Georgia’s track and field teams combined to record 16 wins and numerous personal-best efforts at the Georgia Invitational during the final home meet of the year in Athens on Saturday.

Georgia will join the league’s other 11 teams at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 13-16.

“I thought our Spec Towns Track facility lived up to its reputation today,” said head coach Wayne Norton.  “We still produce marks on this track regardless of the competition.  We did a nice job of doing what we’re supposed to do.  Most of our performances today were the best all year or near the best.  The women’s relays really epitomized why we have this meet.  They trimmed time off of both of the relays and this gives them more confidence going into the conference meet.  This helps since we are always behind in our training compared to many of the teams that have indoor facilities.”

Sophomore Brian Moore returned to the winning column in the javelin after exploding for a personal-best performance.  Moore hit a mark of 233 feet to top British Olympian Roald Bradstock by three feet.  Moore now has the ninth-longest throw in the nation this year and tops in the SEC.

Fellow sophomore Allen Brandon also used his final home meet of the season to produce a career-best mark in the pole vault.  Brandon went over the bar at 17-5 to move into the third spot in the conference and fifth on Georgia’s all-time top-10 list.

Also from the sophomore ranks, Nikola Lomnicka equaled her performance at the Spec Towns Invite earlier this season with a hammer throw of 207-8 to win her fifth meet of 2010.  With fouls on her first, third and fifth attempts, the nation’s leader in the event reached her top distance on her second throw.

In the men’s hammer, senior John Freeman won his second consecutive meet with his second-best mark of the season.  Freeman, who joined nine other Bulldogs who graduated on Saturday, was the top collegiate finisher (second overall) after his second throw traveled 217-7.  Fellow senior Branislav Danis finished third (210).

Freeman joined Bejan Abtahi, John Egan, Brittany Holston, Bridget Lyons, Ilana McQuinn, Jamaal Parker, McKayla Plank, Michael Proctor and Dustin Tetley, who all competed in their respective events on Saturday, in the graduation ceremonies.

Former Bulldog two-time NCAA champion Andras Haklits won the meet with a top mark of 230-4.  Haklits is the only Bulldog to ever compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics after he was part of Croatia’s bobsled team at this year’s Winter Olympics.  He has competed in the hammer at the last three Summer Olympics, taking 10th in 2008.

Aaron LaGarde won a pair of events in a matter of a couple hours for the Bulldogs.  He registered a first attempt foul before answering with a career-best mark of 51-0.75 for first place.  This improves his No. 9 spot in the UGA record books and betters his fifth spot on the current SEC performance list.

Teammate Jamaal Parker had the second-best attempt of his season (50-8.75) to finish second in the event.

He had his second-best long jump of the year at 24-9.25 to win for the second time during the outdoor season.  After opening with a foul, LaGarde soared to his winning mark on his second attempt.

Senior Israel Machovec had a fourth throw measuring 178-7 to finish first in the discus during one of the day’s final events.  This was Machovec’s second-best throw of the 2010 season.

Junior Rachel Travis had a career-best mark of 160 feet in the women’s discus to take second.  She moved from sixth to fifth in Georgia’s record books and has the sixth-best mark in the SEC this year.

In the women’s triple jump, freshman Maria Augutis reached 42 feet for the second straight meet to win her second meet of the season.  Augutis had an effort of 42-0.50 on her second attempt to finish first.  Georgia’s Latroya Darrell took third with a mark of 41-5.25.

Sophomore Torrin Lawrence, who is the defending NCAA indoor 400 champion, had a season-best time of 47.47 to win the 400.  Lawrence is continuing to recover from a hip flexor injury that he suffered during the first portion of the outdoor season.

Graduate student Kat Majester tallied her second win of the season in the women’s pole vault with a personal-best effort.  Majester moved to the No. 5 spot in UGA’s all-time record books after going over the bar at 13-5.25.  Georgia’s Lindsay Farr cleared 11-9.75 to take third in the event.

Senior Bridget Lyons made a memorable day in her life that much more impressive with a win the 1500.  While Saturday also marked her graduation day as she completes her degree in Biology with a 3.88 GPA, Lyons also crossed the 1500 finish line in 4:30.25 to give her a second straight win in the event.

On the men’s side, freshman Baylor School product Bill Matthews registered his first collegiate track victory after winning the 1500 with a time of 3:52.87.

Junior Shaquita Young matched her career-best effort in the high jump after clearing 5-9.25 on her first attempt to have the top collegiate finish.  She also had the top collegiate jump at the 2009 Georgia Invitational.

Three other jumpers – Carin Walker, Saniel Atkinson and Latroya Darrell – all cleared 5-7.25 to take third-fourth-fifth, respectively.

Also of note, Levern Spencer, who was an All-American high jumper for Georgia and 2008 Olympian for St. Lucia, set a new facility record after clearing 6-6 to cruise to a victory with the second-best jump in the world this year.  This broke a 14-year-old record that was held by Tisha Waller at 6-5.50.

Grabbing the top collegiate finish in the men’s shot put was senior Israel Machovec.  Machovec built his series to a mark of 59-5.50 on his fourth attempt.  This was the second-best throw of his outdoor career to put him third overall in the meet standings.

Freshman teammate Petr Novotny finished with a mark of 52-10.75 to take fifth overall.

Training for her 1500 race next week at SECs, sophomore Kristie Krueger won the 800 after crossing the finish line in 2:13.21.

The Lady Bulldog foursome of Georgina Nembhard, Keisha Spates, Javan Gill and Odeika Bent combined to cross the finish line with the fastest 4×100 relay of the year.  Georgia won the event with at time of 45.78.

Spates dove across the finish line in the 4×400 relay to clinch the victory for the Lady Bulldogs.  Bent, Gill and Nembhard combined with Spates to clock another season-best time of 3:46.60.

Michael Proctor, Phillip Adams, Eric Harris and Lawrence were the only team to compete in the men’s 4×100 relay and finished with a time of 40.40.  The Bulldogs had already recorded three 40.30s this season.

Senior Ilana McQuinn, who will be competing in the steeplechase for the Lady Bulldogs at the SEC meet, won the women’s portion of the 3000 with a time of 10:20.95.  Freshman Allyson McGinty finished second (10:39.30).

Georgia’s next meet is the SEC Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 13-16.  The Bulldogs will host the SEC meet in 2011 at the Spec Towns Track.