Track Starts Outdoor Season At Yellow Jacket Invite

Friday, March 15

Atlanta, Ga.

All Day

University of Georgia

Yellow Jacket Invitational

Track Starts Outdoor Season At Yellow Jacket Invite

March 14, 2019 | Track & Field

Yellow Jacket Invite Schedule Heat Sheets 200m Start Lists

ATHENS, Ga. --- The NCAA outdoor defending champion Georgia men and the 2018 national runner-up Lady Bulldogs begin their outdoor campaign at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta on Friday and will finish the meet on Saturday.

Who Is The Competition: This will mark the third straight year that the Bulldogs will open their spring season at Georgia Tech's first home meet of the year.  Alabama A&M, Clemson, Dartmouth, Eastern Michigan, Florida State, Georgia State, High Point, IUPUI, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Louisville, Marshall, Mercer, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina, Pittsburg and Rutgers are expected to join Georgia and the Yellow Jackets at the meet.

What Bulldogs Are Competing & When: A number of Bulldogs will take the George C. Griffin Track beginning at 9 p.m. for the women's 5000 meters followed by the men's 5000m.

Action will start on Saturday with redshirt sophomore Skyla Beal in the women's shot put at 11 a.m. and juniors Marie-Therese Obst and Tairyn Montgomery in the women's javelin.  Junior Katie Jackson is the first competitor on the track during the meet's second day in the women's 100m at 2:40 p.m.

On the women's side, seniors Mary Terry, Hayden Merrick, juniors Ansley Heavern, Tiffany Yue, Makenzi Kopp, sophomores Emily Doherty, Halle McClintock, Chelsea Zoller, freshmen Emma Rose Bagwell, Grace Clements,  Marisa Petit, Jayda Woods and Sakari Famous will join Beal, Obst, Jackson and Montgomery in competition.

For the men, seniors Daniel Navarro, Jonathan Raines, juniors Jonathan Pelham, Tyler Jones, Ryan Peppenhorst, sophomores John Bradley, Nate Reichard, Davis Stockwell, Justes Nance, freshmen Sam Bowers, Quinn Burden, Dru Milton, Elija Godwin and Ziggy Zoller are scheduled to travel.

Live Results: For live results to this weekend's meet, please visit: gado.gs/1vv.

Kyprianou's Comments: "This weekend serves as our first outdoor meet, and it's especially nice being in state and close to family for the majority of our student-athletes," said head coach Petros Kyprianou, who is starting his fourth outdoor season as head coach.  "It will be an opener for most of our team who didn't get to compete during indoor postseason and need to shake off the dust and get in to outdoor mode.  The majority of the NCAA and (Southeastern Conference) indoor team members will open later on as we are preparing to turn the page and rush in to outdoor season.  It is going to be a long spring and summer for our elite team members and we need to be mindful of tapering and peaking when it counts."

Glimpse At The Bulldogs' 2018 Outdoor Season: Last year, the Georgia men scored a program record 52 points to clinch the school's first NCAA outdoor team championship.  The closest any opposition came to the Bulldogs was 10 points as Georgia secured its third top-six performance in the last five years.  Denzel Comenentia stole the show for the Bulldogs after sweeping the hammer throw and the shot put.  This performance made him the meet's high scorer on the men's side and made him only the second thrower in the last 100 years to sweep both events (he accomplished the feat in a single day).

Georgia also managed to turn one decathlete's final collegiate action and another's debut at the NCAA Outdoor Championships into 14 more points.  Karl Saluri concluded his Bulldog career with a runner-up finish after 10 events and Johannes Erm was third to help give the SEC a 1-2-3 sweep in the event.  After contender Darius Carbin did not advance through the NCAA East Prelims, Antonios Merlos stepped up to take fifth in the high jump while Keenon Laine managed a third-place finish.  On the track, Kendal Williams, who turned professional after the season, took third in the 200m and Cejhae Greene was seventh in the 100m in his final collegiate action.

Coming off their 2018 NCAA indoor team crown, the Lady Bulldogs locked down their fifth consecutive top-five showing at outdoor Nationals, also scoring 52 points.  The Georgia women fell short of the victory by one point after coming up 1.8 points shy at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships.  One of the greatest collegiate track and field standouts of all-time, Keturah Orji, wrapped up her Lady Bulldog career by sweeping the triple and long jumps.  Orji became the first in collegiate history to win the triple jump at four straight NCAA outdoor meets.

Lynna Irby opened the rest of the world's eyes after winning the 400m with the second-best collegiate outdoor time in history (a meet record 49.80).  Irby complemented her win with a third-place finish in the 200m.  A runner-up performance came from Louisa Grauvogel in the heptathlon as she scored a personal record to break 6,000 points. Grauvogel returned to her native Germany after the season to pursue the opportunity of attending medical school. Tara Davis, who has since transferred out of the program, gave the Lady Bulldogs a pair of scorers in the long jump after taking fifth.  Similar to Orji, Tatiana Gusin finished her time in the Red and Black at the NCAA meet and was seventh in the high jump.  Another two points came from Jessica Drop in the 5000m as her twin sister Samantha also competed in the 10,000m at the meet.

Who's Back For 2019: The Bulldog men have five of eight national scorers back from 2018 and will be aiming to improve on their ninth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships.  Comenentia's return as the defending champion in both the hammer and shot is expected provide the foundation for Georgia's drive to a third straight top-10 outdoor finish.

Erm (decathlon) and Laine and Merlos (high jump) are also back in the lineup after finishing in the top eight last year.  In addition, Carbin, who cleared 7-3 in 2018 but did not advance through the East Prelims, and Michael Nicholls, who ran a wind-aided 13.62 in the 100m hurdles during the 2018 regular season and has competed at the last two NCAA indoor meets, have the chance to also contribute for the Bulldogs.

The Lady Bulldogs return only three of eight scorers, including Irby who won the gold medal in the 400m and was third in the 200m, from their squad that had back-to-back runner-up finishes at the NCAA outdoor meet.  Jessica Drop will also be in the lineup, along with her sister Samantha who advanced in the 10,000 last year, and a host of newcomers to the national scene (Aliyah Whisby – heptathlon, Titiana Marsh – triple jump, Amber Tanner – 800m, Georgia's 4x400m relay team) from the 2019 NCAA indoor meet who could make an impact.

Also, high jumper Mady Fagan returns for her final campaign after developing a runner-up finish at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships into a national sweep at the 2017 NCAA indoor and outdoor meets while junior Kayla Smith has recovered from an injury that kept her out in 2018 following a 2017 First Team All-America performance in the pole vault.

Glimpse At Where This Season Will Take The Dogs: The outdoor opener marks the first of seven scheduled regular season outdoor meets over five weekends, including the Spec Towns Invitational & Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon (April 5-6) and the third-annual Torrin Lawrence Memorial (April 26-27).

The SEC Championships will arrive on May 9-11 in Fayetteville, Ark., with the NCAA East Prelims scheduled for May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.  The 2019 and 2020 NCAA Championships are in Austin, Texas, on June 5-8 while historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon is being renovated.

How To Keep Up With The Dogs: Results and recaps from the Yellow Jacket Invitational 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.