University of Tennessee Athletics
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January 31, 2001 | Men's Track
Matt
Rush
Junior, 110M Hurdles/HJ
6-2 175
New Paris, Ind.
2000-Outdoor-
Named to SEC Academic Honor Roll...Rush established himself as Tennessee's
premier 110M hurdler with a career day on May 18 at the Gatorade Twilight
Meet in Knoxville...At Gatorade, Rush ran a preliminary 13.68 (slightly wind
aided) to best his previous PR of 13.94w...To remove all doubt, Rush scooted
to a career-best finish of 13.58, easily wind legal, in the finals to earn
third and stake claim to an automatic qualifying time...The torrid 13.58 moved
Rush into a tie for third with Richmond Flowers on the school all-time best
list in the event behind Willie Gault and Dawane Wallace...Competed in the
U.S. Olympic Trials in the 110M hurdles, but was disqualified during the preliminary
heat...At the NCAAs, Rush appeared a lock to move on from the 110M hurdles
preliminaries before catching the last hurdle and clocking a 14.05 to place
18th and miss the semifinals...Previous season best of 13.94w came in the
110M hurdles preliminaries at the National Invitational Team Championships
(April 21) in Austin, Texas...Finished seventh in the finals of the 110M hurdles
in Austin by clocking a 13.97w...Was one spot short of qualifying for the
110M hurdles finals at the SEC Championships (May 13) with his 14.15...Finished
second in the 110M hurdles at the Knoxville Invitational (April 30) in 14.07...Missed
qualifying at the Penn Relays (April 28) by running a 14.33...Ran a 13.98
to place seventh at the Sea Ray Relays (April 14) in the 110M hurdles...Contributed
valuable points to the Vol effort at the SEC Quad (April 1) with his second-place,
14.17w finish...Earned fourth at the Florida Relays (March 24) in the 110M
hurdles with 14.11 finish...Grabbed second in the 110M hurdles at the Hurricane
Invitational (March 18) with his 14.24 finish...Ran anchor on Tennessee's
two-fastest shuttle hurdles relay efforts of the season, a 56.28 at the Florida
Relays to take second and a 56.32 at the Penn Relays to earn third.
Indoor- Posted his season-best 60M hurdles time of 7.96 at the Wisconsin
Elite Invitational-preliminaries (Jan. 29 to finish second in the finals with
an 8.06) and the Kroger Invitational (Feb. 12 to finish second)...Had one
of best meets to open season at the Virginia Tech Invitational (Jan. 15) by
finishing first in the high jump (6-9--a season-best), second in the 60M hurdles
(8.05) and third in the 60M dash (7.02)...Second by finishing the 60M hurdles
in 8.05 at the SEC Quad (Jan. 22)...Crossed the line in 8.10 to place eighth
(8.06-preliminaries) in the 60M hurdles at the SEC Indoors.
1999- Named to SEC Academic Honor Roll...Opened the indoor season by taking second in the high jump (6-8) and eighth in the 60M HH (8.26) at the Virginia Tech Invitational...Performed indoor double duty again at the Tennessee/Indiana/Ohio State three-way meet in finishing third in the 60M HH (8.15, a season-best) and fifth in the high jump (6-9, an indoor career-best mark)...Earned fifth in the 60M HH with a time of 8.41 at the Cannon IV Classic...Outdoors, Rush leaped 6-11 1/2 in the high jump to earn fourth at the Knoxville Invitational...Outdoors, at the Tennessee/Georgia/Kentucky three-way meet, Rush finished third in the 110 HH in 15.07 and tied for the Vols' best high jump height in finishing fourth with 6-06...Ran a 14.87 in the 110 HH at the Alabama Relays and set a career high jump mark of 6-11 3/4 in earning sixth place...Ran a wind-aided 14.58 in the 110 HH at the Sea Rays...Leaped 6-9 1/2 to win Gatorade Classic high jump and also finished the 110M HH in 14.56...Ran his career-best time (14.46) in the 110 HH at the Smoky Mountain Twilight Meet and high jumped 6-8 1/4 to earn fourth.
1998- Redshirted.
HIGH SCHOOL- During his senior campaign, participated on a team that tallied eight wins and no losses...Team won the conference championship his senior season...Elected MVP in 1996 and 1997...Given the Outstanding Field Events Award...Holds the high jump and 110M high hurdles school records...Sectional and Regional champion in the high jump and high hurdles...Conference champion in the high jump, 110M high hurdles and 300M low hurdles.
