University of Georgia Athletics
Saturday, May 11
Fayetteville, Ark.
All Day
University of Georgia
at
SEC Outdoor Championships
Comenentia Wins Commissioner’s Trophy To Highlight SECs
May 11, 2019 | Track & Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Senior Denzel Comenentia secured his third top-two finish of the weekend to be the meet's male high scorer on the final day of the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday.
Comenentia launched a pair of season-best efforts to finish with runner-up honors in the discus. The 2019 shot put champion finished with 26 points, which delivered him his second straight Commissioner's Trophy as the leading scorer on the men's side.
In the team race, the Georgia men scored 43 points to finish ninth while LSU (105 points) edged Florida (95) for the crown and Arkansas (91) was third. The Lady Bulldogs managed a 10th-place finish with 42.5 points. Arkansas (139.5) captured the women's title and Texas A&M (85) and Kentucky (84) made up the top three.
Another runner-up finish came from junior Amber Tanner in the 800 meters a year after she finished 10thin the prelims at the meet. Tanner later anchored the Georgia women's 4x400m relay that registered the third-best time in school history to take seventh in the meet's final event.
Other individual scorers on the meet's final day included junior Jessica Drop setting the pace in the 5000m before taking third, senior Hayden Merrick finishing fifth in the discus, senior Michael Nicholls adding a point for the Bulldogs in the 110m hurdles and senior Mady Fagan completing her league career by scoring for the third time in the high jump.
The Bulldogs had eight scorers on the meet's second day on Friday. Comenentia won his third consecutive shot put championship, freshman Karel Tilga (2nd) and Ziggy Zoller (6th) scored in the decathlon, freshman Sterling Lester earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon, junior Kayla Smith scored (T-4th) for the first time in the pole vault and senior Keenon Laine (high jump – 6th), sophomore Aliyah Whisby (long jump – 7th) and senior Jonathan Pelham (3000m steeplechase – 7th) also all finished in the top eight to add points.
Thursday's scorers included Comenentia (hammer throw – 2ndplace) and junior Marie-Therese Obst (javelin – 3rd).
"This was not our best meet and not a typical meet for our teams," said head coach Petros Kyprianou. "The 'king of the ring,' Denzel Comenentia, won the Commissioner's Trophy for the second time in a row, which is a tremendous accomplishment. We also had Amber fight for a second-place finish in the 800m and Jessica Drop stayed at the front of the pack to score again in the 5000m. Overall, we have some work to do. I am still very proud of the effort from all of our competitors at this meet and they, just like me, want to keep improving as this postseason continues and into the next year. I look forward to now preparing for the NCAA East Prelims and get as many there as possible and we'll see what happens."
Comenentia took an immediate lead out of the second flight with his opening toss of 169 feet, 10 inches in the discus. He then posted throws of 190-6 and 189-8 before having a final fair measurement of 192-1 for second. This season-best effort helped make Comenentia the first two-time Commissioner's Trophy winner since 2003 (Arkansas' Daniel Lincoln) and the first time a competitor has gone back to back for the award since 1995-96 (Arkansas' Godfrey Siamusiye).
In a season featuring a pair of 2:04s already, Tanner registered the third-fastest time of her career (2:05.01) to take second in the 800m final. This is the best finish for the Lady Bulldogs since Megan Malasarte took third at the 2014 meet. Malasarte was also a runner-up at the 2013 SEC Championships.
Tanner returned to the track in the meet's last event, the 4x400m relay, and helped clock the Lady Bulldogs' best time since 2002. Micaiah Ransby, Sterling Lester, Chelsea Zoller and Tanner combined to register a 3:34.09 to add two points to Georgia's total with a seventh-place finish. This finish trimmed more than two seconds off of the unit's previous season-best time.
Drop completed her second top-three performance at the SEC outdoor meet in the 5000m, finishing three seconds behind the winner. Accelerating to the lead during several laps of the race, Drop went back and forth with Arkansas' Taylor Werner and Lauren Gregory before taking third. Drop was the runner-up in 2018.
