Track & Field
- Title:
- Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
- Email:
- UGATFXC@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-542-8035
Caryl Smith Gilbert, who led the University of Southern California women to the 2018 and 2021 NCAA outdoor team championships and was the National Women’s Coach of the Year both of those seasons, was named Georgia’s Director of Track and Field on June 13, 2021. Smith Gilbert became the first female head coach of a men’s sports program in the history of Georgia Athletics.
The Bulldogs remained one of the country’s dominant programs during Smith Gilbert’s third year in 2024 as UGA tallied three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships and a bronze medal showing by the Lady Bulldogs at indoor Nationals. Known worldwide as one of track and field’s premier speed coaches, Smith Gilbert guided her 2024 teams to 29 improvements to the school’s all-time top 10 lists, 15 scoring spots at the Southeastern Conference Championships, had nine First Team All-Americans, set six school records and had a pair of SEC and NCAA individual crowns on the track.
The program as a whole made 61 top 10 improvements, had 39 SEC scorers and 20 First Team All-Americans, broke nine school records, had five SEC and four NCAA individual titles in 2024. That tally of accomplishments started during the indoor campaign as the Lady Bulldogs finished third (33 points) at the NCAA Championships and the Georgia men took 15th (14). Outdoors, the men and women went ninth and 10th,respectively, to finish with a cumulative 50 points at Nationals.
Sophomore Kaila Jackson, who is already an eight-time scoring All-American, jumpstarted the year with her consistently strong showings in the 60-meter dash. Jackson matched her school record with a 7.07 (No. 5 all-time collegiate performer) in the prelims at the NCAA Championships before taking silver (7.08) in the final. The third-place finisher at SECs had nine races at 7.20 or better. Jackson was nearly as impressive in the 200m after posting a season best of 22.55 and taking fourth at the NCAA Championships thanks to a 22.63. In addition, Aliyah Butler ran her only 200m of the season and clocked the school’s fourth-fastest finish in history (22.80) at the Tiger Paw Invite. Butler also took over the No. 14 spot on the all-time collegiate performer list after winning the 300m at the Clemson Invite.
For the men, Jehlani Gordon rocketed to third in the UGA record books with his 6.60 in the 60m during his first year in 2024. Fellow freshman sprinter Brody Buffington reached the 6.63 mark and was fifth in the always competitive SEC final. In the 300m, sophomore sensation Christopher Morales Williams became the No. 6 all-time collegiate performer with his 300m time of 32.47.
Outdoors, Jackson remained with the elite after setting a school record in the 100m (10.95) to collect silver at the conference meet and taking fifth at Nationals (11.00). She completed the season third on Georgia’s all-time top 10 list in the 200m with a 22.28. Jackson was fifth at both the SEC and NCAA meets in the event during her second year.
The longer sprints also made monstrous strides in her third year. Morales Williams won two SEC crowns and established a collegiate record and a world all-time best in the 400m. Morales Williams ran an all-time world-best 400m time of 44.49 to win the 2024 SEC indoor title, creating fresh Canadian, collegiate, school and meet records in his wake. Two weeks later, he had the No. 5 all-time collegiate performance (44.67) to collect the national championship in the event. Outdoors, the budding superstar mastered the difficult SEC/NCAA sweep. Morales Williams blistered a 44.05 to win the league’s outdoor title with a Canadian, meet and school record finish that was the world leader at the time and made him the No. 6 all-time collegiate performer. Morales Williams then went for the school’s first NCAA outdoor 400m title with a 44.47, marking his fifth sub-45 second 400m of the year. First-year Bulldog Hossam Hatib clocked the No. 3 time in the Georgia record books (45.12) and set a Moroccan national record with a 46.02 indoors.
