University of Georgia Athletics
New UGA Track Complex Is ‘Mind-Blowing’
February 18, 2026 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
As three Georgia track and field head coaches, two former and one current, walked together down the homestretch of the new Spec Towns Track on Wednesday afternoon, it served as a reminder that this spectacular University of Georgia Track & Field Complex is about the present and future of the program, but also the past.
Caryl Smith Gilbert, Georgia's Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field since 2021, proudly pointed out features of the facility to former coaches Wayne Norton (2000-2015) and Lewis Gainey (1975-89). All three coached the Bulldogs at the old Spec Towns Track on Lumpkin Street, and Smith Gilbert is the first of many who will lead the program for decades to come.
"I loved the old track, but this one, I never thought that I would be a part of something so outstanding, so excellent. It's mind-blowing," Smith Gilbert said earlier this week. "It means a lot to me to be a part of this program, and I am truly honored and humbled by all of this."
Smith Gilbert's predecessor, Petros Kyprianou, who coached the Bulldogs from 2015-21, elevated the men's and women's programs to new heights, with the women (Indoor) and men (Outdoor) both winning their first NCAA team titles in 2018. Smith Gilbert led the Georgia women to their first NCAA Outdoor championship last May, and both the men and women are among the top teams in the country this indoor season.
"Petros did a great job, and I don't want to let his legacy down, or Coach Norton, or Coach Gainey. There are a lot of people that I think are very important, and I want them to see that all their hard work wasn't in vain," Smith Gilbert said.
During Wednesday's dedication ceremony at the new facility on Milledge Avenue, across from Georgia's soccer and softball complexes, Smith Gilbert opened her remarks by saying, "Welcome to a place that automatically puts a smile on my face." And she has plenty of reasons to smile now that the $59.8 million project is complete.
Georgia's new state-of-the-art facility seats more than 4,000, has a nine-lane 400-meter track, four long/triple jump pits, four pole vault pits, a shot put arena with amphitheater seating, a five-lane 100-meter indoor warmup area under the grandstand, a six-lane 110-meter outdoor warmup area, and much more. And there is room for building an indoor facility in the future. As UGA President Jere W. Morehead said during his remarks Wednesday, "Our world-class athletes deserve nothing less than world-class facilities."
For Don Babbitt, an associate head coach and the program's throws coach since 1996, the shot put arena is something special. He said the design team of Perkins+Will came up with the idea for the amphitheater-style seating, which will give the competition area a different feel from most any shot put venue that Babbitt has seen in his long career.
"They were like, There's an opportunity because of the natural terrain to make it like an amphitheater setting. I'm like, Oh, that's really cool because that's not really how these things usually are," Babbitt said. "I think it's kind of cool when you come down the walkway, and you walk down into the stands to watch the shot put."
While Georgia's track and field teams have been practicing on it for a couple of months already, Spec Towns Track's first event is next month, when the high school Classic City Track and Field Invitational is held. The Bulldogs will race on it for the first time during the Spec Towns Invitational in April. The track will also host the Georgia high school state meet later this year and the SEC Outdoor Championships in 2027.
"It just makes me feel noticed," graduate sprinter Kaila Jackson said of the new facility, "because we put in the hard work, and now it's paying off. We're getting new things to help us improve and do better than we did before."
When Jackson, a nine-time All-American who also spoke at the dedication ceremony, first saw the new facility in its completed form, "I think I was screaming. I was screaming and jumping, because it just looks so nice."
It is no secret that Josh Brooks, Georgia's J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, loves track and field. He threw the javelin in high school, and one of his sons, Jackson, is a high school track athlete who competes at a national level. A new track for Georgia's program, which also creates more space for football where the old track was, has been on Brooks' wishlist since he was promoted to athletic director in 2021.
"As a track dad that's been from Sacramento to Eugene to Kansas to Jacksonville to Charlotte, I can promise you, there's not a better facility in the country," Brooks said.
One of the things everyone involved with the project had to decide was how to align the track on the property based on the prevailing winds. Throwers don't want to throw against the wind, and sprinters certainly don't want to be running against it during the 100 and 200 meters, or down the homestretch of something like the mile or 10,000 meters. Smith Gilbert said there was a year-long wind study to make sure they got it just right.
Smith Gilbert described herself as "a design person," and this project has been one of the highlights of her career. And while it will serve her program well as long as she's at Georgia, it will continue to be a great home for the Bulldogs for generations to come.
"I've had a big, huge hand in this," she said, "and I've never been associated with anything so big and fabulous in all my life."
