Georgia Track Collects Three Wins, Nearly Sets DMR Record To Close Indoor Regular Season

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Georgia track & field teams completed regular season competition on Saturday, bringing home three victories at the South Carolina-hosted USC Indoor Open while coming within two seconds of a school record in the distance medley relay at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational.

Micah Larry collected his first collegiate victory in the long jump, reaching a mark of 7.53 meters/24 feet, 8 ½ inches to open Georgia’s day in Columbia. Fellow freshman Brody Buffington claimed his first win of the season in the 60-meter dash, crossing the line in 6.67.

Mikeisha Welcome led the way for the Georgia women with her first triple jump win of the year, reaching a mark of 13.40m/43-11.75. Meanwhile, in South Bend, Ind., the DMR squad of Sophia Baker, Zoe Pollock, Dominique Mustin, and Charlotte Augenstein clocked the second-fastest time in school history, cruising to a finish of 11:04.62.

Full Results: For results from the weekend’s USC Indoor Open, please visit: https://gado.gs/bdw

For results from the weekend’s Alex Wilson Invitational, please visit: https://gado.gs/be5

The Lowdown: In his first event of the day, Larry leaped to a distance of 7.53m/24-8.50 on his fourth attempt to earn his first win as a Bulldog. The freshman also competed in the 60m for the first time since the season-opening Clemson Invite, edging out Buffington for first place in the prelims with a time of 6.78. Larry did not start in the final.

Buffington took first in his heat and second overall in the 60m prelims, matching Larry’s time of 6.78. He improved his time to 6.67 in the final, finishing fifteen-hundredths of a second ahead of his closest opponent and just behind his personal best of 6.66, which ranks seventh on Georgia’s all-time top-10 list.

Competing in her second meet of the season, Welcome reached a mark of 13.40m/34.11-75 on her third attempt to earn her first triple jump victory of 2024. Finishing just behind Welcome was fellow Bulldog Leah Anderson, who jumped 11.91m/39-1 on her sixth and final attempt to help Georgia take the top two spots in the event.

The Lady Bulldogs’ distance medley relay crew of Baker, Pollock, Mustin, and Augenstein wrote their names into Georgia’s record books at the Alex Wilson Invitational with a fifth-place time of 11:04.62, which ranks second in school history. The team became the first group to join Georgia’s top-10 list in the event since 2017 while falling just short of the all-time Lady Bulldog record of 11:03.27, set at the Alex Wilson Invitational in 2013. Saturday marked Georgia’s first time competing in the DMR this season.

Jan Duhovnik joined Larry in participating in multiple events at the USC Indoor Open. The freshman took ninth in the long jump with a mark of 6.69m/21-11.50 on his third attempt before finishing 10th in the 60-meter hurdles prelims, tying his personal best with a time of 8.68.

Wesley Hitt