Dogs Close Out SEC T&F Meet With A Fourth Title, School Record

Saturday, February 27

Fayetteville, Ark.

All Day

University of Georgia

SEC Indoor Championships

Dogs Close Out SEC T&F Meet With A Fourth Title, School Record

February 27, 2021 | Track & Field

Full Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Georgia completed the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships by notching at least one title for the third straight day and establishing the third team record of the meet in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday.

Sophomore Jasmine Moore, a native of Grand Prairie, Texas, accomplished one feat she had done before and toppled another new obstacle in the process.  Moore built to a third triple jump of 45 feet, 10 inches, which improved her No. 2 spot in the school record books and her No. 2 spot on the current national list.  With that effort, Moore locked down her second consecutive triple jump championship for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Bulldog foursome of sophomore Matthew Boling, senior Delano Dunkley, sophomore Caleb Cavanaugh and junior Elija Godwin provided another one of the top moments for Georgia during the meet's final day.  Lining up in the fastest heat of the 4x400-meter relay final, the Bulldogs tallied a school record for the second time this season in the event and secured the bronze medal.

For Boling, the record marked his third of the weekend after moving into the No. 1 spot in both the long jump and 200m on Friday.

In the Bulldogs' first final of the day on the track, Godwin flew to the fastest time of his career in the 400m to earn a silver medal.  The Covington, Ga., native bumped up his 2020 finish by one spot after clocking one of the nation's top-five times this year.

The Georgia women took third (69 points) for the second straight year while Arkansas (141) and Florida (81) made up the top two.  The Bulldog men finished 10^th with 31 points as Arkansas (116) claimed the team championship with LSU (93) as the runner-up.

On Thursday, sophomore Anna Hall won Georgia its sixth SEC pentathlon title in history to pace the women's scoring. Junior Alencar Pereira made a late surge in the men's weight throw with the longest toss of his UGA career to take seventh and score a pair of points for the Bulldog men.

During Friday's session, redshirt sophomore Kyle Garland won his second heptathlon title in a row and sophomore Julia Fixsen improved from second in 2020 to champion this year in the pole vault.  Hall returned in the open high jump and was second after soaring over the bar at 6-1.25.  Senior Kayla Smith gave the Lady Bulldogs a 1-2 finish in the pole vault after earning runner-up honors by scoring at her third consecutive SEC indoor meet.

Also on Friday, junior Titiana Marsh left her second meet in a row with a career best in the long jump for a bronze medal.  Boling topped a 23-year-old school record in the long jump for fourth-place honors just minutes before he passed his own school record by in the 200m semifinal.  Another fourth-place showing came from Moore in the long jump.  Finally, sophomore Shelby Tyler boosted her team's total by three points after taking sixth in the high jump.

For meet results, please visit: gado.gs/6c6

"This was a very productive weekend for our teams as we have experienced a lot of great performances by the Dawgs," said head coach Petros Kyprianou.  "Highlights are of course the champions in Kyle, Anna, Jasmine and Julia and the other medalists in Imani (Carothers), Titiana and 4x400.  The school record in the 4x4 is a very encouraging performance going in to NCAAs, which is a meet our teams are more geared for. We had some unfortunate incidents with injuries, disqualifications and no heights, but that's part of the sport.  We have to regroup and taper for the Championships that everyone will remember forever. Go Dawgs!"

Moore captured Georgia's first crown in the triple jump since collegiate record holder Keturah Orji won four straight from 2015-18 and is the Lady Bulldogs' ninth in history.  Opening with a season-best mark of 45-3.75, Moore hit her lifetime best 45-10 in the third round and then wrapped up her series with a 45-8 mark with the meet in hand.

Moore's teammate, junior Titiana Marsh, answered two opening fouls with an effort of 42-6 to make the final.  She then improved to 42-9 and kept sixth place to score in both the long and triple jumps this year.

Following a day that had already featured Boling (200m) and Godwin (400m) running in event finals, the Bulldogs rocketed to a 3:04.72 to take third.  Their time easily surpassed their previous record of 3:06.40 set at the Tiger Paw Invitational earlier this month.  Georgia put its relay in position to be in the country's top five nationally after Godwin started the race with a 45.18 split and Boling ended with a red-hot 44.68.

Godwin ran in the first of two heats in the 400m final and was second only to the event champion, LSU's Noah Williams (45.26).  Godwin clocked a personal record of 45.37 to move past Matthew Boling on the school's all-time top-10 list at No. 2 with the best finish for the Bulldogs since the late great Torrin Lawrence went 45.03 in the same facility in 2010.

Boling was in the second group of four in the 200m final and responded with an apparent 20.55 for a bronze medal.  However, Boling was disqualified because of a race infraction.  His semifinal time of 20.37, which was a school record, is expected to remain in the nation's top five going into the break before Nationals.

Junior Imani Carothers delivered the best finish of her career in the 60m hurdles and earned a third-place finish in the final.  Carothers ran the second-fastest time of her career (8.12) and is in prime position to advance to her first NCAA Championships with her 8.06 from the regular season.

Junior Anna Marian Block was eighth in the mile final in 2020 and repeated that performance in the 800m this year.  Block completed her laps in 2:10.39 to add a point to Georgia's total as Texas A&M's Athing Mu set a collegiate record with a 1:58.40 for the title.

A couple other Bulldogs made the best out of their SEC opportunity.  Junior Labo Oke missed the final in the triple jump by a single spot after soaring a personal-best distance for the second straight meet.  Oke surpassed 50 feet for the first time in his career with a second attempt mark of 50-4 to take 10^th.

In her first league meet, redshirt freshman Mia Anderson snuck a career-best toss of 45-6.25 between two fouls to take 17^th in the shot put.

Those qualified Bulldogs will return to Fayetteville on March 12-13 for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

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)
Anna Hall Pentathlon                  1^st (4,521 pts.)
Alencar Pereira Men's Weight Throw    7^th (*69-5.25)
Day 2 Scorers
Kyle Garland Heptathlon                  1^st (*6,012 pts.)
Julia Fixsen Pole Vault                   1^st (^14-5.25)
Kayla Smith Pole Vault               2^nd (14-3.25)
Anna Hall High Jump   T-2^nd (6-1.25)
Titiana Marsh Long Jump   3^rd (*20-10.75)
Matthew Boling    Long Jump 4^th ($26-5.75)
Jasmine Moore Long Jump 4^th (20-9.75)
Shelby Tyler High Jump 6^th (5-9.25)
Day 3 Scorers
Jasmine Moore           Triple Jump               1^st (*45-10)
Elija Godwin 400m                           2^nd (*45.37)
Men's 4x400m relay   3^rd (&3:04.72)
M. Boling, D. Dunkley, C. Cavanaugh, E. Godwin
Imani Carothers   60m Hurdles              3^rd (8.12)
Titiana Marsh Triple Jump               6^th (42-9)
Anna Marian Block 800m                         8^th (2:10.39)
*UGA personal best; ^season best; $UGA record