University of Georgia Athletics
Track & Field
Deanna Hill
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Sprints, Hurdles
- Email:
- dhill@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-542-7915
Deanna Hill was hired as an assistant coach for Georgia’s sprinters and hurdlers in July 2021, soon after her former head coach at Southern California, Caryl Smith Gilbert, accepted the Director of Track & Field position with the Bulldogs.
Following a successful first year in Athens, Hill went back to work for Smith Gilbert in 2023. The Bulldog men had their top finish in history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning runner-up honors with a program record 40 points. The finish was highlighted by a school record in the 200-meter dash (Matthew Boling, 20.12, No. 5 all-time collegiate performer) for an NCAA title.
Boling joined Christopher Morales Williams, Caleb Cavanaugh and Will Sumner in the 4x400m relay at Nationals to score eight more points with a second-place finish. With Godwin running in place of Sumner, the Bulldogs ran a season-best relay of 3:02.90 at the Tiger Paw Invitational for the second-fastest finish in school history and fourth best in the nation in 2023. Also, Boling, Cavanaugh, Sumner and Godwin combined for runner-up honors at the SEC Championships.
The women finished fifth at the 2023 Nationals after tallying 31 points under the help from Hill. Individual performances from true freshmen Kaila Jackson and Autumn Wilson shined during the Lady Bulldogs’ trip to Albuquerque. Jackson, who was the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year, clocked a World Junior (under-20) and school record 7.07 to become the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer in the prelims before taking second in the 60m final with a 7.08. In addition, Jackson was eighth in the 200m final.
Wilson shot to No. 7 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list with a school record 22.42 in the 200m prelims and earned a bronze in the final (22.45). She complemented Jackson’s finish in the 60m by taking fourth in the final with a personal record 7.12.
At the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships, Jackson earned second and fourth-place finishes in the 60m and 200m, respectively, while Wilson went fourth-fifth in the same short sprints. On the men’s side, Hill coached trackside as Boling took second in the 200m. In addition, Keshaun Black competed at his first league meet and finished seventh in the 60m with a 6.73.
A number of Georgia sprinters and hurdlers made significant improvements under Hill and the rest of the coaching staff as well during the regular season, including Bella Witt clocking an 8.20 in the 60m hurdles, Kenondra Davis managing a 23.12 in the 200m and Aaliyah Butler teaming with Dominique Mustin, Haley Tate and Zoe Pollock, who were all first-year Bulldogs, to record the school’s second-fastest 4x400m relay time in school history (3:33.28).
For the year, Georgia collected three national titles and two conference crowns to go with five school records (men’s 200m, men’s 400m, men’s 800m, women’s 60m, women’s 200m) on the track and 21 improvements to the school’s all-time top-10 lists in the sprints and mid-distance.
Outdoors, the contributions from the individuals who Hill worked with were equally impressive. Will Sumner ran a leg on the seventh place 4x400m relay team (3:03.22) at Nationals along with Morales Williams, Boling and Cavanaugh.
The Lady Bulldogs also managed to take 10th at the NCAA Championships with the contributions from 12 team members, including a half dozen sprinters who Hill helps instruct. Kaila Jackson sped to a wind-aided 10.96 for fourth in the 100m final and also ran a leg on the scoring 4x100m relay, a quartet that included Aaliyah Butler, Brandee Presley and Autumn Wilson. The Lady Bulldogs ran a school record 42.87 to take sixth place.
Georgia’s successful 2023 outdoor postseason run began with the SEC Championships. The Bulldog sprinters, hurdlers and relays combined to score 68 points in the country’s toughest conference. Jackson, who also won a bronze in the 200m, was second in her first outdoor final with a legal personal record of 11.04 in the 100m.
Thanks in part to Hill’s training, the Bulldogs continue their onslaught of the school’s all-time top-10 lists, including school records in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays, the men’s 4x400m relay and the men’s 800m. There were a total of 44 revisions to the Bulldog record books, including 29 in the sprints, hurdles and relays. Two of those improvements came from a pair of freshmen in the 100m (Jackson’s 11.04, Wilson’s 11.17) and another in the 400m (Butler’s 51.32) as the trio passed one of the sport’s all-time greats in Gwen Torrence in the events (11.20, 51.60).
During her first season representing Georgia in 2022, Hill helped guide the Bulldog short and long sprinters as well as UGA’s hurdlers to six First Team All-America certificates, five school records, two SEC individual crowns and an NCAA individual title to go along with a gold and a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships.
