Track & Field Set For SEC Outdoor Championships On Thursday

Thursday, May 15

Lexington, Ky.

University of Georgia

SEC Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Chris Watkins Photography

Track & Field Set For SEC Outdoor Championships On Thursday

May 14, 2025 | Track & Field

Meet Notes Schedule SEC Outdoor Championships - Start Lists

LEXINGTON, Ky. --- The Georgia track & field teams arrived in Lexington, Ky., and are making final preparations for the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, which are slated to begin on Thursday and continue through Saturday at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Facility.

When Do The Bulldogs Start On Thursday?: The SEC Outdoor Championships will kick off with the multi-events, with Jordan Fick and Maximus Tucker competing in the decathlon and Ella Rush entering the heptathlon. Fick and Tucker will open Georgia's day in the 100-meter dash while Rush will compete in the 100-meter hurdles at 12 p.m.

In the open events, Stephanie Ratcliffe will open Georgia's field events in the hammer throw at 12 p.m. on Thursday. On the track side, Kieley Gayle will compete in the 800m prelims at 5:30 p.m.

Who Is Ranked In The SEC?: Georgia's women's and men's teams are ranked among the best nationally among a stacked field of SEC teams. The Georgia women rank No. 1 nationally to lead a group of 11 SEC teams appearing in the top 25 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings. That list includes No. 1 GEORGIA, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 11 Florida, No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas, No. 19 LSU, No. 23 Alabama, No. 24 Auburn, and No. 25 Tennessee.

The Georgia men join a cluster of 12 SEC teams appearing in the top 25 nationally ahead of the conference meet and are one of three competing teams ranked in the NCAA's top five. The nationally-ranked programs taking the track in Lexington include No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 5 GEORGIA, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 10 Auburn, No. 12 Alabama, No. 14 Florida, No. 15 LSU, No. 17 Texas, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 21 Ole Miss, and No. 23 Mississippi State.

Where To Catch The SEC Championships: The SEC Indoor Championships will be streamed by ESPN with Dwight Stones, Dan O'Brien, John Anderson, and Larra Overton providing meet coverage.

Broadcast Info For SEC Indoor Championships:
Thursday (11:30 a.m.) – SECN+
LINK: https://gado.gs/d6x
Thursday (5:30 p.m.) – SECN+
LINK: https://gado.gs/d6y
Friday (11 a.m.) – SECN+
LINK: https://gado.gs/d6z
Friday (5 p.m.) – SECN+
LINK: https://gado.gs/d70
Saturday (2:30 p.m.) - SECN+
LINK: https://gado.gs/d71
Saturday (6 p.m.) – SEC Network
LINK: https://gado.gs/d6r

Live Results: For results throughout the weekend, please visit: https://gado.gs/d73

Coach Caryl's Comments: "The SEC Outdoor Championships traditionally bring together many of the top competitors from the U.S. and from around the world, and this year is no different," Georgia head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "This is an opportunity to show our hard work and collect some hardware in the meantime. It is also the last chance to qualify for the upcoming NCAA Prelims – a carrot dangling in front of us as well. We are all excited to line up at Kentucky with weather conditions that look to be warm and dry. GO DAWGS!"

What Bulldogs Are Competing?: On the women's side, T'oni Birden, Aaliyah Butler, Lianna Davidson, Sanaa Frederick, Sole Frederick, Kieley Gayle, Sydney Harris, Kaila Jackson, Elena Kulichenko, Erin McMeniman, Kelsie Murrell-Ross, Danah Nembhard, Dejanea Oakley, Karsen Phillips, Stephanie Ratcliffe, Reign Redmond, Manuela Rotundo, Ella Rush, Michelle Smith, Haley Tate, Skylynn Townsend, and Izzy Yonas will represent the Bulldogs at the SEC Championships.

For the men, Moustafa Alsherif, Brody Buffington, Shemar Chambers, London Costen, Jordan Fick, Will Floyd, Jehlani Gordon, Ian Hodge, Jayden Keys, Alex Kolesnikoff, Eddie Kurjak, Micah Larry, Joseph Minecci, Ryan Olree, Ervin Pearson, Riyon Rankin, Xai Ricks, Alon Rogow, Conner Rutherford, Maximus Tucker, Nikolai van Huyssteen, and Zavien Wolfe are set to compete in Lexington.

SEC Debuts: Of Georgia's 44 student-athletes competing at the SEC Outdoor Championships, 12 women and six men have previous experience competing at the outdoor meet. Butler, Davidson, Gayle, Harris, Jackson, Kulichenko, McMeniman, Murrell-Ross, Phillips, Ratcliffe, Rush, and Tate all bring SEC experience outdoors on women's side while Gordon, Kolesnikoff, Larry, Rogow, van Huyssteen, and Wolfe have competed at the meet in the past for the men. The remaining 26 Georgia competitors will be competing at the SEC Outdoor Championships for the first time.

