Georgia track and field traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, to compete in the NCAA East Prelims from May 26-29. Sixteen Georgia athletes competed well enough to advance to the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon.

The men’s 4-x-100 meter relay team broke the school record in the event on its way to qualification. Sophomore Arian Smith, junior Elija Godwin, senior Delano Dunkley and sophomore Matthew Boling finished in 38.57 seconds, breaking the record set by the same group at the SEC championships.

Boling and Smith also qualified for the NCAAs in the 100-meter dash, as Boling posted a time of 10.09 seconds and Smith wasn’t far behind with a 10.10. Godwin also automatically qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 45.41.

Sophomore Caleb Cavanaugh secured his place at Nationals with a career-best time in the 400-meter hurdles. He finished in 50.88 seconds, good for 11th place.

The first qualification of the weekend was junior Alencar Pereira, who qualified for the NCAA championships in the hammer throw on Wednesday. He improved his distance on each attempt and his qualifying throw of 222 feet, 7 inches was good enough for fourth place in the event.

On Thursday, the highlight for Georgia was a pair of long jump competitors who qualified for the NCAAs. Sophomore Jasmine Moore finished second in the event and junior Titiana Marsh finished fourth. Moore and Marsh also qualified for the NCAAs through the triple jump during the competition Saturday.

Senior Marie-Therese Obst also advanced to the NCAAs on Thursday with a javelin throw of 179 feet, good enough for second in the event.

In the pole vault, senior Kayla Smith finished in a tie for first with a clearance of 14 feet and also qualified for the NCAA championships.

Senior Amber Tanner qualified for her second outdoor Nationals appearance with the second-fastest 800-meter time of her career. She finished seventh in the event with a time of 2:01.66.

Senior Jessica Drop had the ninth-best time in the 5000-meter, earning her third career trip to the NCAA championships.

Sophomores Anna Hall and Shelby Tyler both qualified in the high jump. Tyler cleared four bars and Hall cleared two to advance to Nationals.

The NCAA championships will take place June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon. All Georgia athletes who qualified will make the trip and compete.

Printed with permission from the Red & Black independent student media organization based in Athens, Ga.; redandblack.com/sports