On the women’s side, Butler set the outdoor 400m school record with a 49.79 to take fourth at the SEC Championships to become the No. 9 all-time collegiate performer. She clocked UGA’s third-fastest indoor time in school history (51.19) prior to taking fourth at the NCAA meet. In addition, three other 400m sprinters – Kimberly Harris (52.25), Haley Tate (53.03) and Sydney Harris (53.71) – earned a spot on the school’s all-time top 10 lists indoors. Outdoors, Kimberly Harris ran UGA’s fourth-best time in history (51.23) at SECs to make the final and qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Teaming with Karim Abdel Wahab to manage the relays, Georgia also had success with the baton in Smith Gilbert’s third year. The Harris sister, Butler and Tate combined for memorable performances both indoors and outdoors, starting with a school record of 3:28.01 (No. 9 all-time collegiate performance) at the Razorback Invitational and taking sixth at both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships. Outdoors, the foursome posted the No. 8 all-time collegiate performance and school record of 3:24.26 to take fourth at the NCAA Championships. The Lady Bulldog quartet that also took fourth at SECs had five times under 3:30 in 2024 outdoors.
In the 400m hurdles, Dominique Mustin capped her final year by earning SEC runner-up honors with the second-fastest time in school history (55.60, fastest time for UGA since 1996) and qualified for the NCAA Championships. Teammate and training partner Zoe Pollock went 56.39 (No. 3 in school history) to also punch her ticket to Nationals.
Jumps continued to thrive thanks in part to Smith Gilbert’s hiring of accomplished jumps technician Ryan Baily. Elena Kulichenko posted matching bronze medal performances and 1.91 meters/6 feet, 3 ¼ inches clearances at the 2024 SEC and NCAA Championships indoors before elevating her performances to an even greater level outdoors. Kulichenko soared over the bar at a Cypriot, school and meet record mark of 1.97m/6-5.50 to tie for the NCAA outdoor crown and move to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list. Kulichenko went on to take seventh at the Paris Olympics (1.95m/6-4.75).
On the men’s side, freshman Riyon Rankin earned a pair of First Team All-America certificates in the high jump. A breakout season also came from Nikolai van Huyssteen in the pole vault while triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome had a stellar finale to her career. Van Huyssteen shattered the school record with a mark of 5.42m/17-9.25 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to Nationals and was the SEC runner-up indoors and outdoors. Welcome was in the top eight at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, topping out with a bronze media finish indoors, and won the SEC indoor title in her final year.
In addition, hardware was won and school lists were altered in the throws. Marc Minichello’s second year training with Don Babbitt ended with an NCAA title outdoors in the javelin after the Penn graduate reached 80.70m/264-9. Collecting his second straight SEC championship to start the postseason, Minichello kicked off his final season with a national leading launch of 82.32m/270-1 to win the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational, which vaulted him to No. 2 in the school record books and No. 13 on the collegiate all-time list. Throws teammate Alex Kolesnikoff dropped a UGA personal best shot put of 19.78m/64-10.75 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to NCAAs. Boosted by consistency the entire outdoor season, the Australian native later earned First Team All-America honors (6th – 19.70m/64-7.75). For the Lady Bulldogs, Stephanie Ratcliffe earned a silver medal honors in the hammer at the SEC Championships with a UGA PB (67.68m/222-0).
Indoors, Kolesnikoff launched the nation’s longest put in ‘24 (20.45m/67-1.25) at the New Balance Showdown, which ranked No. 2 in UGA history. Kolesnikoff returned to Boston to end the season and earned First Team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the shot put.
Year two directing UGA’s teams reaped noticeable dividends as Smith Gilbert was named the men and women’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region Coach of the Year indoors and collected four top-10 national team finishes, including a runner-up showing for the Bulldog men at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Georgia men had their top finish in history at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships, earning second-place honors with a program record 40 points. The finish was highlighted by school records in both the 200-meter dash (Matthew Boling, 20.12, No. 5 all-time collegiate performer) and 400m (Elija Godwin, 44.75, No. 5 all-time collegiate performer) for NCAA titles as well as a collegiate record score of 6,639 points from the 2023 USTFCCCA Indoor National Field Athlete of the Year, Kyle Garland, in the heptathlon. Garland’s score was only six points from the world record.