Hill began work with the Bulldogs’ talented duo of Boling and Godwin as the pair hit yet another level of success. Boling established school records in the 100-meter dash (9.98, No. 5 nationally) and 200m (19.92, No. 3 nationally), collected SEC titles in both the 60m and outdoor 200m and finished as a national scorer in the 60m and 100m as well as a top eight finisher in the 200m indoors and outdoors. Hill’s assistance with Godwin was just as apparent as he posted his best finish at the SEC Championships of runner-up before earning a bronze medal in the 400m with a then school record 44.50.
Godwin continued his success in the collegiate postseason as he re-set his own school record in the 400m with a 44.34 for fourth at the USATF Championships. He was selected to run on both the men’s Team USA 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relays at the World Athletics Championships where he collected a gold and a bronze medal, respectively. Godwin’s splits on his opening legs were 44.89, 44.71, 44.46 and 44.28.
In addition, Hill helped Cavanaugh become an NCAA semifinalist after clocking the school’s fourth best 400m hurdle time in history (49.59) and taking fourth at SECs. Cavanaugh’s training partner, freshman Bryce McCray, also scored at the conference meet with the sixth-best time in UGA history (50.21). Working with short sprinter Delano Dunkley, Hill helped him drop his 100m to 10.22 (No. 9 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list) and 60m to 6.65 (No. 4).
First-year sprinter Kenondra Davis also finished with the fourth-best indoor 200m time in school history (23.33) and the eighth-best outdoor finish (23.23). Also on the women’s side, fellow freshman Eddiyah Frye qualified for the World Under-20 Championships thanks to her runner-up finish in the 100m hurdles at the USATF Championships with a time of 13.26, which stands eighth in the school record books. Indoors, Frye sped to an 8.23 in the 60m hurdles to move to No. 5 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list.
Hill, a native of Orlando, Fla., was a 17-time First-Team All-American for USC and won the 2018 NCAA outdoor team title with Smith Gilbert as head coach. In fact, Hill was on the Trojans’ 4x400-meter relay team that clinched her team’s one-point victory over the Lady Bulldogs during USC’s run to the 2018 national championship. A captain for the Trojans, Hill was awarded the Most Valuable Female Athlete for her team three consecutive years. Her relay squad earned an honorary ESPY award for the “2018 Best Comeback.”
Hill returned to her hometown after graduating from USC and took over as the head varsity boys and girls coach at Lake Highland Preparatory School to start the 2019 season. While guiding Lake Highland, her school won its first boys’ district championship in 21 years and its first regional championship in school history.
Following a successful first year in Athens, Hill went back to work for Smith Gilbert in 2023. The Bulldog men had their top finish in history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning runner-up honors with a program record 40 points. The finish was highlighted by a school record in the 200-meter dash (Matthew Boling, 20.12, No. 5 all-time collegiate performer) for an NCAA title.
Boling joined Christopher Morales Williams, Caleb Cavanaugh and Will Sumner in the 4x400m relay at Nationals to score eight more points with a second-place finish. With Godwin running in place of Sumner, the Bulldogs ran a season-best relay of 3:02.90 at the Tiger Paw Invitational for the second-fastest finish in school history and fourth best in the nation in 2023. Also, Boling, Cavanaugh, Sumner and Godwin combined for runner-up honors at the SEC Championships.
The women finished fifth at the 2023 Nationals after tallying 31 points under the help from Hill. Individual performances from true freshmen Kaila Jackson and Autumn Wilson shined during the Lady Bulldogs’ trip to Albuquerque. Jackson, who was the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year, clocked a World Junior (under-20) and school record 7.07 to become the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer in the prelims before taking second in the 60m final with a 7.08. In addition, Jackson was eighth in the 200m final.
Wilson shot to No. 7 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list with a school record 22.42 in the 200m prelims and earned a bronze in the final (22.45). She complemented Jackson’s finish in the 60m by taking fourth in the final with a personal record 7.12.
At the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships, Jackson earned second and fourth-place finishes in the 60m and 200m, respectively, while Wilson went fourth-fifth in the same short sprints. On the men’s side, Hill coached trackside as Boling took second in the 200m. In addition, Keshaun Black competed at his first league meet and finished seventh in the 60m with a 6.73.
A number of Georgia sprinters and hurdlers made significant improvements under Hill and the rest of the coaching staff as well during the regular season, including Bella Witt clocking an 8.20 in the 60m hurdles, Kenondra Davis managing a 23.12 in the 200m and Aaliyah Butler teaming with Dominique Mustin, Haley Tate and Zoe Pollock, who were all first-year Bulldogs, to record the school’s second-fastest 4x400m relay time in school history (3:33.28).