On the women's side, Merrick arrived on the University of Arkansas campus with the seventh-best mark in the SEC this year. She left the John McDonnell Field with fifth-place honors after reaching 168-6 on her third attempt. Merrick was seventh in 2017 and did not compete at the meet last year.
Fagan won the 2016 SEC high jump title and was second to teammate Tatiana Gusin in 2017 before sitting out last year with an injury. This time around, Fagan arched over the bar at 5-10.50 on her third try to take fifth. Her performance came during the same finale to a semester that she earned her second degree at UGA, this one a Master in the Study of Law.
Nicholls bumped his 2018 finish up two spots to take eighth in the 110m hurdles for a point. He clocked a 13.81 to edge Arkansas' Carl Elliott III (13.83) for the final scoring spot on Elliott's home track.
Also of note, sophomore decathlete Johannes Erm built up to a 16-2.75 clearance in the open pole vault before retiring during the next height. He also was ninth in the open long jump on Friday as he trains for the NCAA Championships.
The Bulldogs will train through next weekend before the NCAA East Prelims arrive on May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla. The final list of qualifiers for this meet will be posted late next week.
Results and recaps from the SEC 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.
*personal-best mark; ^season-best mark; $Commissioner's Trophy winner
Comenentia launched a pair of season-best efforts to finish with runner-up honors in the discus. The 2019 shot put champion finished with 26 points, which delivered him his second straight Commissioner's Trophy as the leading scorer on the men's side.
In the team race, the Georgia men scored 43 points to finish ninth while LSU (105 points) edged Florida (95) for the crown and Arkansas (91) was third. The Lady Bulldogs managed a 10th-place finish with 42.5 points. Arkansas (139.5) captured the women's title and Texas A&M (85) and Kentucky (84) made up the top three.
Another runner-up finish came from junior Amber Tanner in the 800 meters a year after she finished 10thin the prelims at the meet. Tanner later anchored the Georgia women's 4x400m relay that registered the third-best time in school history to take seventh in the meet's final event.
Other individual scorers on the meet's final day included junior Jessica Drop setting the pace in the 5000m before taking third, senior Hayden Merrick finishing fifth in the discus, senior Michael Nicholls adding a point for the Bulldogs in the 110m hurdles and senior Mady Fagan completing her league career by scoring for the third time in the high jump.
The Bulldogs had eight scorers on the meet's second day on Friday. Comenentia won his third consecutive shot put championship, freshman Karel Tilga (2nd) and Ziggy Zoller (6th) scored in the decathlon, freshman Sterling Lester earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon, junior Kayla Smith scored (T-4th) for the first time in the pole vault and senior Keenon Laine (high jump – 6th), sophomore Aliyah Whisby (long jump – 7th) and senior Jonathan Pelham (3000m steeplechase – 7th) also all finished in the top eight to add points.
Thursday's scorers included Comenentia (hammer throw – 2ndplace) and junior Marie-Therese Obst (javelin – 3rd).
"This was not our best meet and not a typical meet for our teams," said head coach Petros Kyprianou. "The 'king of the ring,' Denzel Comenentia, won the Commissioner's Trophy for the second time in a row, which is a tremendous accomplishment. We also had Amber fight for a second-place finish in the 800m and Jessica Drop stayed at the front of the pack to score again in the 5000m. Overall, we have some work to do. I am still very proud of the effort from all of our competitors at this meet and they, just like me, want to keep improving as this postseason continues and into the next year. I look forward to now preparing for the NCAA East Prelims and get as many there as possible and we'll see what happens."
Comenentia took an immediate lead out of the second flight with his opening toss of 169 feet, 10 inches in the discus. He then posted throws of 190-6 and 189-8 before having a final fair measurement of 192-1 for second. This season-best effort helped make Comenentia the first two-time Commissioner's Trophy winner since 2003 (Arkansas' Daniel Lincoln) and the first time a competitor has gone back to back for the award since 1995-96 (Arkansas' Godfrey Siamusiye).
