Bulldogs Score 73 Points Behind Three Individual Wins, Including Two On Final Day From Aaliyah Butler and Elena Kulichenko

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Tim Healy photo

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS

EUGENE - The Georgia women had already clinched their first NCAA Outdoor Championships headed into the final event. But that wasn’t the reason Coach Caryl Smith Gilbert allowed the women running the 4x400 relay to choose their order.

“I think it’s important to show them they have some autonomy in what they do,” she said. “And we work together. I’m not over them. We work together. We collaborate.”

Smith Gilbert didn’t give the women a lot of time – about a minute, the athletes said afterward, laughing. But they appreciated the gesture. “It just showed how much she trusts us,” said anchor Aailyah Butler.

The Bulldogs excelled in that task just as they had throughout the entire meet at Hayward Field – they picked an order that brought them the relay title and Georgia’s first NCAA outdoor title. The Bulldogs also won an NCAA indoor title in 2018.

Georgia dominated with 73 points, well ahead of runner-up USC, which had 47. Texas A&M finished third with 43, and Washington was fourth with 31.

Smith Gilbert said she learned after arriving from USC in 2021 that competing in the SEC meant facing such stiff competition that she had to have a “full team.” The results showed that she is accomplishing that goal.

Butler and Dejanea Oakley went 1-2 in the 400, and along with Michelle Smith and Sydney Harris, they won that 4x400. Elena Kulichenko won the high jump. Smith, a freshman, finished third in the 400 hurdles, and another freshman, Skylynn Townsend, finished sixth in the triple jump with a personal best.

And that was just on day two. On Thursday, Stephanie Ratcliffe won the hammer throw, and Manuela Rotundo and Lianna Davidson combined for 13 team points in the javelin. Kelsie Murrell-Ross added three more in the shot put.

“That was our plan from the get-go – to get out there and get into the finals,” Oakley said. “Score as many points as we can. When I saw that the hammer thrower, Stephanie, she went out there and threw it out of the park. That got me amped up. I’m like, ‘OK, this can really happen.’ It just made everything go in this flow of positive energy the entire time.”

Smith Gilbert, who coached the USC women to two team titles, in 2018 and 2021, became the first collegiate female coach to win NCAA track and field titles at two schools.

“We worked really, really, really hard,” Smith Gilbert said. “And we have a team that’s starting to form into something that’s going to be a great program.”

Georgia took command of the team race after the 400 meters. Butler, who won a gold medal as part of the 4x400 relay at the Paris Olympics, hadn’t made the finals at NCAA outdoors a year ago, and she’d finished second at NCAA indoors.

“I really wanted to win,” she said. “I’ve been working hard. I just put my trust in my coaches, who said you could win big. I wanted to do it, and I did it.”

Butler finished in 49.26, a personal record, just ahead of Oakley, whose time of 49.65 was also a PR. They knew they had to almost immediately start preparing for the relay, but Oakley said Butler made sure they took a few minutes to celebrate.

“She made sure we hugged each other the moment after the race and embrace the moment,” Oakley said. “It doesn’t get much bigger than this. It’s one of the best moments for me in track.”

And then they made sure they won the relay, too. They decided to start with Oakley, who gave them the lead with a split of 51.11. Smith and Harris kept the lead, which each splitting 51.8. Butler anchored in 48.78.

Georgia’s time of 3:23.62 was a season best and comfortably ahead of Arkansas, which finished second in 3:24.25.

“Just standing on the line to get the baton,” Smith said, “I felt like I was a part of something great.”