Bulldogs play second fiddle no longer, Orji concludes indoor career with individual and team titles

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

This time, Georgia coach Petros Kyprianou and his athletes could watch the women's 4x400-meter relay and not have to sweat the outcome.

For the Bulldogs, after years of near misses and runner-up finishes, the celebration had already begun before the final event at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.

Following four straight top-three indoor finishes, Georgia finally climbed to the top of the podium Saturday with 61 points, prevailing over 2015 national champion Arkansas, which accumulated 49. Kentucky produced its best finish in program history to take third with 34 points and Florida rounded out the top four with 32.

Oregon, which had won seven indoor titles in the past eight years, took fifth with 31 points, resulting in its lowest finish since 2009. The Ducks edged Georgia by 1.5 points, relying on winning the 4x400 title in dramatic fashion, to capture the Division 1 outdoor championship in June.

Georgia also finished second indoors to Oregon last season, with the Ducks setting the all-time women's indoor scoring record with 84 points. All of the Bulldogs' 51 points came from field and multi-event athletes, but this year was different.

Georgia did boast the long jump champion in Kate Hall, who led the first sweep of the top three spots in any women's field event in Division 1 history, in addition to Keturah Orji capturing her third indoor triple jump title. But the Bulldogs received 25 points on the track from freshmen Lynna Irby and Tara Davis, along with sophomore Jessica Drop.

Orji jumped a meet-record 46-10 (14.27m), eclipsing the 1997 mark of 46-9 (14.25m) by LSU's Suzette Lee, in addition to finishing second in the long jump at 21-4.75 (6.52m) behind Hall's program record 22-1 (6.73m). Davis took third with a leap of 21-4 (6.50m) to complete the sweep.

Irby finished third in the 200 in 22.55 and 400 in 50.87, with Hall taking sixth in the 60 in 7.24 after running a program-record 7.17 to advance to the final. Davis was sixth in the 60 hurdles in 8.14, but she set the World U20 record by clocking 7.98 in the prelims.

Drop delivered the biggest surprise for Georgia by taking fourth in the 5,000 in 15:53.16, with Louisa Grauvogel placing fifth in the pentathlon with 4,318 points.

Arkansas rebounded from a fifth-place result last season to place in the top two for the third time in four years.

Taliyah Brooks captured her first pentathlon title for the Razorbacks with 4,572 points, with Payton Chadwick edging USC's Anna Cockrell by a 7.922 to 7.926 margin to win the 60 hurdles title. Sisters Lexi Jacobus and Tori Hoggard took the top two spots in the pole vault with respective clearances of 15-3.50 (4.66m) and 15-1.50 (4.61m), with Desiree Freier placing fifth by clearing 14-5.50 (4.41m).

Nikki Hiltz was third in the mile in 4:32.59 and freshman Janeek Brown took eighth in the 60 hurdles in 8.51.

Neither Kentucky or Florida crowned an individual or relay champion, but Wildcats freshman Sydney McLaughlin lowered her own World U20 record in the 400 to 50.36, placing second to USC's Kendall Ellis (50.34). McLaughlin also finished fourth in the 200 in 22.80, with Olivia Gruver taking third in the pole vault, clearing 14-9.50 (4.51m).

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took third in the 60 hurdles in 7.96 and seventh in the 200 in 23.05, with Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile placing sixth in the triple jump at 44-4 (13.51m) for Kentucky, which secured third by finishing fifth in the 4x400 in 3:30.08.

Florida was third in the 4x400 in 3:29.41, including a 50.11 anchor split by Sharrika Barnett, who took fourth in the 400 in 51.07. Yanis David was second in the triple jump with a leap of 45-10 (13.97m) and fourth in the long jump at 21-0.75 (6.42m), with Darrielle McQueen taking sixth in the long jump at 21 feet (6.40m), and Lloydricia Cameron contributed a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 56-10.25 (17.33m).