Boling joined Morales Williams, Caleb Cavanaugh and Will Sumner in the 4x400m relay at Nationals to score eight more points with a second-place finish. With Godwin running in place of Sumner, the Bulldogs ran a season-best relay of 3:02.90 at the Tiger Paw Invitational for the second-fastest finish in school history and fourth best in the nation in 2023. Also, Boling, Cavanaugh, Sumner and Godwin combined for runner-up honors in the relay at the SEC Championships.
The women finished fifth at the 2023 indoor Nationals after tallying 31 points. Individual performances from true freshmen Kaila Jackson and Autumn Wilson shined during the Lady Bulldogs’ trip to Albuquerque. Jackson, who was the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year indoors and outdoors, clocked a World Junior (under-20) and school record 7.07 to become the No. 4 all-time collegiate performer in the prelims before taking second in the 60m final with a 7.08. In addition, Jackson was eighth in the 200m final.
Wilson shot to No. 7 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list with a school record 22.42 in the 200m prelims and earned a bronze in the final (22.45). She complemented Jackson’s finish in the 60m by taking fourth in the final with a personal record 7.12.
Other notable 2023 First Team All-America performances on the track came from Sumner, a true freshman who battled for a seventh-place finish in the 800m indoors. Sumner registered a 1:48.28 to win his first SEC title at the conference meet weeks earlier and set a school record with a 1:47.28 at the Music City Challenge.
Sumner was later voted the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year before also garnering the honor outdoors while Godwin was named the league’s Co-Runner of the Year honors. In addition, Boling collected his record-tying third SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
Sumner was not the only Bulldog who shined at the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships. Jackson earned second and fourth-place finishes in the 60m and 200m, respectively, while Wilson went fourth-fifth in the same short sprints. On the men’s side, Godwin captured the 400m title with a matching 44.75 (meet record) from Nationals and Boling was second in the 200m. In addition, Keshaun Black competed at his first league meet and finished seventh with a 6.73.
A number of Georgia sprinters and hurdlers made significant improvements as well during the regular season, including Bella Witt clocking an 8.20 in the 60m hurdles, Kenondra Davis managing a 23.12 in the 200m, Butler registering a 52.92 in the 400m and Butler teaming with Mustin, Haley Tate and Pollock, who were all first-year Bulldogs, to record the school’s second-fastest 4x400m relay time in school history (3:33.28).
For the year, Georgia collected three national titles and two conference crowns to go with six school records (men’s 200m, men’s 400m, men’s 800m, decathlon, women’s 60m, women’s 200m) and 36 improvements to the school’s all-time top-10 lists.
Outdoors, Smith Gilbert’s squads were equally impressive. The Bulldog men posted a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships with 28 points, marking their sixth consecutive top-10 finish at the meet. Sumner highlighted Nationals after clocking the fifth-best time in collegiate history (1:44.26) to collect Georgia’s first NCAA 800m title. The USTFCCCA Outdoor South Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year shaved more than two seconds off of his prep personal record in the 800m during his first season under Smith Gilbert and distance assistant Patrick Henner.
Sumner was one of nine Bulldog men who qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He ran a leg on the seventh place 4x400m relay team (3:03.22) at Nationals along with Morales Williams, Boling and Cavanaugh. Individually, Cavanaugh advanced to his first NCAA final in the 400m hurdles and scored thanks to a 49.20 for sixth place. This performance came after Cavanaugh dropped his career best to 49.04 in the hurdles at SECs. The Bulldogs’ final points at the meet came from Minichello, who finished fourth in the javelin.
The Lady Bulldogs also managed to take 10th at the NCAA Championships with the contributions from 12 team members, including a half dozen sprinters who Smith Gilbert directly coaches. Jackson sped to a wind-aided 10.96 for fourth in the 100m final and also ran a leg on the scoring 4x100m relay, a quartet that included Butler, Brandee Presley and Wilson. The Lady Bulldogs ran a school record 42.87 to take sixth place. Also on the track, Mustin bettered her No. 2 spot in the school record books to 56.68 during the 400m hurdle semifinal.
