University of Georgia Athletics
Friday, February 22
Fayetteville, Ark.
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SEC Indoor Championships
Comenentia’s Title Highlights Day One At SECs
February 22, 2019 | Track & Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Senior Denzel Comenentia won his seventh career league title and senior Keenon Laine set a school record for runner-up honors in the high jump to highlight the opening day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday.
The sixth-ranked Georgia men have 22 points and are in fifth place and 23rd-ranked Lady Bulldogs are also in fifth place with 16 points through day one.
Comenentia provided the Bulldogs' first highlight by winning the men's shot put title for the second time in his career. This marks Comenentia's third career SEC indoor crown (also won 2018 weight throw) and his seventh conference championship overall. The Georgia men have now won three out of the last four titles in the event and seven in program history.
In the final event completed on Friday night, Laine toppled a 33-year-old school record to earn runner-up honors in the high jump while his training partner and junior teammate Darius Carbin scored two points with a seventh-place finish.
The Lady Bulldogs put their first 13 points on the scoreboard with a second and fourth-place finish in the pentathlon. Sophomore Aliyah Whisby scored the second-best score of her life (4,305 points) to give the Georgia women their second straight runner-up finish in the event after Kendell Williams won the 2015-17 crowns. Freshman Sterling Lester was fourth with a point total of 3,882.
In addition, junior Samantha Drop (5000 meters), the men's distance medley relay team and freshman Titiana Marsh (long jump) all finished in the top eight in their respective events to score.
Sophomore Johannes Erm, who is the defending SEC heptathlon champion, is also in second place through four of the hep's seven events after tallying a day one personal record of 3,296 points. This tops is first day total of 3,222 from 2018.
In the qualifying events, sophomore Lynna Irby (400m), freshman Imani Carothers (60m hurdles), senior Michael Nicholls (60m hurdles) and junior Amber Tanner (800m) advanced to the final round in their events.
Action begins on Saturday with the final three events of the heptathlon (60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m) starting at 11:45 a.m. ET. Comenentia starts the weight throw at 2 p.m. to begin the open events on Saturday.
Dwight Stones, Jill Montgomery and John Anderson will be ESPN's crew for the SEC Championships as the meet will be featured on the SEC Network and SECN+.
Saturday: (Live on SECN+/Tape Delayed on SECN) 3:55 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: (Tape Delayed on SECN) 8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
For results throughout the weekend, please visit: gado.gs/1ip
"I thought it was a productive night that had some of our established team members showing up to lead and some of our younger team members continuing their development," said fourth-year head coach Petros Kyprianou. "The great Denzel was obviously someone who I want to put the spotlight on because of his dominant performance and Keenon's school record is very respectful, it's a mark that would usually win this meet. The younger girls in the pentathlon also did well and while they didn't win, Aliyah and Sterling both made progress in their career during just their first year in the program. Overall I was pleased with the efforts and performances today and look forward to seeing what else we can get done (on Saturday)."
Comenentia denied any opponent within four feet of his best mark to win the 2019 shot put title with a fifth throw of 66 feet, 9 ¾ inches. He took immediate control with a toss of 64-7.75 in the opening round and had five throws (excluding his fourth round foul) that would have locked down his victory. This is his first SEC indoor shot put title for Comenentia since 2017.
Now, the Amsterdam native will compete in the weight throw on Saturday at 2 p.m. as he tries to become the first SEC competitor to sweep both events. He has won the shot put and hammer throw at the last two SEC Outdoor Championships.
Laine, who was the 2017 SEC outdoor champion, and Carbin, who captured the conference's indoor title two years ago, arrived at the Randal Tyson Track Center with a talented group of high jumpers who made up a majority of the country's top-10 list this season.
Laine started out slowly with a combined three misses at his first four heights. However, he responded with a first attempt clearance at 7-4.50 and then a clean jump on his third try at 7-5.75 to clinch his second-place finish. Laine's mark passed the former school record of 7-5.25 he shared with Dothel Edwards (1986).
Carbin began with two first attempt clearances, including his 7-1 mark, but got saddled with three misses at 7-2.25.
The finale on the track was the men's distance medley relay and the Bulldogs made the most out of their final scoring opportunity of the day. Tyler Jones, Ziggy Zoller, Clay Pender and Michael Hans combined to run a 10:00.98 for seventh place.
