Georgia Track and Field splits squad to compete at Clemson, Vanderbilt

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia will send a combined 60 team members to Clemson, S.C., for the Tiger Paw Invitational and to Nashville, Tenn., for the Music City Challenge this weekend.

Both meets are scheduled to run on Friday and Saturday. This marks the second time Bulldog competitors have battled in both locations after opening the season at Clemson and traveling to Vanderbilt’s campus during the season’s second week.

Other than the Arkansas Qualifier on Feb. 16, this weekend’s action will be the final opportunity Georgia has prior to the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Feb. 23-24.

Who’s The Competition?: The Tiger Paw meet is expected to have 31 teams in the field, including eight from the league.

There are representatives from 51 different teams set to compete in Nashville, including seven SEC teams.

When Do The Bulldogs Start?: Ella Rush, who knocked out her first pentathlon of the year last weekend, will long jump coming out of the third flight in Clemson at 12 p.m. ET on Friday. Not long before her long jump group begins, Rush is scheduled to run in the 60-meter hurdles prelims at 12:05 p.m.

Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker, Simone Rojas, Lily Cincola, Nina Ouellette and Bella Brick will race in the Music City mile at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to start the action.

Where To Catch The Action: There will be ESPN streaming coverage from Clemson on Friday (12 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m.).

There will also be ESPN streaming coverage from Nashville on Friday and Saturday starting at 10:25 a.m.

ACCNX info:

Tiger Paw Day One/Day Two – Friday, Feb. 9/Saturday, Feb. 10

ACCNX – http://gado.gs/bcb

SEC Network+ info:

Music City – Day One – Friday, Feb. 9

SEC Network+ – http://gado.gs/bc9

Music City – Day Two – Saturday, Feb. 10

SEC Network+ – http://gado.gs/bca

Live Results: For results throughout the weekend from the Tiger Paw Invitational, please visit: http://gado.gs/bck

Coach Caryl’s Comments: “For most of our competitors, this meet at Clemson will mark their final meet before the SEC Championships,” said Bulldog head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. “We have seen consistent improvements from our teams, but we need those times and marks to continue to get faster and longer. Looking forward to watching the development continue and hopefully have more competitors pull themselves into the postseason discussion. We will also have a distance group going to Vanderbilt and I am eager to see their performances as we keep building that group for the outdoor season and cross country next fall. GO DAWGS!”

What Bulldogs Are Competing?: For the Lady Bulldogs, Aaliyah Butler, Kimberly Harris, Sydney Harris, Kaila Jackson, Dominique Mustin, Karsen Phillips, Zoe Pollock, Reign Redmond, Ella Rush, Haley Tate, Autumn Wilson, Leah Anderson, Elena Kulichenko, Michaela Prevallet, Kelsie Murrell-Ross, Sydney Augmon and Kieley Gayle are traveling to Clemson to compete.

On the men’s side, Brody Buffington, Jan Duhovnik, Mekhi Gammons, Hossam Hatib, Jordan McKenzie, Christopher Morales-Williams, Riyon Rankin, Alon Rogow, Nikolai van Huyssteen, Zavien Wolfe, Chance Jones, Gavin Beverage and Alex Kolesnikoff will represent at the Tiger Paw meet.

The distance runners slated to compete at the Music City meet include:

WOMEN – Augenstein, Baker, Brick, Bella Cammarota, Cincola, Lorel Golden, Ella Kepple, Audrey Knoper, Katherine Law, Gracie O’Neal, Ouellette, Gracey Owens, Rojas and Janie Sandel;

MEN – Andrew Balogh, Luke Churchwell, Chase Condra, Cole Heron, Conner Inman, John Jessup, Wesley John, Luke Kalarickal, Sumner Kirsh, Ethan Nordman, Ryan Olree, Kushan Patel, Davis Potts, Conner Rutherford, Diego Santiago-Cardona and Zack Truitt.

LAST WEEK’S FLASHBACK – New Mexico Collegiate Classic (Feb. 2-3): A trio of Lady Bulldogs competed in Albuquerque, N.M., last weekend. Mikeisha Welcome left with the country’s fourth-best triple jump this year (13.52 meters/44 feet, 4 ¼ inches) to be the top collegiate finisher (second overall). Also, Rush tallied the SEC’s fourth-best total in the pentathlon this year (3,863 points) for fourth place.

Dawg Debut: Twenty-seven Georgia competitors battled in the red and black for the first time at the season-opening Clemson Invitational. That number included 18 true freshmen, four transfers, three graduate transfers and two redshirts.

At the Vanderbilt Invitational on Jan. 19-20, another pair of distance runners competed for Georgia for the first time indoors.

Early SEC Honors: Welcome, a Toronto, Canada, is the most recent Georgia competitor to earn an SEC weekly honor. She was named the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after her performance in what was her season debut.

A trio of Bulldogs collected SEC weekly honors following the Collegiate Showdown meet. Morales Williams was named the Men’s Co-Runner of the Week; Kolesnikoff was named the Men’s Co-Field Athlete of the Week; and Jehlani Gordon was named the Men’s Freshman of the Week.

Rankin (Men’s Freshman of the Week) received the other SEC weekly honor so far this season.

What’s Next For The Bulldogs?: The Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville is the last scheduled regular season meet on Feb. 16. There will be a total of six regular season indoor meet weekends before the conference met on Feb. 23-24. This year’s NCAA Championships will be in Boston for the first time in history on March 8-9.