Track & Field Slated To Compete At Texas Tech Open & Multis

Thursday, January 26

Lubbock, Texas

All Day

University of Georgia

Texas Tech Open & Multis

Track & Field Slated To Compete At Texas Tech Open & Multis

January 25, 2023 | Track & Field

Multis_Schedule_1.26-1.27.23.pdf TT_Open_meet_schedule_1.27-1.28.23.pdf Heptathlon_Start_Lists.pdf Pentathlon_Start_Lists.pdf

LUBBOCK, Texas --- The Bulldog track and field teams take off in staggered groups this week in preparation for the Texas Tech Open & Multis in Lubbock, Texas.

Two Georgia heptathletes – Kyle Garland and Ziggy Zoller – and a pair of Lady Bulldog pentathletes – freshmen Leah Anderson, Ella Rush – will start the meet in the multi-events on Thursday and Friday.

The open events will begin on Friday and continue through Saturday.  This competition marks the third of six regular season indoor meets before the Southeastern Conference Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.,) arrive on Feb. 24-25.

When Do The Bulldogs Start: Garland and Zoller start the heptathlon's 60-meter dash at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday before knocking out the long jump, shot put and high jump after their initial race.  The duo will conclude their final three events (60m hurdles, pole vault, 1000m) on Friday beginning at 12 p.m.

Anderson and Rush, who will both be making their combined event debuts for UGA, start the 60m hurdles at 1:20 p.m. on Thursday and will then knock out the pentathlon's final four events (high jump, shot put, long jump, 800m) later that day.

In the open events, Alon Rogow (men's pole vault) and Mikeisha Welcome (women's long jump) are the first Bulldogs to compete on Friday at 4 p.m.

Where To Catch The Meet: There will be streaming coverage of Saturday's action as well as live results.

Live Video (ESPN+): Friday 4 p.m. - gado.gs/9yt
Saturday 11 a.m. - gado.gs/9ys

Live Results: For results throughout the weekend, please visit: http://gado.gs/9yf

Coach Caryl's Comments: "We have had two meets to knock the rust off and now we are eagerly anticipating this trip to Texas Tech," said Bulldog second-year head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. "With the indoor season being shorter, this is an early preview of the NCAA meet, especially with our gifted group of combined event athletes opening up. This meet is another stepping stone to the postseason so I am excited to see another level of progress. GO DAWGS!"

What Bulldogs Are Traveling: Twenty Georgia women are making the trip and 16 Bulldog men are slated to line up during the meet.  For the women, Anderson, Mia Anderson, Charlotte Augenstein, Aaliyah Butler, Ana da Silva, Kenondra Davis, Eddiyah Frye, Elsie Igberaese, Kaila Jackson, Elena Kulichenko, Titiana Marsh, Madison McConico, Hali Murphy, Dominique Mustin, Zoe Pollock, Haley Tate, Rush, Welcome, Autumn Wilson and Bella Witt are each competing in at least one event.

On the men's side, Gavin Beverage, Keshaun Black, Matthew Boling, Caleb Cavanaugh, Johannes Erm, Garland, Elija Godwin, KC Heron, Christopher Morales Williams, Clay Pender, Alencar Pereira, Rogow, Will Sumner, Zack Truitt, Nikolai van Huyssteen and Zoller are set to compete.

Welcome Back Multis: Garland captured the collegiate all-time best decathlon score outdoors last year at the USATF Championships after taking third at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships.  Erm, who will be in open events this weekend, is the No. 10 all-time collegiate performer in the decathlon and is the defending SEC champion in the 10 events outdoors.

Indoors last season, Garland became the No. 5 all-time collegiate performer in the heptathlon after winning the SEC Indoor Championships and then finished second at Nationals.  Erm, who did not compete during full indoor seasons in 2021-22, set a meet record and was the national leader in the heptathlon with more than 6,100 points in 2020 and was headed to the NCAA Indoor Championships before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down.

While the women did not have a pentathlete last year, the Lady Bulldogs have featured the greatest of all-time in the indoor multi-events.  Kendell Williams, a two-time Olympian, is the only competitor in collegiate history to win the NCAA pentathlon crown all four years of her competition (2014-17).  The Marietta, Ga., native owns four of the top scores in collegiate history in the event.

Rush, a native of Repton, U.K., was the Senior British Indoor pentathlon champion with a meet record 4,365 points and was ranked No. 1 in the world in the under-20 pent in 2022.  Anderson, a native of Dallas, Texas, was an All-American in the hurdles and triple jump during her prep career and is making the conversion into the combined events.

SEC Award Winner: Freshman sprinter Kaila Jackson has been named the SEC Women's Freshman of the Week, according to announcement earlier this week.

Jackson, a native of Redford, Mich., made her collegiate debut in the 200-meter dash at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M.  She finished with the nation's top time for a freshman in 2023 (an altitude adjusted 23.45 from her actual time of 23.38), a mark which ranks 14^th on the current national list.  Jackson's finish sits No. 5 on the school's all-time top-10 list.

Where To Find Bulldogs News: Results and recaps from the Texas Tech Open & Multis 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.