Right On Track

Aug 21, 2026

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By

Eric Rangus

Winning national titles becomes second nature for Georgia’s women’s track and field team.

The Georgia women’s track and field team won its second consecutive outdoor national title in June, scoring 50 points to outpace SEC rivals Florida (43 points) and Arkansas (38 points).

Two Georgia sprinters—senior Dejanea Oakley and redshirt freshman Adaejah Hodge—won individual national titles and set collegiate records in the 400-meter and the 200-meter, respectively. Oakley, from Jamaica, also ran a leg on Georgia’s second-place 4×400-meter relay team.

In addition to her national title in the 200-meter, Hodge, a 2024 Olympian representing the British Virgin Islands, set a collegiate record in the 100-meter preliminaries on her way to a second-place finish in the final. Her prelim time of 10.63 seconds trimmed an impressive 0.12 seconds off the previous record held by two-time Olympic medalist Sha’Carri Richardson, who set the mark in 2019 while running for LSU.

Redshirt freshman Adaejah Hodge, seen here in the 200-meter prelim, won her first national championship in the event with a collegiate record time of 21.63. She also finished second in the 100 meter. (Photo by Tony Walsh/UGA Athletics)

Senior Dejanea Oakley also won an individual national title and set a collegiate record in her event—the 400 meter. Both Hodge and Oakley scored points on relays, as well, helping power the Bulldogs to their second consecutive outdoor national championship. (Photo by Tony Walsh/UGA Athletics)

Hodge also ran a leg on Georgia’s third-place 4×100-meter relay team, giving her a hand in 24 of the Bulldogs’ 50 points for the meet.

“I’ve been watching this meet since I was 7, so just knowing I could get the collegiate record in the 100 and the 200 is something special to me,” Hodge says.

Georgia has now won three consecutive national championships in women’s track and field: the 2025 outdoor, 2026 indoor, and 2026 outdoor. The team joins women’s swimming and diving (1999-2001), equestrian (2008-2010), gymnastics (2005-2009), and women’s tennis (2025-2026) as UGA squads to capture at least three straight national championships.

Georgia’s director of track and field, Caryl Smith Gilbert, is the second female coach to win two consecutive outdoor titles, and she is the first female head coach to win four NCAA outdoor women’s championships. Her first two were at the University of Southern California.