University of Tennessee Athletics
Pappas Leads Lady Vol Track Team At Gator Invitational
February 07, 2000 | Women's Track
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Senior Andrea Pappas' victory in the shot put and school record in the weight throw highlighted the Tennessee women's track and field team's showing at the Gator Invitational in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Sunday. The meet was a non-scored competition hosted by the University of Florida.
Pappas, from San Jose, Calif., won the shot put with a best heave of 49-5, tying her indoor personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark set two weeks ago at the SEC Quad in Lexington, Ky. Earlier in the day, she unleashed a PR and UT-record effort of 51-5 to place fifth in the weight throw. She broke her own standard, set on Feb. 12, 1999, in Blacksburg, Va.
The SEC Track and Field Athlete of the Week two weeks ago, Heather Sumpter continued her impressive senior campaign, taking fourth in the 55-meter dash and seventh in the 200 meters. She clocked a personal-best and provisional 6.94 reading in the finals after checking in at 6.98 in the prelims. She circled the oval in 24.54 in the 200m.
Also drawing praise from the coaching staff were thrower Diane Slinden, who improved her personal record drastically in the weight throw from 47-7 to 50-4.75 to snag seventh place; Lesly Love, who notched a provisional of 54.67 to take third in her first 400m race of the season; and Angie Pothier, who whittled her PR in the 3000m from 10:01.65 to 9:49.16 to place fourth in that race.
Pothier also anchored the second-place distance medley relay unit to a time of 11:56.49. Joining her were Christy Baird, Love and Kameisha Bennett. Other strong efforts came from fellow distance runners Mindy Watkins and Amy Bartosik, who went three-four in the 5000 meters in 18:10.77 and 18:13.84, respectively. Bartosik's time was a personal best.
"The competition in this meet was as good as expected," UT head coach Myrtle Ferguson said. "Several people did quite well, and for others it was a learning experience. Andrea Pappas was outstanding in the shot and weight throw, and Diane Slinden had a nice PR in the weight as well.
"Heather Sumpter and Lesly Love had strong provisional efforts in the 55m dash and 400 meters, respectively, and Angie Pothier ran a great race in the 3000m. It was good to see Lesly do so well in her first open 400m of the year. This lets us know where we stand, and hopefully we'll use it as a springboard to improve for next weekend's big meet in Blacksburg (Va. Tech Invitational, Feb. 11-12)."
Competing at the Gator Invitational were ranked SEC opponents LSU (#1), Auburn (#7) and Florida (#17) as well as Arizona State, Baylor, Clemson, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Jacksonville, Miami and South Florida.
LADY VOLUNTEER RESULTSGator Invitational - Gainesville, Fla.Feb. 6, 2000 EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS) TIME5000m (Auto:16:20.00; Prov: 16:56.00) 9:30 a.m.3rd Mindy Watkins 18:10.774th Amy Bartosik 18:13.84!
DMR (Auto:16:20.00; Prov: 16:56.00) 10:30 a.m.2nd Christy Baird/Lesly Love 11:56.49 Kameisha Bennett/Angie Pothier
Wt. Throw (Auto: 19.50, Prov: 17.70) 10:30 a.m.5th Andrea Pappas 51-5/15.67m!sr7th Diane Slinden 50-4.75/15.36m!19th Janine Tessarzik 37-7.75/11.47
Long Jump (Auto: 6.34, Prov: 6.10) 11:00 a.m.11th Erica Tittsworth 18-6.50/5.65m
High Jump (Auto: 1.86, Prov: 1.77) 12:15 p.m.7th Frenke Bolt 5-4.25/1.63
Pole Vault (Auto: 4.00, Prov: 3.65) 12:30 p.m.11th K.C. Allen 9-11.25/3.03m13th Mandy Bergey 9-11.25/3.03mNH Beth GehringNH Christie Elwin
55mH (Auto: 7.64, Prov: 7.90) 1:00 p.m.13th Frenke Bolt 8.07!* Ran 8.08p! in prelims (12th fastest)
55m Dash (Auto: 6.80, Prov: 6.94) 1:20 p.m.4th Heather Sumpter 6.94!+DNP Marquita Knight 7.48pDNP Erica Tittsworth 7.54p* Sumpter ran 6.98p! in prelims (4th fastest)
Shot Put (Auto: 16.10, Prov: 14.90) 2:00 p.m.1st Andrea Pappas 49-5/15.06m+!7th Diane Slinden 43-11.75/13.40m21st Janine Tessarzik 34-7.75/10.56m
EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS) TIMETriple Jump (Auto: 13.15, Prov: 12.55) 2:30 p.m.19th Marquita Knight 35-10.50/10.93m
Mile (Auto: 4:44.00, Prov: 4:50.00) 2:50 p.m.9th Christy Baird 5:04.92!25th Meghan Mantlo 5:17.14
400m (Auto: 53.50, Prov: 55.00) 3:35 p.m.3rd Lesly Love 54.67+25th Erin Rinear 58.8131st Samantha Coulson 60:42!
800m (Auto: 2:07.50, Prov: 2:10.00) 4:25 p.m.17th Kameisha Bennett 2:18.9624th Frenke Bolt 2:21.86
200m (Auto: 23.70, Prov: 24.25) 5:05 p.m.7th Heather Sumpter 24.54
3000m (Auto: 9:24.00, Prov: 9:42.00) 5:55 p.m.4th Angie Pothier 9:49.16!
4x400mR (Auto: 3:37.00, Prov: 3:43.00) 6:45 p.m.9th Erin Rinear/Lesly Love 3:51.90 Heather Sumpter/Kameisha Bennett
KEY
b - Banked Track Qualifying Standard DNP - Did Not Place f - Facility RecordNH - No Height Clearedp - Prelimssr - School Record (Indoors)* - NCAA Automatic Qualifier+ - NCAA Provisional Qualifier ! - Personal Record (Indoors)^ - Oversized Track Qualifying Standard