In the women's long jump, Marsh built to a six attempt mark of 19-11.50 and managed to squeeze out two points for the Lady Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish. She returns in the triple jump on Saturday at 4:40 p.m.
Drop ran her second 5000m time under 17:00 to sneak into the eighth-place scoring spot. She wrapped up her final lap in 16:57.73 with her best time since 2017.
During the pentathlon, Whisby started with a personal record in the 60m hurdles to move to No. 10 on the school's all-time top-10 list. Racing out of the third and final heat, Whisby clocked an 8.35 to move into second place by 14 points. Lester started in the same heat and was sixth overall with an 8.58.
The second career best of the day for Whisby came in the second event of the high jump. Coming in at 5-7, Whisby had four consecutive first attempt clearances before reaching 5-11.50 on her second attempt. This topped her 5-11.25 from earlier this season and moved her into the lead by 98 points. Lester posted a first attempt clearance of 5-4.50 to slip to eight place.
The Lady Bulldogs finished in the middle of the pack in the pentathlon shot put as Whisby dropped one spot in the overall standings and Lester improved one spot. Lester worked up to a mark of 35-4.75 on her third try to take fifth while Whisby opened at 34-1.50 before following with a pair of fouls to take eighth. Whisby came out of the shot trailing the leader by 28 points.
In the long jump, Whisby went 19-11.75 for second and Lester was 12thin the pent's fourth event to finish 12thgoing into the 800m.
Both Georgia pentathletes recorded personal records in the 800m to wind down their day. Lester was third in the event after completing her four laps in 2:16.26 and Whisby ran a 2:20.33 for fourth place. However, Arkansas junior Kelsey Herman ran a 2:20.81 to stay close enough to clinch the title by 25 points.
Georgia also had four qualifiers during Friday's prelims on the track.
Irby made her season debut in the 400m and finished as the top qualifier with an NCAA leading time of 52.08. Irby came out of lane six and never relinquished the lead in the fourth heat to finish with the world's third-fastest time this year. She will race in the 400m final at 4:30 p.m.
Nicholls sped to the second-fastest 60m hurdles time of his career to win the opening heat to automatically qualify and finish third overall. He advanced to Saturday's final at 4:57 p.m. with a time of 7.74 that was only slower than his school record mark of 7.73 set earlier this year.
During the women's 60m hurdles, Carothers made the best out of her first conference meet by finishing with the second-fastest time of her career to advance to the final. Carothers had the seventh-best qualifying time of 8.27 and will race again on Saturday at 4:50 p.m.
Tanner punched her ticket to her second SEC indoor final in a row after going wire to wire in her 800m prelims. She was the first to cross the finish line after all four laps in her race and completed the race in 2:08.02 as the seventh overall finisher. True freshman Anna Marian Block narrowly missed the final after finishing ninth overall with a 2:08.86.
In the heptathlon, Erm began by flirting with his UGA personal best in the 60m. He sped to a 7.12, which was just off his 7.11 clocked earlier this season, and was fifth after one of seven events and was trailing the leader by 39 points.
Erm rocketed into the lead after winning the long jump with a season-best mark. He took off on his first attempt and traveled 24-9.25 and then had two fouls to end the competition. This delivered Erm a 65-point lead headed into the shot put.
In the shot, Erm improved on his opening mark of 45-1 to 47-1.75 on try number two and finished third in the event. Thanks to his 751 points scored in the event, Erm kept the overall lead by 22 points.
Erm started with a clearance at 6-0 in the high jump before gliding over the bar at 6-2.25 and skipping two other bars. He reached a season-best height of 6-4.75 to take third in the event and position himself behind Arkansas fifth-year senior Gabe Moore by just 33 points.
Results and recaps from the SEC Indoor Championships 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.
$school record, *personal record, ^season best
The sixth-ranked Georgia men have 22 points and are in fifth place and 23rd-ranked Lady Bulldogs are also in fifth place with 16 points through day one.
Comenentia provided the Bulldogs' first highlight by winning the men's shot put title for the second time in his career. This marks Comenentia's third career SEC indoor crown (also won 2018 weight throw) and his seventh conference championship overall. The Georgia men have now won three out of the last four titles in the event and seven in program history.
In the final event completed on Friday night, Laine toppled a 33-year-old school record to earn runner-up honors in the high jump while his training partner and junior teammate Darius Carbin scored two points with a seventh-place finish.
