2008 Woodie Awards
Equestrian takes third national championship in seven years
SPORTS NOTEBOOK
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Sports
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The Bulldog riders claimed their first national crown since 2004 without finishing first in either riding discipline, Hunt Seat or Western.
Georgia's Western squad narrowly missed a victory when it dropped a tie-breaker to Texas Christian on Saturday. The two teams had ridden to a 4-4 draw before the Horned Frogs outpointed Georgia 1027-1026.
Georgia dropped a close decision to Texas A&M on Friday night in the Hunt Seat competition, settling for third place. Auburn defeated the Aggies in the Hunt Seat championship round on Saturday.
Still, Georgia's strong finish in both disciplines allowed the Bulldogs to claim a team title with surprising ease.
"It's an incredible feeling to come out on top in such a tough, tough competition," said head coach Meghan Boenig.
"The whole weekend was a roller-coaster emotionally. That we lost such close competitions in both Hunt Seat and Western almost took away a little of the luster from the team championship. But we are just ecstatic to be bringing the title back to Georgia."
In the first year of individual championships, Georgia sophomore Sarah Locker claimed the title in Western Reining.
Locker, Laura Upton, Lauren Love and Nichole Grant each posted winning rides in Georgia's quest for the Western team championship on Saturday.
Track registers season-high marks
Georgia track and field registered a season-high 17 NCAA regional-qualifying marks during the Bulldog Limited in Athens.Three of its regional qualifying marks came in the men's hammer. Leading the way was junior Nate Rolfe, whose throw for 207 feet was good for second place.
Junior John Freeman finished with a top mark of 195-10, while sophomore David Schiedt finished with a 195-6 and another regional mark.
The Bulldogs swept the men's and women's javelin as sophomore Chris Hill (232-8) and senior Sigrun Sveinsdottir (160-5) each took first in their respective events with regional qualifying marks.
On the track, junior Justin Gaymon earned two regional times with a 46.17 in the 400 and a time of 21.28 in the 200.
In the women's 400, freshman Odeika Bent recorded a season-best time of 55.47 to tally a win for the Lady Bulldogs.
In the men's high jump, sophomore Daniel Averso soared over 6-10.75 to earn a regional-qualifying mark.
Senior Natalie Picchetti won the 800 with a regional qualifying time of 2:07.94.
In the men's discus, sophomore Israel Machovec had a throw of 172-1 to win the event over Rolfe, who also had a regional mark (171-10).
- Georgia Sports Communications
Men's tennis falls in SEC semifinals
After winning 40 straight SEC matches, the Georgia men's tennis team has dropped two of its last three.No. 3 Georgia was upset in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament by No. 12 Florida 4-2 on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Eric Corace clinched the match for the Gators over Christian Vitulli 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3).
"Florida played a tremendous match today," head coach Manuel Diaz said. "It came down to tiebreakers in the last two matches and could have gone either way."
Georgia won the doubles point but dropped four singles matches, including two on courts 1 and 2.
The Bulldogs played the match without senior Luis Flores, who tweaked his left foot in Georgia's 4-2 win over Vanderbilt in the second round on Friday.
- Jason Butt
Softball continues season struggle
Struggles continue for the No. 21 Georgia Bulldogs softball team as they dropped two out three to Mississippi State this weekend.On Sunday Georgia (37-19, 10-12 SEC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings, in which the team had a season-high six stolen bases to build the lead.
Mississippi State (37-16, 11-11 SEC) came charging back, tallying six runs over the third and fourth innings. Mississippi State secured the victory 7-4.
Georgia split a double-header Saturday with Mississippi State, losing the first game 10-0, and winning the second 7-4.
- Fletcher Page
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