University of Georgia Athletics
`Excitement Is Obvious' For Track & Field Teams
February 09, 2017 | Track & Field
ATHENS, Ga. --- The Bulldogs travel to Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday in anticipation for their final regular season indoor meet of the year at the Music City Challenge.
When Does The Music City Challenge Begin?: Senior Shelby Ashe, freshman Beatrice Llano and junior Asianna Covington compete in the women's weight throw, senior Tatiana Gusin and sophomore Mary Terry line up in the women's high jump and sophomore Keenon Laine will represent Georgia in the men's high jump at 5 p.m. ET to start the meet on Friday. Freshman Micaiah Ransby is scheduled to start the Bulldogs' action on the track in the women's 200-meter dash.
Saturday's action begins for Georgia with freshman Yanely Gomez running the women's 3000m at 11 am. Senior Georgia Stefanidi and junior Emily Savage will be the first field competitors in the women's pole vault at 11:30 a.m. on the meet's second day.
Where Are They Ranked?: The Lady Bulldogs held their No. 3 national ranking in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll while Georgia moved from No. 6 to No. 7.
The competition will be run in Vanderbilt's Multipurpose Facility. The Commodores hosted their first meet on the six-lane, 300-meter track in December 2013 and the track will be the home of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on February 24-25.
Live Results: To check on Georgia's progress at the Music City Challenge on Friday and Saturday, please visit the live results page: http://gado.gs/6xz.
Kyprianou's Comments: "Going into this last regular indoor season competition, our goals remain the same," said Bulldog head coach Petros Kyprianou. "Try to place a few more on the NCAA list and hopefully get a few to step up and positively surprise us with a good mark. Our student-athletes are excited for the postseason and this is a great position to be in to show, in the facility that will host SECs, if they are capable of punching their ticket to the 'big show.'"
With only two weeks before Georgia returns to Nashville for the SEC meet and a month to go before the NCAA Championships arrive in College Station, Texas, Kyprianou is concentrating on his teams' conditioning and health as they head into the home stretch.
"Staying healthy is the most challenging item on my list at this point," Kyprianou said. "We are trying hard as a coaching staff to modify their training, adjust their training so they stay at a high performance level but at the same time not get any setbacks. That is every coach's top list item to keep his or her team healthy and happy. We need everyone, the coaches, team and support staff, to buy into this new culture of no excuses, of focus and of attention to detail. We are at a good spot right now and we want to be one step ahead so the student-athletes get what they need to succeed."
Other than the 2014 SEC indoor meet at Texas A&M's home, the SEC Indoor Championships have either been in Fayetteville, Ark., Lexington, Ky., or Gainesville, Fla., every year since 2000. Kyprianou wants his crew to be comfortable when they compete in the Commodores' facility.
"Vanderbilt has a nice facility that will host the SEC Championships and we want to test it out since it is an oversized track and some athletes run differently on this kind of track," said Kyprianou, who is in his second year as Georgia's head coach. "We are not taking the full contingent as we are trying to rest up some of our best and give them a chance to get healthy before the championship season. Excitement is obvious and our teams can't wait to get to this portion of the season. As long as we are prepared and stay healthy, have laser focus and pay attention to detail, good things should happen."
What Bulldogs Are Traveling?: Georgia is traveling 46 team members for the competition. For the women, seniors, Kendell Williams, Tatiana Gusin, Shelby Ashe, Georgia Stefanidi, juniors Katie Stone, Mady Fagan, Aliyah Johnson, Keturah Orji, Devon Artis, Morgan Ainslie, Asianna Covington, Emily Savage, sophomores Kate Hall, Addy Lippitt, Mary Terry, Anna Machovec, Bre Ragsdale, Grace Tavani and freshmen Louisa Grauvogel, Beatrice Llano, Micaiah Ransby, Catherine Reid, Amber Tanner, Jessica Drop, Yanely Gomez, Chelsea Zoller and Sam Drop are making the trip.
Seniors Sid Vaughn, Alex Poursanidis, Reggie Glover, Maurice Freeman, Ayrian Evans, Devon Williams, juniors Bryan Kamau, Alex Larsson, Henry Dwyer, Karl Saluri, Jon Moses, sophomores Keenon Laine, Eric Westog, Terrell Estime, Denzel Comenentia, Jeramey Hampton, Daniel Navarro and freshmen Darius Carbin and Stephen Martinez are traveling for the Bulldog men.
