Coming off of of their first meet of the season last week in Lexington, Ky., Georgia’s men’s and women’s track and field teams were looking to build on their opening weekend successes this weekend in Birmingham, Ala at the Auburn Invitational.

Sophomores Justin Welch and Caleb Whitener along with freshman Burke McCarthy got things started on Friday for the Bulldogs in the weight throw event.

The two sophomores both finished in the top four, with Welch placing in top spot for Georgia.

WAYNE NORTON

The Luckey, Ohio native launched a throw of 65 feet, 7.5 inches — edging out Samford’s Kyle Kirby by a foot — to secure the victory in his first event of the season. Whitener threw 58 ft, 8 inches on his second attempt to earn a fourth place finish.

“We had an outstanding start to our throwing season,” Bulldogs head coach Wayne Norton said. “Both Justin and Caleb improved over their 2011 season openers in this meet.  This is the first time we have competed in this facility and I think it is great.”

On Saturday, the Bulldogs were again victorious in two of their events and had 18 top 10 finishes in 16 events, which included two more victories from senior Aaron Evans and freshman of the week Morgan Lelux.

“Morgan wasn’t very happy but she is showing her consistency and that she is better than most collegiate vaulters she going against,” Norton said. “Her performance teamed with the two personal bests for the men — and with the fact that a couple other people in this crew haven’t come on yet — makes me think this group will start really clicking and be a force for our team.”

For Evans, it was his was first action of the season and the 1:52.29 half mile was just enough to etch out Florida State’s Darren Gibson by a fourth of a second.

Records were a theme for the Bulldogs, as freshmen Tynia Gaither, freshman Cameron Meyer and sophomore Caleb Ebbets all broke into Georgia top 10 record books.

Gaither had a 24.15 second 200-meter dash, the sixth-best time in the Bulldogs’ record books. Meyer and Ebbets each set personal bests in the men’s pole vault, clearing 16-6.75 and etching their names in the ninth spot in Georgia annals..

“We had some pretty good things happen and enjoyed competing in this facility for the first time,” Norton said.

For the second consecutive weekend, senior Torrin Lawrence finished in the top five.

In the men’s 400 meter dash, he took second, just .17 seconds behind Mississippi State’s Daundre Barnaby.

Lawrence also anchored the men’s 4×400 relay team to a second place finish with a team time of 3:11 .

Senior Cory Holman also had a duo of top five placings, as he finished in 8.05 seconds in the 60 meter hurdle and jumped 23 feet, 8.75 inches in the men’s long jum.

Other top performances for the Bulldogs on Saturday included:

Junior Saniel Atkinson jumped 40.01 ft to take 4^th place in the Women’s triple jump.  For the 2^nd team All-American, it was her first action of the campaign and an improvement over her 5-7 mark in her 2011 opener.

“This was a pretty good opener for Saniel and it makes me think she will be right where she needs to be later in the year,” Norton said.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend, as parts of the team will travel to Nebraska for the Mark Colligan Memorial and Fayetteville Arkansas for the Razorback invitational.