The Lady Bulldogs put their first 13 points on the scoreboard with a second and fourth-place finish in the pentathlon. Sophomore Aliyah Whisby scored the second-best score of her life (4,305 points) to give the Georgia women their second straight runner-up finish in the event after Kendell Williams won the 2015-17 crowns. Freshman Sterling Lester was fourth with a point total of 3,882.
In addition, junior Samantha Drop (5000 meters), the men's distance medley relay team and freshman Titiana Marsh (long jump) all finished in the top eight in their respective events to score.
Sophomore Johannes Erm, who is the defending SEC heptathlon champion, is also in second place through four of the hep's seven events after tallying a day one personal record of 3,296 points. This tops is first day total of 3,222 from 2018.
In the qualifying events, sophomore Lynna Irby (400m), freshman Imani Carothers (60m hurdles), senior Michael Nicholls (60m hurdles) and junior Amber Tanner (800m) advanced to the final round in their events.
Action begins on Saturday with the final three events of the heptathlon (60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m) starting at 11:45 a.m. ET. Comenentia starts the weight throw at 2 p.m. to begin the open events on Saturday.
Dwight Stones, Jill Montgomery and John Anderson will be ESPN's crew for the SEC Championships as the meet will be featured on the SEC Network and SECN+.
Saturday: (Live on SECN+/Tape Delayed on SECN) 3:55 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: (Tape Delayed on SECN) 8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
For results throughout the weekend, please visit: gado.gs/1ip
"I thought it was a productive night that had some of our established team members showing up to lead and some of our younger team members continuing their development," said fourth-year head coach Petros Kyprianou. "The great Denzel was obviously someone who I want to put the spotlight on because of his dominant performance and Keenon's school record is very respectful, it's a mark that would usually win this meet. The younger girls in the pentathlon also did well and while they didn't win, Aliyah and Sterling both made progress in their career during just their first year in the program. Overall I was pleased with the efforts and performances today and look forward to seeing what else we can get done (on Saturday)."
Comenentia denied any opponent within four feet of his best mark to win the 2019 shot put title with a fifth throw of 66 feet, 9 ¾ inches. He took immediate control with a toss of 64-7.75 in the opening round and had five throws (excluding his fourth round foul) that would have locked down his victory. This is his first SEC indoor shot put title for Comenentia since 2017.
Now, the Amsterdam native will compete in the weight throw on Saturday at 2 p.m. as he tries to become the first SEC competitor to sweep both events. He has won the shot put and hammer throw at the last two SEC Outdoor Championships.
Laine, who was the 2017 SEC outdoor champion, and Carbin, who captured the conference's indoor title two years ago, arrived at the Randal Tyson Track Center with a talented group of high jumpers who made up a majority of the country's top-10 list this season.
Laine started out slowly with a combined three misses at his first four heights. However, he responded with a first attempt clearance at 7-4.50 and then a clean jump on his third try at 7-5.75 to clinch his second-place finish. Laine's mark passed the former school record of 7-5.25 he shared with Dothel Edwards (1986).
Carbin began with two first attempt clearances, including his 7-1 mark, but got saddled with three misses at 7-2.25.
The finale on the track was the men's distance medley relay and the Bulldogs made the most out of their final scoring opportunity of the day. Tyler Jones, Ziggy Zoller, Clay Pender and Michael Hans combined to run a 10:00.98 for seventh place.
In the women's long jump, Marsh built to a six attempt mark of 19-11.50 and managed to squeeze out two points for the Lady Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish. She returns in the triple jump on Saturday at 4:40 p.m.
Drop ran her second 5000m time under 17:00 to sneak into the eighth-place scoring spot. She wrapped up her final lap in 16:57.73 with her best time since 2017.
During the pentathlon, Whisby started with a personal record in the 60m hurdles to move to No. 10 on the school's all-time top-10 list. Racing out of the third and final heat, Whisby clocked an 8.35 to move into second place by 14 points. Lester started in the same heat and was sixth overall with an 8.58.
The second career best of the day for Whisby came in the second event of the high jump. Coming in at 5-7, Whisby had four consecutive first attempt clearances before reaching 5-11.50 on her second attempt. This topped her 5-11.25 from earlier this season and moved her into the lead by 98 points. Lester posted a first attempt clearance of 5-4.50 to slip to eight place.
The Lady Bulldogs finished in the middle of the pack in the pentathlon shot put as Whisby dropped one spot in the overall standings and Lester improved one spot. Lester worked up to a mark of 35-4.75 on her third try to take fifth while Whisby opened at 34-1.50 before following with a pair of fouls to take eighth. Whisby came out of the shot trailing the leader by 28 points.