In the jumps, Kulichenko reached the six-foot mark for the sixth time of the season to take third (1.87m/6-1.50) in the high jump while Titiana March, who advanced to a jaw-dropping 10 straight NCAA Championships over her five-year career, concluded her run as a Lady Bulldog with a season-best mark of 13.67m/44-10.25 for fifth in the triple jump.
Garland gave the Bulldogs’ their third USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year honor after securing an SEC decathlon title and a silver medal in the combined evens at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He scored the No. 3 all-time collegiate decathlon tally (8,630, NCAAs) and the No. 4 tally (8,589, SECs) and posted collegiate all-time dec bests in both the 110m hurdles (13.54) and the shot put (16.77m/55-0.25) during his final outdoor campaign.
Georgia’s successful 2023 outdoor postseason run began with the SEC Championships, including Boling collecting his record-breaking fourth SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. The Bulldog sprinters, hurdlers and relays combined to score 68 points in the country’s toughest conference. While Sumner’s league crown in the 800m highlighted the weekend in Baton Rouge, Godwin managed a runner-up finish in the 400m and Jackson, who also won a bronze in the 200m, was second in her first outdoor final with a legal personal record of 11.04.
Smith Gilbert helped her team continue their onslaught of the school’s all-time top-10 lists, including school records in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays, the men’s 4x400m relay and the men’s 800m. There were a total of 44 revisions to the Bulldog record books, including 29 in the sprints, hurdles and relays. Two of those improvements came from a pair of freshmen in the 100m (Jackson’s 11.04, Wilson’s 11.17) and another in the 400m (Butler’s 51.32) as the trio passed one of the sport’s all-time greats in Gwen Torrence in the events (11.20, 51.60).
In her first season with the Bulldogs, Smith Gilbert guided the men to an eighth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships. She led Boling to UGA’s first SEC 60m title as well as the Bulldogs’ first conference crown in the 4x400m relay. Highlighted by school records in the men’s 4x400m relay, distance medley relay, long jump, mile and women’s shot put, Smith Gilbert’s squads registered 30 improvements to the school’s all-time top-10 lists.
Outdoors, Georgia had seven First Team All-Americans while collecting four SEC crowns, seven school records and 26 improvements to the UGA record books in 2022. Smith Gilbert directed the men to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships during a campaign that was driven by her sprints corps. Following the collegiate season, Smith Gilbert continued to work with Godwin as he registered gold and bronze medals in the men’s 4x400m relay and the mixed 4x400m relay, respectively, at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Smith Gilbert extended her work with the Bulldogs’ talented duo of Boling and Godwin as the pair hit a level of success new to the Georgia program. Boling established school records in the 100m (9.98, No. 5 nationally) and 200m (19.92, No. 3 nationally), collected SEC titles in both the 60m and outdoor 200m and finished as a national scorer in the 60m and 100m as well as becoming a top eight finisher in the 200m indoors and outdoors nationally. Smith Gilbert’s leadership of Godwin was just as apparent as he posted his best finish at the SEC Championships of runner-up before earning a bronze medal nationally in the 400m with a then school record 44.50. Boling and Godwin were also two legs on the indoor 4x400m relay team that captured the 2022 SEC title for the first time in school history.
Godwin continued his success in the collegiate postseason as he re-set his own school record in the 400m with a 44.34 for fourth at the USATF Championships. Godwin’s splits on his opening legs of the mixed relay and men’s relay at Worlds were an impressive 44.89, 44.71, 44.46 and 44.28.