For the year, Georgia collected three national titles and two conference crowns to go with five school records (men’s 200m, men’s 400m, men’s 800m, women’s 60m, women’s 200m) on the track and 21 improvements to the school’s all-time top-10 lists in the sprints and mid-distance.
Outdoors, the contributions from the individuals who Hill worked with were equally impressive. Will Sumner ran a leg on the seventh place 4x400m relay team (3:03.22) at Nationals along with Morales Williams, Boling and Cavanaugh.
The Lady Bulldogs also managed to take 10th at the NCAA Championships with the contributions from 12 team members, including a half dozen sprinters who Hill helps instruct. Kaila Jackson sped to a wind-aided 10.96 for fourth in the 100m final and also ran a leg on the scoring 4x100m relay, a quartet that included Aaliyah Butler, Brandee Presley and Autumn Wilson. The Lady Bulldogs ran a school record 42.87 to take sixth place.
Georgia’s successful 2023 outdoor postseason run began with the SEC Championships. The Bulldog sprinters, hurdlers and relays combined to score 68 points in the country’s toughest conference. Jackson, who also won a bronze in the 200m, was second in her first outdoor final with a legal personal record of 11.04 in the 100m.
Thanks in part to Hill’s training, the Bulldogs continue their onslaught of the school’s all-time top-10 lists, including school records in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays, the men’s 4x400m relay and the men’s 800m. There were a total of 44 revisions to the Bulldog record books, including 29 in the sprints, hurdles and relays. Two of those improvements came from a pair of freshmen in the 100m (Jackson’s 11.04, Wilson’s 11.17) and another in the 400m (Butler’s 51.32) as the trio passed one of the sport’s all-time greats in Gwen Torrence in the events (11.20, 51.60).
During her first season representing Georgia in 2022, Hill helped guide the Bulldog short and long sprinters as well as UGA’s hurdlers to six First Team All-America certificates, five school records, two SEC individual crowns and an NCAA individual title to go along with a gold and a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships.
Hill began work with the Bulldogs’ talented duo of Boling and Godwin as the pair hit yet another level of success. Boling established school records in the 100-meter dash (9.98, No. 5 nationally) and 200m (19.92, No. 3 nationally), collected SEC titles in both the 60m and outdoor 200m and finished as a national scorer in the 60m and 100m as well as a top eight finisher in the 200m indoors and outdoors. Hill’s assistance with Godwin was just as apparent as he posted his best finish at the SEC Championships of runner-up before earning a bronze medal in the 400m with a then school record 44.50.
Godwin continued his success in the collegiate postseason as he re-set his own school record in the 400m with a 44.34 for fourth at the USATF Championships. He was selected to run on both the men’s Team USA 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relays at the World Athletics Championships where he collected a gold and a bronze medal, respectively. Godwin’s splits on his opening legs were 44.89, 44.71, 44.46 and 44.28.
In addition, Hill helped Cavanaugh become an NCAA semifinalist after clocking the school’s fourth best 400m hurdle time in history (49.59) and taking fourth at SECs. Cavanaugh’s training partner, freshman Bryce McCray, also scored at the conference meet with the sixth-best time in UGA history (50.21). Working with short sprinter Delano Dunkley, Hill helped him drop his 100m to 10.22 (No. 9 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list) and 60m to 6.65 (No. 4).
First-year sprinter Kenondra Davis also finished with the fourth-best indoor 200m time in school history (23.33) and the eighth-best outdoor finish (23.23). Also on the women’s side, fellow freshman Eddiyah Frye qualified for the World Under-20 Championships thanks to her runner-up finish in the 100m hurdles at the USATF Championships with a time of 13.26, which stands eighth in the school record books. Indoors, Frye sped to an 8.23 in the 60m hurdles to move to No. 5 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list.
Hill, a native of Orlando, Fla., was a 17-time First-Team All-American for USC and won the 2018 NCAA outdoor team title with Smith Gilbert as head coach. In fact, Hill was on the Trojans’ 4x400-meter relay team that clinched her team’s one-point victory over the Lady Bulldogs during USC’s run to the 2018 national championship. A captain for the Trojans, Hill was awarded the Most Valuable Female Athlete for her team three consecutive years. Her relay squad earned an honorary ESPY award for the “2018 Best Comeback.”
Hill returned to her hometown after graduating from USC and took over as the head varsity boys and girls coach at Lake Highland Preparatory School to start the 2019 season. While guiding Lake Highland, her school won its first boys’ district championship in 21 years and its first regional championship in school history.
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