ATHENS, Georgia — Watch video highlights as Matthew Boling of Georgia made his season debut in the 100 meters with a winning performance after clocking 10.32 seconds at the Spec Towns Invitational, hosted at the Spec Towns Track in Athens, GA, on Saturday, April 10.
Boling was collecting his second victory at the meeting after leaping a personal best of 8.02m to win the men’s long jump on Friday night. Competing on a wet track and against a slight -0.9 m/s headwind, the sophomore recovered from a weak start to accelerate away from the rest of the competitors to win the event comfortably.
Watch Matthew Boling Wins 2021 Spec Towns Invitational 100m
Amir Willis of Akron finished second in 10.43 with Boling Georgia teammate Curtis Borden taking third place in 10.85.
Amya Clarke of Akron posted 11.83 seconds to win the women’s 100m on the day, holding off Eastern Michigan trio of Alyson Davis (11.89), Kolby Ganther (12.08) and Brittni Mason (12.15).
The women’s 800m saw Amber Tanner of Georgia posting a personal best of 2:03.39 to move up the rankings to No. 2 in program history and No. 3 on the NCAA performance outdoor list thus far this season. Anna Marian Block made it a 1-2 finish for the Bulldogs after she crossed in 2:09.80.
Former Georgia star Kendell Williams clocked 13.33 seconds (-1.9 m/s) to finish on top of the women’s 100m hurdles chart after taking the first heat of the event.
Imani Carothers of Georgia was right behind her in 13.38 secs with Arkansas State’s Rainee Bowers further back in third with 14.22.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Karel Tilga and Anna Hall took the top honor in the multi-events, following the competitions’ completion after a weather delay.
Hall, the runner-up in the women’s Pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships last month, won the Heptathlon competition at the 2021 Spec Towns Invitational this weekend.
The 20-year-old tallied 6,200 points to secure first place, a points total which is ranked second on the Bulldogs’ all-time Heptathlon list behind former NCAA champion Kendell Williams’ 6,564, achieved during the USATF Championships in 2017.
Asya Reynolds of Georgia was second with 4,721 points, while VCU’s Courtney Higgins ended third with 4,573 pts.
Meanwhile, the men’s Decathlon was won by Tilga who tallied a nation-leading 8,484 points to defeat Garrett Scantling (Team Petros Elite TC) with 8,476 pts and Zach Ziemek (8,213 pts).
