This week’s Sunday summary is coming to you a little bit early because, frankly, the 2011-’12 academic year is finished, and the only Georgia sport still in season is track and field, which will wrap up the campaign at the NCAA Championships next weekend. Nevertheless, there are details to report in Bulldog Nation, above and beyond those of which I made mention yesterday morning, and these are they:
In the first round of the NCAA Championships in Pacific Palisades, the 20th-seeded Georgia men’s golf team finished five shots in back of the five teams tied for eighth place. Though the Bulldogs had moved into the top ten by the halfway point of the second round, a 12-over back nine left the Red and Black 19th in the 30-team field. Thursday’s third round was the Athenians’ best yet, but Georgia still finished in 17th place, six strokes shy of the top eight standing that would have permitted the Classic City Canines to advance to match play.
The result, while disappointing, is not surprising. Junior T.J. Mitchell was the only returning golfer from last year’s national runner-up squad, but every player from this year’s team is scheduled to return, as sophomores Brian Carter, Joey Garber, and Keith Mitchell, and freshman Nicholas Reach, all are on track to be back in 2013, when the NCAA Championships will be held in Atlanta.
New head gymnastics coach Danna Durante has hired a pair of assistants, as Jay Hogue and Philip Ogletree will be joining Coach Durante in the Classic City. Coach Hogue comes to the Gym Dogs after a two-year stint at No. 23 Denver, where he earned 2012 North Central Region Co-Assistant Coach of the Year honors for his work on bars and vault. Coach Ogletree has spent the last dozen seasons at No. 9 LSU, where he served as recruiting coordinator. Before that, the Atlanta native was a member of the Bulldog men’s gymnastics team from 1980 to 1982, and he coached at gymnastics academies in Lawrenceville and Tucker.
Go ‘Dawgs!