In addition, Smith Gilbert trained Cavanaugh in his third year to become an NCAA semifinalist after clocking the school’s fourth best 400m hurdle time in history (49.59) and taking fourth at SECs. Cavanaugh’s training partner, freshman Bryce McCray, also scored at the conference meet with the sixth-best time in UGA history (50.21). Working with short sprinter Delano Dunkley, Smith Gilbert helped him drop his 100m to 10.22 (No. 9 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list) and 60m to 6.65 (No. 4).
On the women’s side, first-year sprinter Kenondra Davis finished with the fourth-best indoor 200m time in school history (23.33) and the eighth-best outdoor finish (23.23) in 2022. Meanwhile, fellow freshman Eddiyah Frye qualified for the World Under-20 Championships thanks to her runner-up finish in the 100m hurdles at the USATF Championships with a time of 13.26, which stands eighth in the school record books. Indoors, Frye sped to an 8.23 in the 60m hurdles to move to No. 5 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list under Smith Gilbert’s direction.
The 2021 USC women’s squad gave Smith Gilbert her second national title in the last three NCAA Outdoor Championships, while the Trojan men finished in the top-five at the 2021 outdoor Nationals for the fourth time in the last seven championships under her guidance.
Smith Gilbert spent eight seasons (2014-21) as the Director of Track and Field at USC, building the program into a national powerhouse. She guided the women’s team to a 2018 NCAA Outdoor National Championship, earning the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Women’s (USTFCCCA) National Coach of the Year honor and being named the USATF Nike Coach of the Year. That same season, the Trojans’ men’s squad finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In 2021, Smith Gilbert again garnered National Coach of the Year honors after her women’s team earned a spot at the top of the podium and her men’s team was fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Trojan track and field teams combined to finish in the top-10 an impressive 16 times in Smith Gilbert’s eight seasons at the helm. She mentored over 200 first-team All-Americans, while her teams set close to 130 school top-10 marks and 50 program records. Her athletes also won over 20 individual NCAA event titles.
Smith Gilbert garnered the USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year award on six occasions and is a five-time South Region Coach of the Year, two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and six-time Conference USA Coach of the Year. In 2015, she became the first woman to earn the Pac-12 Men’s Coach of the Year honor.
USC’s 2018 NCAA outdoor championships was just the second women’s title in program history. The women claimed the crown with a come-from-behind victory over Georgia in the 4X400m relay, the meet’s final event. That national championship was the culmination of another successful season under Smith Gilbert’s guidance. The women’s team also won the Pac-12 title, while the men’s squad finished third.
She led the USC men’s program to top-five national finishes in the outdoor championships in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021 while the women finished in the top-five of the outdoor event in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Prior to her time with the Trojans, Smith Gilbert was a six-time Conference USA Coach of the Year at the University of Central Florida. She guided the Knights’ women’s team to a program-best fifth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
The Knights won six C-USA track and field indoor and outdoor crowns, while her athletes earned All-America status more than 100 times and set over 100 school records.
Smith Gilbert spent five seasons (2003-07) as an assistant coach at Tennessee, where she was responsible for coaching sprints, hurdles and jumps. Her Lady Vol athletes won three NCAA titles and seven Southeastern Conference crowns. In 2005, Tennessee won its first NCAA indoor championship as her athletes combined for 24 All-America honors.
Smith Gilbert was an assistant coach at Alabama for three years (2000-02) and an assistant at Penn State from 1998-99.
Prior to her career in the collegiate ranks, the Denver, Colo. native was the head coach at her prep alma mater, George Washington High, from 1994-97. In addition to her experience at the high school and collegiate levels, Smith Gilbert was an assistant with Team USA and was invited to coach the 2005 Pan Am Junior Championships. She was also selected to serve as an assistant coach for the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
Smith Gilbert is a 1991 graduate of UCLA, where she was a three-time All-American and Pac-10 champion in the 100m, 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Film and Television Production from UCLA and earned Master’s degrees in Sport Management and Sport Psychology from the University of Tennessee.
Smith Gilbert is married to former University of Alabama standout and NFL linebacker Greg Gilbert. They have three sons: Alex, Spencer and Osiris.
