The Georgia men’s track and field teams scored in the javelin and set a school record in the 800 meters during the opening day of action at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Wednesday.
During Georgia’s third event on the track, true freshman Will Sumner, who was the Southeastern Conference’s indoor and outdoor 800m champion, allowed his own school record in the 800m to last just short of a month before establishing a fresh No. 1 mark Wednesday to finish with the semifinal’s fastest qualifying time.
In the field events, graduate transfer Marc Minichello scored for the second consecutive year in the javelin, giving the Bulldogs’ their first five points of the meet during day one action.
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.
Arkansas (21) has taken an early lead with Stanford (18) and Arizona (16) filling the next two spots. Georgia is currently tied for 17th with five points.
Georgia had three individual final qualifiers and two relays come out of the semifinal rounds. The 4x100m relay (Keshaun Black, Matthew Boling, Christopher Morales Williams, Elija Godwin), Godwin (400m), Sumner (400m), Caleb Cavanaugh (400m hurdles) and the 4x400m relay (Boling, Cavanaugh, Morales Williams, Sumner) each punched their ticket to finals on the track.
In the multi-events, decathlon collegiate record holder Kyle Garland won the shot put and set a personal best in the 400m to position himself in second with 4,570 points. Garland’s score put him in second place by 21 points behind Texas’ Leo Neugebauer with five of 10 events finished. Garland, who is the 2023 national leader, was third in 2022 behind Neugebauer.
Unlike his teammates, Garland advanced to the NCAA Championships from his No. 1 national ranking and did not have to compete at the NCAA East Prelims two weeks ago.
When Do The Bulldogs Start Day 2: Garland is scheduled to start day two in the decathlon 110m hurdles at 1:30 p.m. ET and the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m will follow.
Ana da Silva is the first Lady Bulldog to compete (hammer throw) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Where To Catch The NCAAs: ESPN has exclusive rights to broadcast the meet and will feature the Nationals on ESPN2 this week:
Thursday: 1 pm, ESPN+; 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
Friday: 3:35 p.m., ESPN+; 9 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday: 5 p.m., ESPN+; 9 p.m., ESPN2
Live Results: To check out live results throughout the four-day season finale, please check: http://gado.gs/ank
The Lowdown: Minichello, a native of West Pittston, Pa., watched his second attempt in the javelin measure 77.27 meters/253 feet, 6 inches and that mark lasted through all six rounds to give him fourth place. The 2022 NCAA champion while at Penn and 2023 SEC champion followed his top mark up with an effort of 77.05m/252-9 and ended up missing his bid for back-to-back titles by eight feet.
The Bulldogs also collected five men’s final qualifiers during the opening day of action. The 4x100m relay quartet were the first on the track in the open events. Following Black’s exchange to Boling, Morales Williams then handed to Godwin who surged in the race’s final meters to take third in their heat with a 38.62. This time, which ranked second in the school record books only behind the Bulldogs’ 38.54 from the 2021 NCAA Championships, was seventh overall in the semifinal. Georgia will return in the 4x100m relay final on Friday at 9:02 p.m.
Godwin returned to the track in the 400m semifinal in the second heat and won his group with a time of 44.73. His finish, which ranked third overall, put the 2022 bronze medalist in the final after his journey ended in the semifinal round in 2021. Godwin will race in the 400m final at 10:02 p.m. Friday.
Recording a school record 1:46.20 during his journey to the 2023 SEC outdoor title, Sumner dropped that time to 1:46.00 in the 800m semifinal to be the event’s fastest qualifier. He shot ahead of the field right after crossing the 400m mark and extended that lead to more than a second and a half by the finish line. The Canton, Ga., native will race in the 800m final at 10:14 p.m. Friday.
Cavanaugh had been 11th in the 2022 400m hurdle semifinal and 14th in the 2021 race. However, the Houston, Texas, native snatched the ninth and final qualifying spot with a 49.79 on Wednesday. He leaned at the line and topped Arkansas’ Ayden Owens-Delerme by .03 to lock down the final automatic qualifying spot. Cavanaugh will race in the final on Friday at 10:27 p.m.
Featuring a lineup that the Bulldogs had not tried in 2023, Boling, Cavanaugh, Morales Williams and Sumner traded the baton to finish second in the second 4x400m relay heat to qualify automatically and ninth overall. The quartet clocked a 3:01.51, which is the No. 3 time on Georgia’s all-time top-10 list.
Garland began his final collegiate decathlon by matching his performance from the 2022 meet. He won the second heat and was second overall with a 10.63, placing him four points behind Neugebauer after one of 10 events.
Garland’s top mark in his long jump series came with his opening effort of 7.72m/25-4. This gave him another runner-up finish and kept him in second, trailing Nebraska’s Till Steinforth by 16 points. Garland saved his best for last in the shot put, sending the ball 16.39m/53-9.25. His performance bulked his point total by 875 points to push him into an overall lead by 13 points over Neugebauer as Steinforth dropped to third.
Garland collected three clearances in the high jump, including a third attempt clearance at 2.01m/6-7, to win his second straight event. He maxed out at 2.04m/6-8.25 to tie Neugebauer for the event victory. With this outcome, Garland stayed 13 points ahead of the nearest competitor headed into the 400m. His first personal record of the meet came in that 400m as Garland sped to a 47.78 to take seventh overall. This put Garland in second by 21 points behind Neugebauer going into day two.
Alencar Pereira began the open events for the Bulldogs in the hammer throw and posted the top finish of his career. He slipped into the final on his third throw of 70.20m/230-4 and stayed in ninth through the final three rounds. Pereira started his Georgia career with a 20th-place finish in 2021, was 14th last year and has now bettered his 2022 finish by five spots.
Boling also raced in the 200m semifinal and was 10th overall with a 20.25. He will be joining his 4x100m and 4x400m relay mates in the finals on Friday.
How To Keep Up With The Dogs: Results and recaps from the NCAA Outdoor 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 Mark/Time - Place
Marc Minichello M. Javelin 77.27m/253-6 – 4th
Bulldog Day 1 Qualifiers
Name Event Mark/Time - Place
Will Sumner M. 800m $1:46.00 – 1st
Elija Godwin M. 400m 44.73 – 3rd
Black, Boling M. 4x100m relay ^38.62 – 7th
Morales Williams, Godwin
Caleb Cavanaugh M. 400mH 49.79 – 9th
Boling, Cavanaugh M. 4x400m relay 3:01.51 – 9th
Morales Williams, Sumner
$school record; ^No. 2 UGA all-time
Decathlon Day 1
Name 100m LJ SP HJ 400m Day 1
Kyle Garland 10.63 7.72/25-4 16.39/53-9.25 2.04/6-8.25 *47.78 4,570 pts.
*personal best
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