University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
SEC Championships
Dogs Take 4th, 10th At SEC Cross Meet
October 28, 2016 | Cross Country
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- The Georgia men's cross country team improved its 2015 finish by one spot to take fourth and the Lady Bulldogs left with a 10th-place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday.
The Bulldog men scored 149 points to hold off both Alabama (152) and Missouri (156) for fourth place in the 8K race as Arkansas (25) won the team crown on its home course. This marks the best finish for the Bulldogs since they took third in 2013. Individually, junior Bryan Kamau had a career-best finish at the league meet to take 16th and lead his team for the fifth consecutive time this season.
True freshman Jessica Drop earned expected All-SEC Second Team and All-Freshman Team honors by finishing first for the Georgia women for the fifth meet in a row. The Lady Bulldogs scored 225 points in their 6K competition, shaving more than 40 points off of their tally for 10th place last year. Arkansas (46) completed the sweep with a victory on the women's side.
"Both of our teams ran incredibly hard today and competed with heart in conditions that ended up being pretty hot," said Georgia distance coach Patrick Cunniff. "On the women's side, I was particularly excited about having both of the Drop sisters (Jessica and Sam) in the top 25 with expected All-Freshman honors. They competed and hung with the best runners the SEC has to offer.
"For the men, I think this meet was a testament to how tough they are and how hard they have worked. We didn't have our best day but we still did enough to hold onto fourth place in a competitive conference. Our crew raced hard for each other and showed they had put in the time and dedication leading up to this meet. Kamau continued to be a great leader for us and I thought Austin Sprague was a solid No. 2 finisher for us yet again. This was the best performance for Terrell Estime in a Georgia uniform and he is one of the main reasons we were able to hold onto fourth place. I was proud that both of our teams, everyone out there running, battled until the end."
Kamau made it three-for-three in the category of traveling to the SEC cross meet and scoring. The Snellville, Ga., native clocked a 24:45.7 to take 16th, which was a three-spot improvement from his 2015 finish. As he now has for the last four meets, junior Austin Sprague was the Bulldogs' second finisher after he crossed the line in 24:58.9 for 22nd place. This was Sprague's first SEC meet after transferring to UGA from Furman.
Fellow junior Daniel Navarro built on his 19th-place finish at the Crimson Classic two weeks ago to score again as Georgia's third finisher. Navarro clocked a 25:20.7 to take 31st to score for the second time at his third SEC meet. One spot behind Navarro was senior Sid Vaughn, who scored for the third time in his fourth trip to SECs with a 32nd-place finish (25:21.7).
As Cunniff mentioned, it was Estime's turn for a breakout performance by scoring at his first conference meet thanks to a 59th-place finish (25:58.7).
In the day's first race, the Drop sisters recorded finishes in the top 24 out of the 136 finishers on Friday. Jessica is expected to bring home both All-SEC Second Team (eighth through 14th finishers) and All-Freshman honors (top seven freshmen) after taking 14th with a time of 20:56.6 in just the six cross meet of her life.
Sam completed the day in 24th-place after running the course in 21:15.6 and is also expected to be named to the All-Freshman Team. This is the fourth meet that the sisters have finished 1-2 for UGA, respectively.
Junior Addy Lippitt has now run twice and scored twice at the SEC Championships following her 62nd-place finish (22:11.5). This was two spots better than she finished in 2014. Junior Bre Ragsdale had another consistent outcome in her first trip to the league race to be Georgia's fourth finisher, taking 73rd (22:18.4).
A third true freshman, Yanely Gomez, scored for the fourth time in four tries this season to round out the Lady Bulldogs' top five. Gomez came across the finish line in 22:26.6 and was 77th as she and her teammates prepare for their second postseason meet.
The Bulldogs will now have two weeks to rest and train and then try for an invitation to the NCAA Championships at the NCAA South Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., on Nov. 11.
Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack) and Snapchat (ugatrack).
