ATHENS — The Georgia Bulldogs got off to a decent-but-imperfect start at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Wednesday night.
The nation’s No. 1-ranked men’s team coming in, the Bulldogs pulled in their first points from senior Ahmed Magour, who finished eighth in the javelin at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. A native of Doha, Qatar, Magour hit 73.14 meters (239 feet, 11 inches) on his opening attempt to take eighth place. That gave Georgia its first point and earned Magour an All-American certificate. It was the Bulldogs’ first NCAA scoring throw in the javelin since 2009.
Meanwhile, UGA had three qualifiers come out of the semifinal rounds in junior Matthew Boling (100-meter dash and 200 meters) and senior Elija Godwin (400 meters). In the multi-events, decathlon collegiate record-holder Kyle Garland is in second place through five events with 4,441 points. Garland set personal records in the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter run, but he trails the leader, Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas, by 49 points.
Senior Johannes Erm, who captured his first SEC decathlon title last month and was the 2019 NCAA champion, attempted to compete after sustaining a leg injury last week but pulled out of the competition following the first event.
Garland is scheduled to start Day 2 on Thursday in the 110-meter hurdles (2:30 p.m. ET), followed by the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run. Senior Titiana Marsh is the first to compete for the Lady Bulldogs in the long jump at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Boling clocked a 10.18 to finish third in his 100-meter heat to finish eighth overall and qualify for Friday’s final (9:52 p.m.). Boling finished sixth in the 100 final in 2021 (10.19).
Boling qualified for the 200-meter final after taking second in his heat with a time of 20.24, which was fifth overall Wednesday. Boling, who finished fifth last year, now will race in the final Friday (10:37 p.m.).
Godwin qualified for the 400-meter final by winning the third heat with a fifth-overall time of 45.47. He races in the 400 final at 10:02 p.m. Friday.
The Bulldogs 4x400-meter relay team, featuring Boling and Godwin, failed to qualify for the finals, finishing 13th overall. Despite Godwin’s blistering final leg of 44.87 seconds, their time of 3:03.73 ranked 13th and missed the finals by four spots.
Thursday’s action will be carried on ESPNU at 8:30 p.m. Friday’s men’s finals will air on ESPN2 at 9 p.m., and the women’s finals will be broadcast on ESPN.
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