Seven members of Georgia’s track and field teams and their coaching staff departed Athens early Friday en route to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., from Friday to Saturday.

Sophomore Torrin Lawrence (400-meter dash), junior Tommy Barrineau (heptathlon) and seniors John Freeman and Branislav Danis (weight throw) advanced to the national meet for the men.  Sophomore Kristie Krueger (mile), sophomore Nikola Lomnicka (weight throw) and graduate student Kat Majester (pole vault) qualified for NCAAs on the women’s side.

Barrineau kicks off the action for the Bulldogs with the first event of the heptathlon (60m) at 11 a.m. Friday.  Lomnicka will have the prelims as well as the finals of the hammer at 1 p.m. Friday before Krueger and Lawrence compete in the prelims of their races later in the afternoon.

Majester along with Freeman and Danis are not scheduled to compete until Saturday afternoon.

“A majority of the people we have going to this meet have had consistently decent marks late in the season and I believe they are competing at an end-of-the-year level,” said head coach Wayne Norton, whose teams are both trying to score at an NCAA indoor meet for the first time since 2006.  “We probably have a couple people who surprised themselves advancing to NCAAs, but they didn’t surprise the coaches.  We also had a few who we really expected to be (at the meet). Torrin Lawrence is a good example of someone who doesn’t need to do anything spectacular or too different from what he has been doing.  He hasn’t changed his style all year and he has had (personal bests) on a consistent basis.  Those type people do the best at this meet.”

Four of Georgia’s seven student-athletes traveling to Fayetteville had their career-best marks at the Arkansas facility during the latter portion of the season.

Lawrence received his second spot in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces In The Crowd” after his first trip to Arkansas’ indoor facility this year. The Jacksonville, Fla., native, who was a 2009 indoor All-American in the 200, clocked a world-leading 45.03 in the 400 to win the Tyson Invitational.  Lawrence then returned to Fayetteville for the SEC Championships and won a conference title in the event.

Barrineau most recently soared past his previous high score in the heptathlon in Fayetteville. Barrineau won the SEC heptathlon title after tallying an NCAA automatic qualifying and school-record total of 5,700 points.  He set or equaled six personal-best efforts during the seven events of the heptathlon and rolled back in the final event (1000m) to pass Florida’s Gray Horn for the win.

Lomnicka also won the Tyson Invitational after registering a top mark of 67 feet, 6 3/4 inches in the weight.  She was the runner-up at the SEC Championships and has had five straight meets with an NCAA provisional qualifying throw.

Krueger recorded her career-best finish (4:41.64) in the mile to take second at the Tyson meet. This was the third-best time in school history.  Krueger was third at the SEC meet after finishing with a time of 4:43.82.

Georgia’s last three competitors saved their best outings for the Virginia Tech Final Qualifier last weekend.  Majester, who started the season with a mark of 12-1.50, won her event in Blacksburg after safely passing over the pole vault bar at 13-11.25 on her third and final attempt. This was an NCAA automatic qualifying mark for Majester.

Danis and Freeman also had the longest throws of their careers at Virginia Tech.  After Freeman launched a personal-best toss of 69-1.25 on his second throw to take the lead at the meet, Danis answered with a throw of 69-3.25 on his fourth attempt to win and claim his spot in the NCAA field.

The Bulldog men tied for 53rd at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships thanks to Lawrence’s two points in the 200.  Senior Justin Gaymon also was an All-American after finishing ninth in the 400.

The Lady Bulldogs have failed to score at the last two NCAA indoor meets and did not qualify anyone for the 2009 meet for the first time in more than 15 years.  The Georgia women were fourth in 2007 after piling up 28 points.