In the long jump, Whisby went 19-11.75 for second and Lester was 12thin the pent's fourth event to finish 12thgoing into the 800m.
Both Georgia pentathletes recorded personal records in the 800m to wind down their day. Lester was third in the event after completing her four laps in 2:16.26 and Whisby ran a 2:20.33 for fourth place. However, Arkansas junior Kelsey Herman ran a 2:20.81 to stay close enough to clinch the title by 25 points.
Georgia also had four qualifiers during Friday's prelims on the track.
Irby made her season debut in the 400m and finished as the top qualifier with an NCAA leading time of 52.08. Irby came out of lane six and never relinquished the lead in the fourth heat to finish with the world's third-fastest time this year. She will race in the 400m final at 4:30 p.m.
Nicholls sped to the second-fastest 60m hurdles time of his career to win the opening heat to automatically qualify and finish third overall. He advanced to Saturday's final at 4:57 p.m. with a time of 7.74 that was only slower than his school record mark of 7.73 set earlier this year.
During the women's 60m hurdles, Carothers made the best out of her first conference meet by finishing with the second-fastest time of her career to advance to the final. Carothers had the seventh-best qualifying time of 8.27 and will race again on Saturday at 4:50 p.m.
Tanner punched her ticket to her second SEC indoor final in a row after going wire to wire in her 800m prelims. She was the first to cross the finish line after all four laps in her race and completed the race in 2:08.02 as the seventh overall finisher. True freshman Anna Marian Block narrowly missed the final after finishing ninth overall with a 2:08.86.
In the heptathlon, Erm began by flirting with his UGA personal best in the 60m. He sped to a 7.12, which was just off his 7.11 clocked earlier this season, and was fifth after one of seven events and was trailing the leader by 39 points.
Erm rocketed into the lead after winning the long jump with a season-best mark. He took off on his first attempt and traveled 24-9.25 and then had two fouls to end the competition. This delivered Erm a 65-point lead headed into the shot put.
In the shot, Erm improved on his opening mark of 45-1 to 47-1.75 on try number two and finished third in the event. Thanks to his 751 points scored in the event, Erm kept the overall lead by 22 points.
Erm started with a clearance at 6-0 in the high jump before gliding over the bar at 6-2.25 and skipping two other bars. He reached a season-best height of 6-4.75 to take third in the event and position himself behind Arkansas fifth-year senior Gabe Moore by just 33 points.
Results and recaps from the SEC Indoor Championships 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.
| Bulldog Day 1 Scorers | ||
| Name | Event | Finish (Mark/Time) |
| Denzel Comenentia | M. Shot put | 1st(66-9.75) |
| Keenon Laine | M. High Jump | 2nd($7-5.75) |
| Aliyah Whisby | Pentathlon | 2nd(4,305 pts.) |
| Sterling Lester | Pentathlon | 4th(3,882 pts.) |
| Tyler Jones, Ziggy Zoller, Clay Pender, Michael Hans | M. DMR | 7th(^10:00.98) |
| Titiana Marsh | W. Long Jump | 7th(19-11.50) |
| Darius Carbin | M. High Jump | 7th(7-1) |
| Samantha Drop | W. 5000m | 8th(^16:57.73) |
| Bulldog Day 1 Qualifiers | ||
| Name | Event | Finish (Mark/Time) |
| Lynna Irby | W. 400m | 1st(^52.08) |
| Michael Nicholls | M. 60mH | 3rd(7.74) |
| Amber Tanner | W. 800m | 7th(2:08.02) |
| Imani Carothers | W. 60mH | 7th(8.27) |
| Pentathlon Scores | ||||||
| Name | 60mH | HJ | SP | LJ | 800m | TOTAL |
| Aliyah Whisby | *8.35 | *5-11.50 | 34-1.50 | *19-11.75 | *2:20.33 | 4,305 |
| Sterling Lester | 8.58 | 5-4.50 | 35-4.75 | 17-4.75 | *2:16.26 | 3,882 |
| Heptathlon Day 1 Scores | |||||
| Name | 60m | LJ | SP | HJ | Day 1 |
| Johannes Erm | 7.12 | ^24-9.25 | 47-1.75 | ^6-4.75 | *3,296 pts. |
$school record, *personal record, ^season best
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