A DYNASTY IN THE MAKING? Last year, Coach Caryl Smith Gilbert’s Bulldogs exceeded expectations, outscoring the formchart by 6 points to end up with 73 and a winning margin of 26 over USC.
This time around, our prognosticator kept a close eye on the team from Athens — especially after it captured the Indoor title — figuring they might score about 65, some 25 better than South Carolina.
In the end, the battle was fought in much closer quarters, and the Bulldogs needed all the firepower they had to best a surprisingly strong Florida program, 50–43.
The drama for Georgia didn’t really get going until Day 2. The only points on Thursday came when Nina Ndubuisi finished 6th in the shot. That put the Bulldogs in a tie for 22nd as Saturday dawned.
The first score came in the 4×1, when the Bulldogs blitzed a 41.89 for 3rd. Then came the 100, where fans had been expecting 10 points from Adaejah Hodge after seeing her crush the Collegiate Record with her 10.63 in the heats. Alas, Hodge fell to Florida State’s Shenese Walker but still scored a helpful 8 points.
Favored Dejanea Oakley did not disappoint in the 400, blazing a CR 48.79 for the win. A tough 400H race meant that even with a 55.10, Michelle Smith only got 5 points.
Hodge recovered her composure and delivered 10 points in stunning fashion in the 200 with her 21.68 CR. Looking at the points tallies, Smith Gilbert still had to be a little stressed. The Bulldogs had 42 points prior to the final relay, and Florida’s Gators — a 3:23.95 squad — lurked just 2 points back.
Smith Gilbert’s message to her runners was clear: “Same as always. We always close off the meet with the 4×4, no matter what’s going on.”
Up front, Arkansas had a runaway victory in 3:18.88 but Georgia got 8 points for its school record 3:20.96, with Oakley splitting 48.79. Florida remained in 2nd after running 3:25.73 for 6th.
Florida, picked for only 5th on the formchart despite scoring an SEC triple crown this year, overachieved by more than 10 points. Said coach Mike Holloway, “I think the biggest thing is they battled all weekend. A lot of pride. A lot of passion. We talk about that a lot in this program and you saw that with the ladies. Everybody that put the uniform on battled like crazy this week and I’m so proud of every single one of them.”
Smith Gilbert now has won two consecutive titles. The only other woman to accomplish that had been Bev Kearney at Texas in 1998–99. Counting Smith Gilbert’s ’18 indoor and outdoor wins at USC, she is now the first women’s head coach to win four outdoor titles.
She says that sweeping the Indoor and Outdoor titles wasn’t really a goal, per se. “I guess I didn’t think about us sweeping as much as I was in the moment. There’s such great competition at this meet and I try to respect everybody.”
Prospects for the future, she indicated, are quite bright in Athens. “This team is young. I don’t have very many seniors. This team is a real fighter team. They fought like no tomorrow. If it wasn’t going right, they still picked it up. If it wasn’t perfect, they still got it done.”
Building a dynasty is all about the recruiting at first. Smith Gilbert explained that finding athletes who fit into the Bulldog model is the real key: “We try to recruit people that fit the culture. You know, freshmen are freshmen; you have some ups and downs with them, but at the end of the day, as long as they compete, and they work hard, they’ll be OK.”
WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES
(places scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1)
1. Georgia 50;
2. Florida 43;
3. Arkansas 38;
4. Oregon 36;
5. USC 32;
6. Iowa State 30;
7. Washington 28;
=8. Illinois 27;
=8. Nebraska 27;
10. LSU 24;
11. Tennessee 23; 12. tie, BYU & New Mexico 22; 14. Texas Tech 21; 15. tie, Alabama, Clemson & South Carolina 20; 18. Texas A&M 17; 19. Florida State 15; 20. tie, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas & Texas State 13; 24. tie, Stanford, UCLA & Duke 11; 27. tie, Rice & Washington State 10; 29. tie, Kansas State, Bucknell, Cincinnati, NC State, Notre Dame & Penn State 8; 35. tie, Charleston Southern, Howard & Princeton 7; 38. tie, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, South Dakota, TCU, Mississippi State & Ohio State 6;
45. tie, Missouri, Louisville, North Carolina, Mississippi, Penn & West Virginia 5; 51. tie, Colorado State, Iowa, Nevada, UC Riverside, Boston College & Michigan State 4; 57. tie, Creighton, North Dakota, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Virginia & Virginia Tech 3; 63. tie, Cal Poly SLO, Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State, Kennesaw State & Michigan 2; 68. tie, Cal, Northern Iowa, Auburn, Florida International, Southeastern Louisiana & Southern U 1.
