Track Travels To Site Of SECs, NCAAs

Friday, January 29

Fayetteville, Ark.

All Day

University of Georgia

Razorback Invitational

January 28, 2021 | Track & Field

Schedule Heat Sheets

ATHENS, Ga. --- Georgia's track and field teams are scheduled to compete in their third indoor meet of the year with the Razorback Invitational arriving in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday and Saturday.

The Tyson Indoor Track Center, which is situated on the University of Arkansas campus, will also be the site of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships (Feb. 25-27) and the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 12-13).

Georgia will start Friday in the first four events of the heptathlon (60-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump) at 12:45 p.m. ET with sophomore Karel Tilga and redshirt sophomore Ziggy Zoller.  The heptathletes will wrap up their final three events (60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m) on Saturday.  Sophomore Anna Hall is slated to complete all five events of the pentathlon (60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, 800m) beginning at 1:10 p.m.

The open events will begin on the first day at 4 p.m. with freshmen Spencer Evans and John Franco lining up in the men's pole vault.  Redshirt freshman Mia Anderson will throw the weight at 5 p.m. to start the day in the open events for the Lady Bulldogs.

Due to COVID-19, there will be no spectators allowed in the facility.

The Competition: The Bulldogs and the meet host Razorbacks will join Mississippi and Mississippi State from the Southeastern Conference, along with Colorado, Iowa State, Oregon, USC.

Where They Are Ranked: The Georgia women check in at No. 3 in the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll released earlier this week while the Bulldog men are No. 22.  Arkansas is currently atop the men's poll and USC is No. 10.  The Razorback women are also No. 1 and USC is No. 6 on the women's side.

Live Results: For live results to this weekend's meet, please visit: http://gado.gs/5zv

Live Stream: For a live stream of the Razorback Invitational, please visit:
Friday – 6:30 p.m.: http://gado.gs/601
Saturday – 1:30 p.m.: http://gado.gs/603

Kyprianou's Comments: "As we approach the halfway point of our regular season, I want to remind our student-athletes once again how grateful we need to be going to an amazing facility like the one in Arkansas, and to have another chance at improving our marks and positioning ourselves in a premier spot going in to postseason," said head coach Petros Kyprianou.  "I'm looking forward to acquiring some more NCAA qualifying marks in a tough year.  It is a challenging year not only because of COVID, but also because young, talented athletes everywhere with Olympic visions are so hungry to compete and prove themselves, which automatically elevates the standard of competition.  We have a few on our team who are in that category but I know there is a good number of young Bulldogs who are equally hungry, but they have not yet showed the world what they are all about.

"As a staff, we are looking for greatness not only in performances but the way we handle ourselves, taking care of our bodies and sharpening our skills as student-athletes, humans and young professionals.  It all starts with a passionate mission of qualifying as many team members as we can to the NCAAs.  Arkansas is going to be our home away from home since we compete there three times.  There is no better place to perform greatly than the Tyson Center in Fayetteville.  Go Dawgs!"

Who's Competing & When: Nineteen Georgia women and 20 Bulldog men are scheduled to travel for UGA.  In addition to those mentioned above who will compete first, other Georgia women making the trip are: seniors Jessica Drop, Samantha Drop, Destiny Jackson, Halle McClintock, Chelsea Zoller, Kayla Smith, juniors Anna Marian Block, Sakari Famous, Titiana Marsh, Imani Carothers, Courtney Long, sophomores Sara Bailey, Jasmine Moore, Shelby Tyler, Julia Fixsen, Kaeli Thompson and redshirt freshman Gracie Jauch.

In addition to the four Bulldogs listed above, seniors Delano Dunkley, Johannes Erm, Michael Hans, juniors Elija Godwin, Alencar Pereira, redshirt sophomores Kyle Garland, Nicholas Yanek, Clay Pender, sophomores Matthew Boling, Curtis Borden, Sam Bowers, Caleb Cavanaugh, Chase Condra, Wesley John and freshmen Gavin Beverage and Zachary Roe are scheduled to compete for the Bulldogs.

Combined Events Debut: Georgia has become the nation's dominant forces in the combined events and a number of those scoring threats open in the multi-events this weekend.  The Bulldog men have won nine SEC heptathlon crowns since 2004, including the last eight in a row with Garland finishing first in 2020.  The Lady Bulldogs have captured five SEC pentathlon titles since 1987 (SEC did not include pentathlon in the Championships between 1993-2002), including three straight for 2016 Olympian Kendell Williams from 2015-17.

At the national level, the Bulldogs have also had a regular presence on the podium.  Last year, Georgia had a combined four team members qualify for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships in the multi-events, including the top three national scorers in the heptathlon and Hall ranked fifth in the pentathlon as a freshman.  During the stretch from 2014-19, Georgia had 19 scoring All-Americans and five NCAA championships in the combined events.

Tilga, who scored 6,019 points last year to rank second nationally before the season was canceled, and Zoller will start their first heptathlon of the season.  Hall will also begin her first pentathlon of 2021.  Hall stands third nationally in the high jump (6 feet, 1 ¼ inches) to go along with the country's 11^th-best 800m (2:07.91) this season.

Success In Tyson: The Tyson Center opened in 2000 and Georgia's teams currently have 10 school records and 86 other entries on their all-time top-10 lists that have come from the facility.  Last year, the Bulldogs visited Arkansas twice and left with a combined six victories and three school records from the Razorback Invitational and Tyson Invitational.

Where Does The Indoor Season Take The Dogs: Georgia has competed twice in 2021, opening at the Clemson Invitational (Jan. 15-16) and traveling to the Carolina Challenge (Jan. 23) last weekend.  The Bulldogs are scheduled to return to Clemson, S.C., for the Tiger Paw Invitational on Feb. 12-13 and to Columbia, S.C., for the USC Indoor Open on Feb. 13.

The postseason begins with SECs in Fayetteville on Feb. 25-27.  Georgia will return to Arkansas on March 12-13 for NCAAs.  One week later, the outdoor season cranks up in Atlanta.

Shortened 2020: Last year, the Georgia women worked up to a No. 4 ranking on the USTFCCCA national poll while the Bulldog men stood at No. 5 headed into the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.  However, after UGA arrived and joined the other qualifying teams for a practice day in the Albuquerque Convention Center, the meet was cancelled before it began and the Bulldogs flew home.

Although Nationals was cancelled, all of those team members who competed indoors used a year of eligibility. Since the outdoor season, along with the rest of the NCAA's other spring sports, was also canceled, student-athletes did not exhaust a year of their outdoor eligibility in 2020.

How To Keep Up With The Dogs: Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack) and Snapchat (ugatrack).