Staff Writer
As three Georgia track and field head coaches, two former and one current, walked together down the homestretch of the new Spec Towns Track on Wednesday afternoon, it served as a reminder that this spectacular University of Georgia Track & Field Complex is about the present and future of the program, but also the past.
Caryl Smith Gilbert, Georgia's Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field since 2021, proudly pointed out features of the facility to former coaches Wayne Norton (2000-2015) and Lewis Gainey (1975-89). All three coached the Bulldogs at the old Spec Towns Track on Lumpkin Street, and Smith Gilbert is the first of many who will lead the program for decades to come.
"I loved the old track, but this one, I never thought that I would be a part of something so outstanding, so excellent. It's mind-blowing," Smith Gilbert said earlier this week. "It means a lot to me to be a part of this program, and I am truly honored and humbled by all of this."
Smith Gilbert's predecessor, Petros Kyprianou, who coached the Bulldogs from 2015-21, elevated the men's and women's programs to new heights, with the women (Indoor) and men (Outdoor) both winning their first NCAA team titles in 2018. Smith Gilbert led the Georgia women to their first NCAA Outdoor championship last May, and both the men and women are among the top teams in the country this indoor season.
"Petros did a great job, and I don't want to let his legacy down, or Coach Norton, or Coach Gainey. There are a lot of people that I think are very important, and I want them to see that all their hard work wasn't in vain," Smith Gilbert said.
During Wednesday's dedication ceremony at the new facility on Milledge Avenue, across from Georgia's soccer and softball complexes, Smith Gilbert opened her remarks by saying, "Welcome to a place that automatically puts a smile on my face." And she has plenty of reasons to smile now that the $59.8 million project is complete.
Georgia's new state-of-the-art facility seats more than 4,000, has a nine-lane 400-meter track, four long/triple jump pits, four pole vault pits, a shot put arena with amphitheater seating, a five-lane 100-meter indoor warmup area under the grandstand, a six-lane 110-meter outdoor warmup area, and much more. And there is room for building an indoor facility in the future. As UGA President Jere W. Morehead said during his remarks Wednesday, "Our world-class athletes deserve nothing less than world-class facilities."
For Don Babbitt, an associate head coach and the program's throws coach since 1996, the shot put arena is something special. He said the design team of Perkins+Will came up with the idea for the amphitheater-style seating, which will give the competition area a different feel from most any shot put venue that Babbitt has seen in his long career.
"They were like, There's an opportunity because of the natural terrain to make it like an amphitheater setting. I'm like, Oh, that's really cool because that's not really how these things usually are," Babbitt said. "I think it's kind of cool when you come down the walkway, and you walk down into the stands to watch the shot put."
While Georgia's track and field teams have been practicing on it for a couple of months already, Spec Towns Track's first event is next month, when the high school Classic City Track and Field Invitational is held. The Bulldogs will race on it for the first time during the Spec Towns Invitational in April. The track will also host the Georgia high school state meet later this year and the SEC Outdoor Championships in 2027.
"It just makes me feel noticed," graduate sprinter Kaila Jackson said of the new facility, "because we put in the hard work, and now it's paying off. We're getting new things to help us improve and do better than we did before."
When Jackson, a nine-time All-American who also spoke at the dedication ceremony, first saw the new facility in its completed form, "I think I was screaming. I was screaming and jumping, because it just looks so nice."
It is no secret that Josh Brooks, Georgia's J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, loves track and field. He threw the javelin in high school, and one of his sons, Jackson, is a high school track athlete who competes at a national level. A new track for Georgia's program, which also creates more space for football where the old track was, has been on Brooks' wishlist since he was promoted to athletic director in 2021.
"As a track dad that's been from Sacramento to Eugene to Kansas to Jacksonville to Charlotte, I can promise you, there's not a better facility in the country," Brooks said.
One of the things everyone involved with the project had to decide was how to align the track on the property based on the prevailing winds. Throwers don't want to throw against the wind, and sprinters certainly don't want to be running against it during the 100 and 200 meters, or down the homestretch of something like the mile or 10,000 meters. Smith Gilbert said there was a year-long wind study to make sure they got it just right.
Smith Gilbert described herself as "a design person," and this project has been one of the highlights of her career. And while it will serve her program well as long as she's at Georgia, it will continue to be a great home for the Bulldogs for generations to come.
"I've had a big, huge hand in this," she said, "and I've never been associated with anything so big and fabulous in all my life."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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