National and Conference Outdoor Honors: Georgia carries a plethora of Southeastern Conference and national honors into the SEC Outdoor Championships. The Bulldogs came away from their first meet weekend of the season with three SEC weekly honors. Lianna Davidson was named SEC Women's Field Athlete of the week following her javelin performance at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, where she recorded a school-record mark of 62.59 meters/205 feet, 4 inches to win the event with the No. 2 mark in NCAA history. Additionally, Davidson was named U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Athlete of the Week for her performance in Atlanta.

Michelle Smith earned SEC Women's Freshman of the Week honors with her winning time of 55.98 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Black and Gold Invitational, making her the No. 3 performer in program history. Fellow freshman Ervin Pearson was named SEC Men's Co-Runner of the Week after clocking a nation-leading time of 45.42 to win the 400m at the Black and Gold Invitational. He moved into sixth in Georgia history outdoors with his performance.

The Bulldogs took home another three SEC honors after the Florida Relays on April 4-5. Rotundo was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week and SEC Women's Field Athlete of the Week after becoming the No. 2 all-time collegiate javelin thrower with her school-record mark of 64.17m/210-6. Combined with Davidson's National Athlete of the Week award two weeks prior, it was just the second time in NCAA Division I award history that a program had different student-athletes earn the award in consecutive weeks.

Fellow javelin thrower Moustafa Alsherif earned SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors with his runner-up performance in Gainesville, Fla. He recorded a fifth-attempt mark of 79.72m/261-6 to record the top collegiate finish at Florida in his Bulldog debut. Alsherif ranks third in program history in the event.

Smith earned her second SEC Women's Freshman of the Week award with her school-record and nation-leading time of 54.56 in the 400-meter hurdles. Georgia's 29-year-old school record fell with her performance as the Frederiksted, St. Croix, native won the event by over a second.

Alsherif earned his second SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Week award following his victory in the javelin at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on April 18. The senior recorded a top mark of 80.52m/264-2 to become the No. 25 all-time collegiate performer while taking the NCAA lead in the event. The performance improved Alsherif's mark as the No. 3 performer in school history.

Three Bulldogs left the Tiger Track Classic with SEC awards for their performances on April 26. Riyon Rankin was named SEC Men's Field Athlete after jumping to the NCAA lead with his victory in the high jump (2.27m/7-5.25). Ervin Pearson earned SEC Men's Freshman of the Week following his runner-up performance in the 400m, posting a personal best time of 45.32 to move to 10^th nationally and fifth in Georgia history. Stephanie Ratcliffe recorded the best throw of her Georgia career (69.69m/228-7) to win the hammer throw with the No. 3 mark on the NCAA list this season and take home SEC Women's Field Athlete of the Week.

Smith earned her third SEC Women's Freshman of the Week honor following the LSU Invitational on May 3. At the meet, she nearly surpassed her own school record time in the 400m hurdles, clocking a 54.62 to post the top collegiate finish while placing second overall in Baton Rouge.

On the academic side, Ratcliffe was named SEC Outdoor Track & Field Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the conference office on May 14. Her award marked the fourth time in program history that a Bulldog woman earned the accolade.

A Glimpse At The 2024 SEC Championships: The Bulldogs brought home three conference titles at the 2024 SEC Outdoor Championships, which were held in Gainesville, Fla. The Georgia women finished fifth at the meet with 72 points while the men tallied 50 points to take eighth place. SEC Men's Runner of the Year Christopher Morales Williams clocked a world-leading time of 44.05 to set school, Canadian, and meet records in Gainesville while graduate student Marc Minichello earned his second-straight SEC javelin title with a mark of 77.92m/255-8. On the women's side, Elena Kulichenko cleared a school and Cypriot record mark of 1.95m/6-4.75 to earn a gold medal in the high jump. Other medalists in 2024 included Kaila Jackson (2^nd – 100m), Micah Larry (2^nd – long jump), Dominique Mustin (2^nd – 400mH), Mikeisha Welcome (2^nd – triple jump), Stephanie Ratcliffe (2^nd – hammer throw), Nikolai van Huyssteen (2^nd – pole vault), and Ella Rush (3^rd– heptathlon).

Where This Season Will Take The Dogs: Following the SEC Championships, Georgia will continue postseason competition at the NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 28-31 before wrapping up the outdoor season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 11-14.

Where To Find Bulldogs News: Results and recaps from the Bulldogs' indoor season will be found at georgiadogs.com. News and updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams are always located on X/Instagram at @UGATrack.