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Lawrence’s NCAA Automatic Qualifier Highlights Day Two For Georgia

Feb 7, 2010 by Georgia Sports Communications

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Georgia sophomore Torrin Lawrence picked up an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200-meter dash to highlight the second day of the Virginia Tech Elite meet in Blacksburg, Va., on Saturday.

In addition to Lawrence’s automatic qualifier and win in the 200, the Bulldogs also had three NCAA provisional qualifiers on Saturday. During the two-day meet, Georgia totaled three wins, one NCAA automatic qualifying mark and nine NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

“Considering the weather element we had to deal with getting up here, I thought this meet was just what we needed at this point in the season,” said head coach Wayne Norton. “Of course Torrin had a great meet and is getting better week by week, but I thought the performances by our guys and girls in the pole vault were very encouraging and Aaron LaGarde encouraged me by jumping well and still having a big upside. We still have several groups who are training heavy so I am looking forward to seeing what they do when they peak.”

A day after registering an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 400, Lawrence recorded the third-fastest 200 of his career and won the event on Saturday. Lawrence crossed the finish line in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 20.80, which is just three hundredths of a second off his school-record time of 20.77 set in 2009.

Lawrence returned in the 4×400 relay to have a 45.1 split as the Bulldog foursome, which also included Phillip Adams, Aaron Evans and Baron Brown, finished second with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:09.96. This was a season-best time for Georgia and the seventh-best time in school history.

In the men’s triple jump, Aaron LaGarde grabbed his first NCAA provisional qualifying mark with a career-best jump of 51 feet, 2 ¼ inches on his second attempt. LaGarde finished fourth in the contest and moved to No. 9 in Georgia’s record books.

Senior Israel Machovec answered the challenge in the shot put and finished with a personal-best heave of 60-6.75. His top throw, which came on his third attempt after he finished with four total fouls in his series, bettered his No. 10 spot on the Bulldogs’ top-10 list.

Sophomore Allen Brandon missed the NCAA provisional qualifying height by only ¾ of an inch after clearing a personal-best 17 feet in the pole vault. Brandon finished third and shot from eighth to fifth on UGA’s all-time top-10 list. In addition, sophomore John Smith set a new personal-best to take fifth with a mark of 16-6.

Also, junior Odeika Bent finished with a season-best time of 55.90 in the 400 to take fourth.

Georgia returns to action at the Tyson Invitational (Fayetteville, Ark.) and the Tiger Paw Invitational (Clemson, S.C.) on Feb. 12-13.

Full results and a recap from the Elite meet will be found at georgiadogs.com.

Georgia’s NCAA Provisional Qualifiers on Saturday
Name Event/Place Mark
Adams, Lawrence 4×400 relay/2nd 3:09.96
Evans, Brown
Aaron LaGarde Triple jump/4th 51-2.25
Israel Machovec Shot put/4th 60-6.75

Georgia’s NCAA Automatic Qualifiers on Saturday
Name Event/Place Mark
Torrin Lawrence 200m/1st 20.80