University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Finish Ninth At SEC Track And Field Championships
July 26, 2001 | Women's Track
May 13, 2001
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Freshman Denita Miller won the javelin contest to pace the University of Tennessee women's track and field team on the final day of the 2001 Southeastern Conference Championships at the Weems Baskin Track on the campus of the University of South Carolina on Sunday. Overall, Tennessee finished in ninth place with 31 points while Arkansas won the team title with 182 points.
Miller recorded her first SEC title and Tennessee's first in the javelin since 1982 with the victory. Her best mark was the first throw of the finals with a distance of 153-7 feet (46.82 meters), which was ten feet longer than the second-place competitor. The Liberal, Kan., native had a pair of throws over 150 feet, but did not improve on her NCAA provisional qualifying distance, which was ranked tenth in the nation entering the weekend. Miller lead from the second round of the competition through until the end and had the title locked up before attempting her final throw, which was delayed for ten minutes as the second-place competitor from Alabama was injured on her last throw and had to be helped from the throwing runway.
Defending SEC champion sophomore Christie Elwin (Adelaide, Australia) and sophomore Mandy Bergey (Hillsboro, Ore.) both competed in the pole vault competition, which saw a SEC record set. Elwin was the best UT finisher but was not able to defend her title or hold onto her SEC record. She finished fourth with a clearance at 12-5.5 (3.80m), which was three inches below her career best of 12-8.25 (3.87m), which was the previous conference record until Jennifer Culp of Arkansas and Megan Westfall of Florida cleared 12-10.75 (3.93m) to set the new mark. Westfall won the overall competition based on number of misses as neither cleared the next height. Bergey also competed in the event and cleared a mark of 11-11.75 to tie her personal best and finish tenth.
On the track, the evening's highlight was the running of the 5,000m race featuring three Lady Vols, including indoor All-American sophomore Sharon Dickie (Grand Blanc, Mich.) along with sophomore Christy Baird (Knoxville, Tenn.) and freshman Jessica Southers (Ashland, Ky.). Dickie finished seventh with a time of 17:08.82 in her first race at that distance this season. Southers, competing at her first SEC outdoor meet, finished 13th with a time of 17:41.77 followed by Baird, also in her first 5K of the season, in 17th with a time of 18:06.84.
The other events during the evening session included the 800m finals with sophomore Kameisha Bennett (Dayton, Ohio) taking sixth with a time of 2:08.54 to slightly better her personal best of 2:08.58 set in the event preliminaries. The other event was the 4x400m relay team featuring the team of junior Samantha Coulson, Bennett, freshman Christina Clark and sophomore Amber Ayub. The unit ran a time of 3:54.21 and finished eleventh.
Junior Diane Slinden opened the day's competition with the conclusion of the discus competition, which had been halted Saturday evening due to lightening and rain. At Saturday's delay, Slinden was in the midst of her flight with one throw left prior to the finals. The Menomonie, Wis. native started the day with a throw of 48.36m in the final throw of the preliminaries, which turned out to be her best of the meet. Slinden ended up finishing fifth overall and scoring four points for the UT team cause. Two other Lady Vols competed in the discus and finished their portion of the even on Saturday. Miller and classmate Sonya Bell (Charlotte, N.C.) finished 19th and 21st with throws of 122-5 (37.32m) and 109-1 (33.26m), respectively.
Slinden also competed in the shot put on Sunday evening after completing the discus, her specialty, in the early afternoon. Again, Slinden scored for the Lady Vols are she took fifth overall with a best throw of 46-10 (14.27m). That mark was a new personal best for the junior and is represents the fourth time that she has scored in an event at the SEC meet.
In the overall team standings, Arkansas won the title followed by Florida, South Carolina, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
LADY VOLUNTEER COMPETITORS
SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Columbia, S.C. - May 10-13, 2001
SCHED./RESULTS FOR MAY 10 AT SEC MEET
EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS)
Heptathlon (Auto: 5,550, Prov: 5,175)
(Day 1: 100mH/HJ/SP/200m)
11th Christina Clark Day 1: 2,604 pts.
100mH (15.59/w: -0.3/10th/765pts.)
HJ (4-7.50/1.41m/11th/523 pts.)
SP (30-2.25!/9.20m/10th/477 pts.)
200m (25.53!/w:1.5/7th/839 pts.)
SCHED./RESULTS FOR MAY 11 AT SEC MEET
EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS)
Hammer (Auto: 61.00, Prov: 56.00)
22nd Diane Slinden 419-07/45.60m
Heptathlon (Auto: 5,550, Prov: 5,175)
(Day 2: LJ/JT/800m)
10th Christina Clark Day 2: 1,764/Total: 4,368
LJ (17-11.50!/5.47m/w:-0.6/4th/691 pts.)
JT (89-10/27.38m/11th/427 pts.)
800m (2:33.77!/8th/646 pts.)
800m Pre (Auto: 2:05.00, Prov: 2:07.50)
8th Kameisha Bennett 2:08.58!p
400mH Pre (Auto: 57.50, Prov: 59.20)
18th Amber Ayub 1:11.81p
10,000m (Auto: 34:10.00, Prov: 35:15.00)
6th Erika van Reenen 37:02.37
SCHED./RESULTS FOR MAY 12 AT SEC MEET
EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS)
High Jump (Auto: 1.85, Prov: 1.79)
11th Kelly Flowers 5-3/1.60m
1500m Pre (Auto: 4:19.00, Prov: 4:24.00)
18th Christy Baird 4:53.10p
400m Pre (Auto: 52.40, Prov: 53.70)
16th Samantha Coulson 57.74
SCHED./RESULTS FOR MAY 13 AT SEC MEET
EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS)
Discus (Auto: 54.50, Prov: 50.50)
Completed from Saturday afternoon
5th Diane Slinden 158-8/48.36m
19th Denita Miller 122-5/37.32m
21st Sonya Bell 109-1/33.26m
Javelin (Auto: 52.50, Prov: 46.50)
1st Denita Miller 153-7/46.82m
Pole Vault (Auto: 4.10, Prov: 3.80)
4th Christie Elwin 12-5.5/3.80m !
10th Mandy Bergey 11-11.75/3.65m
Shot Put (Auto: 16.00, Prov: 14.90)
5th Diane Slinden 46-10/14.27m !
800m Fin. (Auto: 2:05.00, Prov: 2:07.50)
6th Kameisha Bennett 2:08.54 !
5000m (Auto: 16:13.00, Prov: 16:48.00)
7th Sharon Dickie 17:08.82
13th Jessica Southers 17:41.77
17th Christy Baird 18:06.84
4x400mR (Auto: 3:33.50, Prov: 3:39.00)
11th Coulson/Bennett/Clark/Ayub 3:54.21
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS 1. Arkansas (182 pts.), 2. Florida (112), 3. South Carolina (109), 4. LSU (103), 5. Auburn (67), 6. Alabama (60.5), 7. Georgia (55), 8. Ole Miss (39), 9. Tennessee (31), 10. Kentucky (29), 11. Vanderbilt (15), 12. Mississippi State (12.50)
KEY
dnc - Did Not Compete
dnf - Did Not Finish
f - Facility Record
h - Hand Times
nh - No Height Cleared
nm - No Mark Recorded
p - Prelims
* - NCAA Automatic Qualifier
+ - NCAA Provisional Qualifier
! - Personal Record (Outdoors)
sr - School Record (Outdoors)
w - wind-aided time
