HEAVILY FAVORED in the team battle, the Georgia women came into the day’s final event with the meet well in hand. Unlike in the men’s team battle the day before, the 4×4 would not affect any drama at the top of the podium.
The Bulldogs could have cruised in the 4×4 with a modicum of effort, or even scratched the race, to save some legs if they really wanted to. But about 80 minutes earlier, UGA had basically clinched the meet in the open 400, as favorite Aaliyah Butler zoomed to a collegiate-leading 49.26 and, in one of the day’s more stunning breakthroughs, teammate Dejanea Oakley crushed her PR with a 49.65 runner-up finish.
So why not cap a dominating championship performance with a victory and put icing on the proverbial cake? That’s exactly what the Dawgs did — though looking at the splits, you might think UGA led wire-to-wire, but that wasn’t quite the case.
Oakley got off to a solid start early in her leg, then really moved well around the final curve to get herself in the lead and position to hand off first. She clocked a solid, if not quite spectacular, 51.12 (compared to her open race) to lead by more than a second over USC and Duke.
UGA No. 2 Michelle Smith, the 54.56-second frosh 400H standout, looked like she was going to blow it wide open at the beginning, but then Arkansas closed tight on the backstretch and Duke, USC and Iowa moved up. A strong group of five rushed into the homestretch. Smith (51.88) did not yield, though — motivated by a little disappointment in her 3rd in the hurdles. She handed off first — with the Hogs following after a 50.89 by Kayla Davis.
On the third leg, Sydney Harris kept the Dawgs in front with Texas A&M joining the Razorbacks, Blue Devils and Trojans as the primary pursuers. Although Georgia was shown with the faster 1200 split, Arkansas’ Sanu Jallow-Lockhart (51.53) handed off first on the outside to anchor Rosey Effiong.
Effiong, the only remaining member of that CR 4×4 squad from ’24, was intensely motivated after finishing 3rd in the open 400 behind UGA’s 1–2. She led Butler through 100, then 200 and 300. But the Georgia junior is just not losing in her specialty this spring and, not having to do the pace work, was primed for a final kick. She started her surge with about 120 to go and motored past her rival in the final 80.
Effiong’s 49.17 brought the Razorbacks in at 3:24.25, but Butler’s 48.79 took the Dawgs through with a collegiate-leading 3:23.62 — their first-ever NCAA win in this event,. The time strengthened Georgia’s hold as the No. 8 school all-time.
In the interview zone, coach Caryl Smith Gilbert had revealed earlier that she empowered the quartet to make the decision on what their relay order was. “It just shows how much she trusts us,” said Butler, as she stood with her mates. “And also we knew, like, the order to do it in. And just having her come to us… she literally gave us a minute, [as in] ‘You have a minute to decide what order to run in.”
At that, Butler and her teammates broke up laughing. When you can go and let it all hang out in the final event with no pressure, you can enjoy some humor viz a perfect ending to a near-perfect meet for the squad from Athens, Georgia.
WOMEN’S 4 x 400 RESULTS
FINAL (June 14)
1. Georgia 3:23.62 (#8 school)
(Dejanea Oakley’ 51.12, Michelle Smith’ 51.87, Sydney Harris 51.84, Aaliyah Butler 48.79);
2. Arkansas 3:24.25
(Sanaria Butler 52.68, Kayla Davis 50.88, Sanu Jallow-Lockhart’ 51.53, Rosey Effiong 49.16);
3. USC 3:26.01
(Yemi John’ 52.33, Jassani Carter 51.57, Takiya Cenci 51.59, Madison Whyte 50.52);
4. Texas A&M 3:27.11
(Latasha Smith 53.23, Camryn Dickson 51.58, Jasmine Montgomery 51.45, Jaydan Wood 50.85);
5. Duke 3:27.40
(Braelyn Baker 52.38, Lauren Tolbert 50.99, Aliya Garozzo 51.90, Megan McGinnis 52.13);
6. Iowa 3:27.42
(Alivia Williams 52.78, Damaris Mutunga’ 51.29, Olicia Lucas 52.61, Chioma Nwachukwu’ 50.74);
7. UCLA 3:31.14
(Kayla McBride 53.91, Taylor Snaer 52.20, Aly Conyers 53.44, Naomi Johnson 51.59);
8. Miami 3:47.22
(Serena Tate 65.31, Gabriella Grissom 53.08, Alyssa Robinson 53.77, Sanaa Hebron 55.06);
… dnc—South Carolina.
SEMIS (June 12)
I–1. Arkansas 3:26.08 (Effiong 49.45); 2. Duke 3:28.98; 3. Tennessee 3:32.03; 4. Iowa State 3:32.58; 5. Harvard 3:33.75; 6. Michigan 3:33.75; 7. Montana State 34 3:36.70; 8. Arizona 3:37.66.
II–1. South Carolina 3:27.95 (Ford 50.69); 2. Texas A&M 3:29.00; 3. UCLA 3:29.63; 4. Auburn 3:30.34; 5. LSU 3:30.45; 6. Clemson 3:31.83; 7. New Mexico 3:32.38; 8. Baylor 3:41.87.
III–1. Georgia 3:26.89 (Butler 49.95[2]); 2. USC 3:27.31 (Whyte 50.17); 3. Iowa 3:27.61; 4. Miami 3:28.61; 5. Florida State 3:30.14; 6. Kentucky 3:31.95; 7. Texas Tech 3:35.47; 8. TCU 3:37.59.
