Highlights Abound For Track Dogs At Home Meet

Saturday, April 7

Athens, Ga.

All Day

University of Georgia

Spec Towns Invitational & Combined Events

April 07, 2018 | Track & Field

Final Results

ATHENS, Ga. --- The seventh-ranked Georgia men and the ninth-ranked Lady Bulldogs experienced performances that altered school record books and revised the current national lists at the Spec Towns Invitational and Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon in Athens on Saturday.

The Bulldogs were particularly dominant in the men's high jump, decathlon, heptathlon and men's shot put in their third to last regular season meet of the outdoor campaign.

Junior Keenon Laine cleared a career-best high jump height of 7 feet, 5 inches to earn a share of the national lead for this season and move to No. 2 in school history with UGA's best mark since 1996. His training partner, sophomore Darius Carbin, also reached a personal record of 7-3, which ranks No. 9 on the UGA all-time top-10 list, to finish with runner-up honors and the country's ninth-best mark this year.

Since 2014, competitors at the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon have produced 23 scores ranked in the NCAA's top 10, including nine in the top two. This year's competition was no different with four additions to the top-10 list and a national leader.

Competing in the first decathlon of his collegiate career, true freshman Johannes Erm scored the nation's third-best tally this season at 8,020 points to be third place (second collegiate finisher behind NCAA leader Tim Duckworth of Kentucky who scored 8,145). Erm now sits No. 4 on the 2018 world list and No. 5 on UGA's all-time top-10 list.

Sophomore Louisa Grauvogel won all seven events and had five personal records en route to a victory in the heptathlon. She scored a career-best tally of 5,887 points, which is ranked third on this year's national list and fourth on the school's all-time top-10 list.

One week removed from setting the Dutch national record in the hammer and taking the national lead, junior Denzel Comenentia moved to No. 4 on this year's national list in the shot put to claim the victory. He worked up to a third throw of 65-4.25 and picked up a four-foot win during his season debut in the event.

Comenentia returned in the discus and left the Spec Towns Track with the 11^th-best mark in the nation this year. He opened with a toss of 188-11, narrowly missing his personal record, to win by two feet .

Sophomores Kate Hall and Micaiah Ransby and freshman Lynna Irby and Tara Davis combined in the 4x100-meter relay to finish with the nation's 10^th-best time this year. With an order of Hall-Irby-Ransby-Davis, the Lady Bulldogs registered a 44.05 to win and rocket to No. 3 on the school's all-time list with the best UGA time since 1999.

On the men's side, Jonathan Raines, Raytez Jenkins, Michael Nicholls and Justes Nance combined to run a 41.06 in the 4x100m relay by themselves.

Davis returned in the women's 100m hurdles and won for the second straight week. She ran a 13.27 to finish ahead of Kentucky's Jacklyn Howell (13.34) after Davis moved into the nation's top five in the long jump on Friday.

Returning to action for the first time since the 2017 outdoor season, senior Tatiana Gusin recorded a victory in the high jump thanks to a first attempt clearance at 5-11.25.

With juniors Aliyah Johnson and Mary Terry setting the pace in the heptathlon's final event (800m), Grauvogel pushed herself to a career best to complete her sweep of all seven events. She ran her two laps in 2:21.36 for 805 points to push her past Lucie Ondraschkova on the school's all-time list by 34 points.

Grauvogel stayed in a comfortable lead following a win in the fifth event, the long jump. She opened with a career-best long jump mark of 18-7.25 to score 750 points and take second in the event. Johnson matched Grauvogel's mark at 18-7.25 on her third and final try.

Winning her sixth event in a row, Grauvogel reached 134 feet on her second javelin attempt to stay in the top position. She scored 683 points in the event to set up her finale in the 800m.

In the decathlon, Erm managed a third-place finish in the 110m hurdles with a 14.64 to tally his first 894 points of the day. Senior Karl Saluri finished in 15.18 and was sixth for 828 points.

In the seventh event, Saluri built to a third discus toss of 141-4 to score 728 points and take fourth. Erm started with his best mark of the day at 130-5 before following with two fouls for 659 points and fifth place.

Erm finished second in the pole vault with a third attempt clearance of 15-3 to boost his total 810 points. This put him in third place as the No. 2 collegian in the meet. Saluri passed until the 15-0 mark and then missed all three of his attempts, which effectively ended his bid at scoring a qualifying score on the weekend.

With improvements on his second and third attempts, Erm concluded the javelin with a mark of 182-1 for 670 points to stay in third place overall. One foot behind Erm was Saluri after his second attempt traveled 181-2 for 666 points.

Erm finished up the decathlon with a 1500m time of 4:37.99 for 693 points to clinch what is thought to be his first spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Saluri turned into an encouraging fan for Erm in the 1500m as he sat out the final race.

Senior Bryan Kamau started the day by winning the 5000m by 16 seconds. After Kentucky's Cole Dowdy set the pace and then dropped out, Kamau took control and registered a 14:50.49 to pick up the win.

UGA completed the sweep in the 5000m as sophomore sisters Jessica and Samantha Drop went 1-2. Jessica and Samantha ran the entire race shoulder to shoulder as they continued training for the postseason and Jessica finished her 12 and a half laps in 16:48.62. Samantha was right behind her sister with a 16:49.19 after the Lady Bulldogs earned All-America honors together during the 2017 cross country season.

Senior Henry Dwyer broke the 1:50 mark in the 800m for the first time in his career with a 1:49.93 for third place.

In addition, the Lady Bulldogs' sophomore finished second and third in the 400m. Amber Tanner came off her usual 800m routine and registered a 54.75 for runner-up honors while Micaiah Ransby clocked a 55.27 for third.

Freshman Justes Nance also grabbed the top collegiate finisher (second overall) in the men's 200m with a personal record of 21.32.

Georgia returns to action at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 19-21. The Bulldogs will compete again in Athens at the second-annual Torrin Lawrence Memorial on May .

Results and recaps from the Spec Towns meet and Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon will be found at georgiadogs.com. News and updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams are always located on Twitter/Instagram at @UGATrack.

	100m	LJ	SP	HJ	400m	Day1
Bulldog Decathlon
Johannes Erm	*10.99	*25-6.25	*46-0	*6-7	48.55	*4,294
	110mH	Discus	PV	Javelin	1500m	TOTAL
	*14.64	*130-5	*15-3	*182-1	*4:37.99	*8,020

	100m	LJ	SP	HJ	400m	Day1
Karl Saluri	10.57	*25-1.75	45-10	*6-1.25	48.24	4,264
	110mH	Discus	PV	Javelin	1500m	TOTAL
	15.18	141-4	NH	181-1	DNS	6,359