Track & Field Set For Finale At NCAA Championships

Georgia sprinter Xai Ricks during the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s & Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

Photo by: Tony Walsh/UGAAA

June 10, 2025 | Track & Field

EUGENE, Ore. --- Members of the Bulldog track and field program traveled to Eugene, Ore., this week before the NCAA Outdoor Championships arrive at Hayward Field on Wednesday through Saturday.

The fourth-ranked Georgia men begin the meet on Wednesday after winning the team national championship at the same facility in 2018.  The top-ranked Lady Bulldogs come to the University of Oregon campus and start competition Thursday after having earned national runner-up honors at that same meet in 2018.

As usual, the Southeastern Conference has the most combined entries at 166 and boast a combined 10 teams in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national polls.

Following the 2023 NCAA Championships that were held in Austin, the 2024 meet was in Eugene and the 2025-28 NCAA Outdoor Championships will also be in Oregon's facility, which underwent a $270 million renovation following the 2018 season.

Georgia qualified 30 individuals in a combined 20 events, including the men and women's 4x100-meter and the 4x400m relays, from the NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 28-31.

When Do The Bulldogs Start? A combo of Brody Buffington, Micah Larry, Jehlani Gordon, Will Floyd and Shemar Chambers will start the meet for the men in the 4x100m relay semifinal at 7:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday.  Senior Nikolai van Huyssteen will begin the action in the field events in the men's pole vault at 7:35 p.m. on day one to mark his second competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

On the women's side, 2025 SEC champion, 2023 NCAA champion and Georgia graduate transfer Stephanie Ratcliffe will line up in the women's hammer throw at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.  A quartet picked from Dejanea Oakley, Reign Redmond, Karsen Phillips, Sanaa Frederick and Kaila Jackson will run the 4x100m relay semifinal to open the track events at 7:05 p.m. on day two.

Other than the decathlon running Wednesday-Thursday and the heptathlon going Friday-Saturday, the meet is set up to be a men's competition on Wednesday and Friday and a women's competition on Thursday and Saturday.

Where To Catch The NCAAs: ESPN has exclusive rights to broadcast the meet and will feature the Nationals on ESPN2 this week:
Wednesday: 4-7 p.m., ESPN
Thursday: 4-7 p.m., ESPN
Friday: 5-8 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday: 6-9 p.m., ESPN2

Live Results: To check out live results throughout the four-day season finale, please check:
https://gado.gs/da0

Coach Caryl's Comments: "It seems like time has flown by since our first training sessions of the year back in August," said head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert.  "The group we have brought Eugene is a wide variety of competitors, but they all have one thing in common: they have put in the work to advance to the last meet of the season and have unified to represent the 'G' in its finest fashion. There was world-class competition at our SEC meet a month ago and this one promises to level up so I am excited to see our crew answer the challenge. GO DAWGS!"

What Bulldogs Are Competing: In addition to Ratcliffe and the 4x100m relay team for the women, junior Kaila Jackson (100m), redshirt freshman Reign Redmond (100m), junior Dejanea Oakley (400m, 4x400m relay), junior Aaliyah Butler (400m, 4x400m relay), freshman Michelle Smith (400m hurdles, 4x400m relay), junior Haley Tate (4x400m relay), sophomore Sydney Harris (4x400m relay), freshman Skylynn Townsend (triple jump), grad transfer Erin McMeniman (javelin), senior Lianna Davidson (javelin), freshman Manuela Rotundo (javelin), senior Kelsie Murrell-Ross (shot put) and senior Elena Kulichenko (high jump) will line up for the Lady Bulldogs.

On the men's side, redshirt freshman Brody Buffington (200m), sophomore Micah Larry (long jump), sophomore Jehlani Gordon (100m), sophomore Will Floyd (400m, 4x400m relay), freshman Ervin Pearson (400m, 4x400m relay), freshman Xai Ricks (4x400m relay), senior Shemar Chambers (400m, 4x400m relay), freshman London Costen (4x400m relay), sophomore Jaden Keys (long jump), sophomore Riyon Rankin (high jump), freshman Eddie Kurjak (high jump), grad transfer Alex Kolesnikoff (shot put) and senior Moustafa Alsherif (javelin) are slated to compete alongside the 4x100m relay team and van Huyssteen.

Honors Begin To Roll In: While the most important meet of the outdoor season is still to come, three SEC honors have already rolled in.  Smith Gilbert was named the SEC Women's Coach of the Year; Key was named the SEC Men's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year; and Smith was named the SEC Women's Freshman Runner of the Year.

In addition, sophomore Conner Rutherford and senior Kieley Gayle were included on the SEC Community Service Team for their dedication to volunteering in order to help others.

FLASHBACK – 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships: Georgia returned to Oregon in 2024 following the 2023 meet being in Austin and finished ninth (25 points) on the men's side and tied for 10^th (25 pts.) on the women's side.  Kulichenko highlighted the meet for the women by tying for the national crown in the high jump while Marc Minichello completed his career with his second title in the men's javelin.  In addition, Christopher Morales Williams punctuated his sophomore campaign with an NCAA championship in the men's 400m before turning pro.

A Glimpse From The Dogs' Last Action: The Bulldogs continued their 2025 postseason at the NCAA East Prelims on the University of North Florida's campus on May 28-31.

Here are the Bulldog highlights from the meet:
WOMEN
Reign Redmond – The redshirt freshman clocked the fifth-best time in school history in the 100m (11.24) to register the 12^th and final spot from the Prelims quarterfinal.
Aaliyah Butler/Dejanea Oakley  – After Oakley and Butler went 1-2 respectively in the Prelims first round, Butler topped her teammate to go 1-2 in reverse order in the quarters to both cruise into Nationals.
Butler/Oakley/Smith/Harris – The Bulldog quartet won the quarterfinal round with their second fastest 4x400m relay team of the year (43.11).
Davidson/Rotundo/McMeniman – Georgia put three javelin throwers through in the 5^th-3^rd-6^th spots, respectively, as the Bulldogs aim for big points from the throwing event in their pursuit of the team national title.

MEN
Floyd, Pearson, Chambers – Already part of the 4x100m relay and/or 4x400m relay at Nationals, Georgia had a trio of 400m runners punch their tickets to Eugene, highlighted by Chambers' personal record 45.29 in the first round.
Kurjak – The senior transfer collected a massive season-best clearance of 2.18m/7-1.75 to earn an invite to Nationals in the high jump alongside his SEC champion teammate Riyon Rankin.

Results and recaps from the NCAA 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.