NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt track and field will travel across the country to Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to compete in the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships July 6–9.
Eight Vanderbilt student-athletes, Audrey Allman, Dylan Ballard, Veronica Fraley, Mya Georgiadis, Allyria McBride,Giavonna Meeks, Taiya Shelby and Santana Spearman, will be competing.
Fraley, the SEC and East Region discus champion, will compete in the event in the senior division. She is ranked third in the United States and 16th in the world with a personal-best mark of 63.51 meters. During the 2023 season, she was undefeated in the discus through seven meets, throwing a collegiate season best 62.84 meters to win the event at the SEC Outdoor Championships. In 2022, she finished fourth in the discus with a 59.90-meter toss at the USATF Championships and placed 10th overall in group B as a member of Team USA at the World Athletics Championships.
Shelby will compete in the 400 meters in the senior division. At the 2022 USATF Championships, she earned 16th place in the 400-meter semifinals. She finished 15th in the 400 meters at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships. Her time of 51.43 seconds from the SEC Outdoor Championships ranks 26th in the United States leading into the competition.
Vanderbilt men’s cross country team member Ballard is set to compete in the 1,500 meters in the U20 division, entering the meet ranked 15th. He placed second in the event at the Joe Walker Invitational with a personal-best time of 3:53.23.
Allman finished third in the 1,500 meters (4:27.11) at the Joe Walker Invitational and will run in the U20 division of the same event in Eugene. She is seeded fourth among U20 competitors. At the 2022 SEC Cross Country Championships, she finished third among Vanderbilt athletes and 40th overall in the 6k with a time of 20:56.3 and qualified for the NCAA DI South Region Cross Country Championships.
Spearman is set to compete in the 100-meter hurdles in the U20 division. At the Music City Challenge, she turned in a personal-best time of 13.63 seconds, the No. 4 time at Vanderbilt, to earn second place. She is the eighth-ranked U20 competitor in the United States in the event.
Two Dores, Georgiadis and McBride, will run in the U20 division of the 400-meter hurdles. McBride is ranked second among U20 competitors in the United Stated and fourth in the world with a career-best time of 56.72 seconds. She finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles (57.71 seconds) at the SEC Outdoor Championships and 15th in the event semifinals (57.19 seconds) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Georgiadis is the third-ranked U20 400-meter hurdler in the United States. She placed 16th in the event (58.64 seconds) at the SEC Outdoor Championships and was third (58.99 seconds) in the collegiate division at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Meeks is the current U20 United States leader and ranks 17th in the world in the hammer throw with a 60.77-meter mark. She reset the program record in the event three times over the course of the 2023 outdoor season. She earned her first collegiate victory event at the Indiana Invitational, where she threw 60.77 meters—a personal best. At the NCAA East Regional, Meeks placed third among freshman competitors and 27th overall in the hammer throw (57.90 meters).
The Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships will kick off on Thursday at 6:56 pm CT when Shelby competes in the 400 meters. The television broadcast schedule and livestream information can be found HERE.
