Track Splits For Meets In Three Directions

Friday, February 12

Nashville, Tenn.

All Day

University of Georgia

Music City Challenge

February 11, 2021 | Track & Field

2021 Music City Challenge Schedule 2021 USC Indoor Open Schedule 2021 Tiger Paw Invite Schedule 2021 Music City Challenge Heat Sheets Tiger Paw Field Heat Sheets Tiger Paw Track Heat Sheets

ATHENS, Ga. --- Members of Georgia's track and field teams are slated to travel to three different meets during the final regular indoor season weekend.

A mixture of 34 student-athletes are entered in the one-day USC Indoor Open (Columbia, S.C.) on Saturday, nine distance runners will compete at the Music City Challenge (Nashville, Tenn.) on Friday and Saturday and five sprinters, including sophomore Matthew Boling who will also long jump for the second time this season, will line up at the Tiger Paw Invitational (Clemson, S.C.) on Friday and Saturday.

Georgia will start Friday with Boling lining up in the Tiger Paw long jump at 3 p.m.  He will be the only Bulldog competing at the meet on Friday.  Junior Anna Marian Block is entered in the mile at 8 p.m. ET to start Friday at the Music City meet.

On Saturday, the men's weight throw (junior Alex Pereira), women's shot put (redshirt freshman Mia Anderson), women's pole vault (senior Kayla Smith, sophomore Julia Fixsen, junior Courtney Long, sophomore Kaeli Thompson, redshirt freshman Gracie Jauch), women's long jump (junior Imani Carothers, junior Titiana Marsh) and men's long jump (senior Justes Nance) will start the USC Indoor Open at 11 a.m.

Sophomore Caleb Cavanaugh will begin Saturday at the Tiger Paw meet in the men's 800 meters at 12:25 p.m.  He will later join Boling, senior Delano Dunkley and junior Elija Godwin in the 4x400m relay at 3:25 p.m.  At the Music City meet, Block is again scheduled to start the action in the 800m at 2:20 p.m. on Saturday.

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

Where They Are Ranked: The Georgia women remained at No. 3 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll released earlier this week while the Bulldog men improved from No. 9 to No. 7.

Live Results: For live results to the USC Indoor Open, please visit: https://gado.gs/63s

For live results to the Music City Challenge, please visit: https://gado.gs/63t

For live results to the Tiger Paw Invitational, please visit: https://gado.gs/63z

Live Stream: For a live stream of the USC Indoor Open, please visit:
Saturday – 11 a.m.: http://gado.gs/63r

For a live stream of the Music City Challenge, please visit:
Friday – 5 p.m.: https://gado.gs/63v
Saturday – 1 p.m.: http://gado.gs/63x

For a live stream of the Tiger Paw Invitational, please visit:
Friday – 12 p.m.: https://gado.gs/64h
Saturday – 11 a.m.: https://gado.gs/64j

Kyprianou's Comments: "Going into our last regular meet of the year, we are trying to maximize our potential in qualifying for the NCAA by splitting our team in three different locations," said head coach Petros Kyprianou.  "Vandy will serve as a competitive distance competition while Clemson and South Carolina will give us a good push in both qualifying the relay at Clemson and those in the field events  at USC.  It is not easy to navigate all that during a pandemic but our support system is strong and we are thankful for that.  Our team and staff are ready to pick up a few more NCAA qualifiers and get back to work to sharpen up for the coming postseason."

Who's Competing & When: Seventeen Georgia women and 17 Bulldog men are scheduled to travel to Columbia for UGA.  In addition to those mentioned above, other Georgia women making the trip are: seniors Destiny Jackson, Halle McClintock, Chelsea Zoller, junior Sakari Famous, redshirt sophomore Grace Clements, sophomores Sara Bailey, Jasmine Moore, Shelby Tyler and freshman Gracie O'Neal.

In addition to the Bulldogs listed above who will be competing at the USC Indoor Open, seniors Johannes Erm, Jack Bradley, Nate Reichard, junior Labo Oke, redshirt sophomores Tyler Fox, Ziggy Zoller, sophomores Curtis Borden, Karel Tilga, redshirt freshmen John-Isaac Autry, Nicolas Fontova and freshmen Gavin Beverage, Spencer Evans, John Franco, KC Heron and Zachary Roe are scheduled to compete for UGA.

Block will join sophomore Wesley John, redshirt sophomore Clay Pender, senior Jessica Drop, senior Samantha Drop, sophomore Sam Bowers, sophomore Chase Condra, senior Michael Hans and redshirt sophomore Nicholas Yanek at the Music City meet.

The foursome of Boling, Cavanaugh, Dunkley and Godwin mentioned above will be making the trip to Clemson.

The Bowerman Features Bulldogs: The Bowerman, which is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track and field student-athletes in the nation, announced its 2021 Mid-Indoor Watch Lists this week and a pair of Bulldogs were featured.  Collegiate record holder Keturah Orji brought home the 2018 Bowerman for the Lady Bulldogs.

Sophomore Anna Hall, a native of Highlands Ranch, Colo., gave the UGA women their eighth team member named to a Bowerman Watch List. She scored 4,590 points in the pentathlon earlier this season to become the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer.
Boling, a native of Houston, Texas, is ranked in the top six nationally in the 60m, 200m and 400m, including his school record time of 20.53 in the 200m that is the country's second-fastest time this year and is on the men's Watch List. The Bulldog men have now had seven men make a Watch List, including Erm who is currently receiving votes.

Top-10 Bulldogs Abound: The Bulldogs have 12 individuals who are ranked in the top 10 nationally in a dozen different events.  For the men:
200m – 2^nd – Matthew Boling (20.53)
400m – 3^rd – Boling (45.51)
Heptathlon – 4^th – Johannes Erm (5,727 pts.)
400m – 4^th – Elija Godwin (45.56)
Heptathlon – 5^th – Karel Tilga (5,713 pts.)
60m – 6^th - Boling (6.64)
Heptathlon – 9^th – Ziggy Zoller (5,519 pts.)

For the women:
60mH – 1^st – Imani Carothers (8.06)
Pentathlon – 2^nd – Anna Hall (4,590 pts.)
Triple jump – 2^nd – Jasmine Moore (45-3.50)
3000m – 3^rd – Jessica Drop (9:03.29)
High jump – 3^rd – Hall (6-1.25)
Pole vault – 5^th – Kayla Smith (14-3.25)
Triple jump – 6^th – Titiana Marsh (44-2.75)
Long jump – 6^th – Moore (21-1.50)
High jump – 8^th – Shelby Tyler (5-11.25)
Mile – 9^th – J. Drop (4:39.83)

Where Does The Indoor Season Take The Dogs: Georgia has had four regular season meet weekends thus far, most recently lining up with two of its heptathletes – Johannes Erm and Kyle Garland – at the South Carolina Invitational on Feb. 5-6.

The postseason begins next with SECs in Fayetteville, Ark., 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 with the Yellow Jacket Invitational on March 19-20.

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 the day the meet was supposed to start on March 13.

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).