Positioning For NCAAs: With the NCAA meet fast approaching, here are the Georgia team members who are ranked in the country's top 16 in their respective events and are currently in position to advance.
MEN: Darius Carbin (T-3rd in high jump - 7 feet, 3 ¼ inches), Devon Williams (4th in heptathlon - 5,881 pts.), Alex Poursanidis (6th in weight throw - 72-6.50), *Karl Saluri (9th in heptathlon - 5,796), *Denzel Comenentia (9th in shot put - 62-3.25), Keenon Laine (T-9th in high jump - 7-2.50), Kendal Williams (T-11th in 60m - 6.65)
WOMEN: *Keturah Orji (1st in triple jump - 45-9.25), *Kendell Williams (1st in pentathlon - 4,476 pts.), *Tatiana Gusin (T-1st in high jump - 6-2.75), Mady Fagan (T-1st in high jump - 6-2.75), *Keturah Orji (2nd in long jump - 21-9), *Kendell Williams (T-3rd in long jump - 21-4.75), Shelby Ashe (4th in weight throw - 71-4.75), Kate Hall (5th in long jump - 21-3.25), Kendell Williams (5th in 60mH - 8.07), Louisa Grauvogel (15th in pentathlon - 3,956 pts.), Aliyah Johnson (16th in triple jump - 42-7.50), Kendell Williams (16th in high jump - 5-11.50)
*returning First Team All-American in the event indoors
Last Time Out: UGA MEN - The fourth-ranked Georgia men posted five wins and made six improvements to the Bulldogs' all-time top-10 lists, including one UGA record during the Razorback Invitational on January 28-29. After topping his own school record of 6.68 with a 6.67 in the 60m prelims, sophomore Kendal Williams blazed to a Georgia personal best 6.65 to win in the finals (his FSU personal record was 6.56). The Jacksonville, Fla., native also lined up in the 200m for the first time in a Bulldog uniform and finished with the second-best time in school history (20.97) to take eighth. This time is the best for Georgia since the late great Torrin Lawrence set a school record of 20.77 in 2009. Another victory came from Carbin in the high jump versus a highly-touted field. He cleared a collegiate personal-best height of 7-3.25 on his first try to move into a tie for second in the school record books. Carbin bested the 2016 NCAA outdoor champion, USC's Randall Cunningham, as well as the nation's overall indoor leader this year during his second consecutive victory. Also of note, Laine cleared 7-1 and was fourth in the high jump for the Bulldogs. Devon Williams registered a career-high score of 5,881 points in the heptathlon to move to third in the Bulldog record books and sixth on the world list. Williams had three personal records in his seven events. His training partner, Saluri, scored 5,796 for third place. Comenentia recorded his second victory in a row in the shot put, this time with a season-best mark of 62-3.25.
UGA WOMEN - The third-ranked Lady Bulldogs also competed in Fayetteville and won three events while establishing six additions to the school's all-time top-10 lists. Orji traveled 21-9 on her sixth and final attempt in the long jump to win the event with the SEC, NCAA and world's second-best mark this year. Orji, who had four jumps of at least 21-0, shot to No. 2 on the UGA all-time list and still owns the NCAA's No. 1 mark in the triple jump this year at 45-9.25 by a foot and three inches. Another familiar name in the Bulldog program quickly took control of the national lead in the pentathlon as she continues her quest for an unprecedented four NCAA titles in the event. Kendell Williams cruised to a victory in the first event (60m hurdles) with an 8.17 and never looked back en route to 4,476 points for her ninth career collegiate victory in the pentathlon. That put her third in the world this year (top American) with the nearest NCAA competitor nearly 200 points behind her. Also in the combined events, freshman Louisa Grauvogel scored a personal-best total of 3,956 to take fourth and move seventh on the school's all-time top-10 list. Ashe exploded for a career-long toss of 71-4.75 in the weight throw to win easily. Ashe had the longest throw for Georgia since four-time Olympian Jenny Dahlgren won the 2006 NCAA title with an effort of 78-10.50. Llano also bettered her No. 8 spot on the all-time top-10 list with a top weight throw of 62-1.
Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack) and Snapchat (ugatrack).
Players Mentioned
