Georgia Track Postures for Post Season Run
Coach Wayne Norton’s Georgia Track and Field Teams have traveled the country to position themselves for the SEC and NCAA Championships.
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The Georgia Track and Field teams continued driving toward the SEC and NCAA meets with strong performances at the Drake Relays.
“We had a good showing with most of our events today,” Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton told Georgiadogs.com. “I was proud of Kisean Smith and Drew Branch finishing in the top three in their events and both relay teams competed well.”
Senior Drew Branch picked up a runner-up finish in the 400-meter hurdles after clocking a season-best time of 50.96.
Claiming a third-place finish in the 800 finals, junior Christian Harrison clocked a 1:50.17 to finish ahead of three Ole Miss competitors in the finals.
Reggie Glover, Raytez Jenkins, Jamario Calhoun and Branch finished fifth in the 4×400 relay after completing the finals in 3:07.78. In the sprint medley relay, Jenkins, Jon Okoye, Reggie Glover and Harrison completed the race in 3:23.64 to take sixth in the meet’s last day.
During the previous weekend, the Dawg track and field teams competed in the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta and at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California, and several of the Dawg’s less heralded competitors performed well.
“We had some bright spots today from a few of our athletes who do not normally get much notice,” said Coach Norton to Georgiadogs.com. “Christian Harrison, Ashley Henry and Devon Artis led the way for our troops in dropping their times. Combined with our Mt. SAC results, (Chanice) Porter’s jumping and the distance performances last night, we managed a very good weekend. We can be better, and we have about four to six weeks to get there.”
In Atlanta, junior Henry ran the seventh-best time in Lady Bulldog history (53.56) to finish fourth in the 400-meter dash. This is the best time for the Georgia women since Shaunae Miller set the school record (50.70) in 2013. (An interesting coincidence, Miller ran a 22.50 to take over the 2015 world lead in the 200 at a professional meet this weekend.)
Also, freshman Devon Artis ran a lifetime best of 54.87 to take 13th.
Also in the sprints, Glover, Branch, Jenkins and Calhoun ran the nation’s seventh-best 4×400 relay time this year with a 3:06.07, which ranks 10th in the Bulldog record books.
Calhoun also ran the second-fastest time of his career in the 200 to earn runner-up honors. He registered a 20.95 after running a lifetime best 20.93 on the Georgia Tech track earlier this year.
Also in Atlanta, junior Christian Harrison clocked the fastest time of his UGA career to finish fourth. Harrison ran a 1:49.92 in the 69-man field.
At the Mt. SAC meet, sophomore Alex Poursanidis had the second-best performance of his career to take seventh in the hammer. Poursanidis slipped a throw of 224 feet, 8 inches in on his fifth attempt. Fellow sophomore Alex Larsson finished ninth in the hammer with a mark of 206 feet.
The Bulldogs also finished fourth and sixth in the men’s shot put Invitational. Senior Nick Vena opened with a toss of 62-9.25 to finish fourth while junior Ashinia Miller had his third throw travel 61-3.
One of Harrison’s 800 teammates, senior Charles Grethen, finished second in his heat with a season-best time of 1:48.48. The Bulldogs’ third 800 runner, junior Kisean Smith, also clocked a season-best time at the Mt. SAC meet on Friday.
Georgia returns to action at the Georgia Invitational in Athens on May 9.