year, in the summertime, and possibly be thinking about the Olympic Trials, as well. We'll see how it goes."
There's a lot about living with Williams and Orji that Chapman will miss, she said.
"Definitely just being able to sit around and have our girl talks," she said. "In those girl talks we can talk about literally anything and lay everything out on the table with no judgement or anything. The laughter and the jokes that we shared, it's really something that everyone should try to experience in college, and I'm glad I found it with them."
Williams and Orji will be staying together next season. Williams won the NCAA pentathlon and heptathlon titles as a freshman and nearly repeated as a sophomore. Orji just capped a spectacular freshman season with a national title, so what advice does Williams have for her friend, teammate and roommate heading into her second year with the Bulldogs?
"Just to keep listening to Petros," she said, meaning Georgia associate head coach Petros Kyprianou, who trains all three as the jumps and multi-event coach. "He obviously brought you to this point and he has a plan and he's going to continue. I know she trusts Petros already and I'm just going to keep encouraging her to do well, and I know that she is."
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. You can follow him on Twitter: @TheFrierson and @ITAHallofFame.
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