KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Georgia junior Cory Holman surged into the decathlon lead during the opening day of the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday.

Under sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s, Holman capitalized on a season-best clearance of 6 feet, 11 ½ inches in the high jump to win the event and has scored 4,164 points through five events.  The Huber Heights, Ohio, native owns a 96-point lead over Florida’s Gray Horn (4,068), who is the defending champion and a native of Waynesfield, Ohio.

In the heptathlon, freshman Lucie Ondraschkova scored 3,181 points through four events and is in seventh place.  Alabama’s Chelsea Taylor is leading the way with 3,580 points.

“All of our hopes are on these two people in the combined events and I think they are doing a pretty good job,” said head coach Wayne Norton.  “Cory didn’t have the greatest finish in the 400 so it wasn’t an excellent day for him.  But it’s better to be in first place than any other place after the first day and I think he will do well on Friday.  As far as Lucie goes, we can’t ask for much more from her.  And she is getting closer and closer to his (personal best) in the long jump so hopefully she can take advantage of that event and the javelin during the second day.  She is going to score a lot of points in this heptathlon, but the problem is there are five other girls who are also having great meets so we will have to wait and see.”

The women’s hammer at 10 a.m. is the first event on Friday.  The final five events of the decathlon begin at 4 p.m. while the heptathlon is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

Holman, who is one point off of his personal-best score, got off to a quick start in the decathlon’s first event.  He clocked a personal-best 10.58 in the 100-meter dash to have the fastest time in the competition by nearly two-tenths of a second.

In the long jump, Holman had his second-best effort of the season (24-1) to finish third.  He had a foot foul on his final attempt after traveling more than 25 feet.

Holman made almost a four-foot improvement to his personal-best mark in the shot put to take fifth in the event.  He exploded on his third and final attempt for a mark of 40-10.25.

Holman wrapped up the day by finishing 10th overall in the 400 with a time of 51.13.

High jumping in her first outdoor meet this season, Ondraschkova cleared the bar at 5-5.25 on her third attempt to tie for fourth place in the heptathlon.  Her top mark during the indoor season was 5-2.50.

Ondraschkova tied for sixth in the shot put after opening with a personal-best throw of 36-11.50.  The shot marked another event Ondraschkova had not participated during the 2010 outdoor season after registering a season-best throw of 35-2 at the SEC Indoor Championships.

Ondraschkova jumpstarted her day by crossing the 100 hurdles finish line in a career-best 14.29.  Taking third in her heat, this was the eighth-best time in the heptathlon’s opening event.  She also took eighth in the day’s final event after recording a 200 time of 25.68.