EUGENE, Ore. — Buoyed by top performances in the hammer throw, high jump and 400-meter run, the University of Georgia women’s track and field squad distanced itself from the opposition and cruised to its first outdoor national championship in team history.
Georgia lapped the field as the NCAA Division I meet wrapped up Saturday night, finishing 73 points ahead of the runner-up University of Southern California (47) of the Big Ten and third-place Texas A&M (43), a fellow Southeastern Conference program. Fourth-year Bulldogs head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert also won national titles at USC in 2018 and 2021.
Georgia won the indoor national title in 2018 and was second to Oregon at this year’s meet in March.
Olympic gold medalist Aaliyah Butler and Dejanea Oakley took the first two spots in the 400 for Georgia, with Butler posting a time of 49.26 seconds and fellow junior Oakley at 49.65. Butler’s time was the fifth-best ever for a collegian, and Oakley was eighth.
The Bulldogs expanded their lead when Elena Kulichenko was a high jump for the second straight year, although she did not have to share the title this time after tying in 2024. The senior from Odessa, Russia, won with a jump of 6 feet, 5 inches.