In a season featuring a pair of 2:04s already, Tanner registered the third-fastest time of her career (2:05.01) to take second in the 800m final. This is the best finish for the Lady Bulldogs since Megan Malasarte took third at the 2014 meet. Malasarte was also a runner-up at the 2013 SEC Championships.
Tanner returned to the track in the meet's last event, the 4x400m relay, and helped clock the Lady Bulldogs' best time since 2002. Micaiah Ransby, Sterling Lester, Chelsea Zoller and Tanner combined to register a 3:34.09 to add two points to Georgia's total with a seventh-place finish. This finish trimmed more than two seconds off of the unit's previous season-best time.
Drop completed her second top-three performance at the SEC outdoor meet in the 5000m, finishing three seconds behind the winner. Accelerating to the lead during several laps of the race, Drop went back and forth with Arkansas' Taylor Werner and Lauren Gregory before taking third. Drop was the runner-up in 2018.
On the women's side, Merrick arrived on the University of Arkansas campus with the seventh-best mark in the SEC this year. She left the John McDonnell Field with fifth-place honors after reaching 168-6 on her third attempt. Merrick was seventh in 2017 and did not compete at the meet last year.
Fagan won the 2016 SEC high jump title and was second to teammate Tatiana Gusin in 2017 before sitting out last year with an injury. This time around, Fagan arched over the bar at 5-10.50 on her third try to take fifth. Her performance came during the same finale to a semester that she earned her second degree at UGA, this one a Master in the Study of Law.
Nicholls bumped his 2018 finish up two spots to take eighth in the 110m hurdles for a point. He clocked a 13.81 to edge Arkansas' Carl Elliott III (13.83) for the final scoring spot on Elliott's home track.
Also of note, sophomore decathlete Johannes Erm built up to a 16-2.75 clearance in the open pole vault before retiring during the next height. He also was ninth in the open long jump on Friday as he trains for the NCAA Championships.
The Bulldogs will train through next weekend before the NCAA East Prelims arrive on May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla. The final list of qualifiers for this meet will be posted late next week.
Results and recaps from the SEC 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 Scorers | ||||||
| Name | Event | Finish - Mark/Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THURSDAY | ||||||
| Denzel Comenentia | Hammer Throw | 2nd- 234 feet, 6 inches | ||||
| Marie-Therese Obst | Javelin | 3rd- 167-10 | ||||
| FRIDAY | ||||||
| Denzel Comenentia | Shot Put | 1st– 65-7 | ||||
| Karel Tilga | Decathlon | 2nd- *7,236 pts. | ||||
| Sterling Lester | Heptathlon | 3rd– 5,534 pts. | ||||
| Kayla Smith | Pole Vault | T-4th– 13-11.75 | ||||
| Keenon Laine | High Jump | 6th– 7-1.50 | ||||
| Ziggy Zoller | Decathlon | 6th– *6,157 pts. | ||||
| Jonathan Pelham | 3000m Steeplechase | 7th– 9:11.59 | ||||
| Aliyah Whisby | Long Jump | 7th– 20-8.50 | ||||
| SATURDAY | ||||||
| $Denzel Comenentia | Discus | 2nd- ^192-1 | ||||
| Amber Tanner | 800m | 2nd– 2:05.01 | ||||
| Jessica Drop | 5000m | 3rd– 15:54.83 | ||||
| Hayden Merrick | Discus | 5th– 168-6 | ||||
| Mady Fagan | High Jump | 5th– 5-10.50 | ||||
| Ransby, Lester, Zoller, Tanner | 4x400m Relay | 7th- *3:34.09 | ||||
| Michael Nicholls | 110m Hurdles | 8th– 13.81 | ||||
*personal-best mark; ^season-best mark; $Commissioner's Trophy winner
Players Mentioned
Throws
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
High Jump
/ Track & Field
High Jump
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Javelin
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Hurdles
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