University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOL ROOKIES LIVE UP TO BILLING AT KENTUCKY INVITATIONAL
January 13, 2002 | Women's Track
Jan. 13, 2002
LADY VOL ROOKIES LIVE UP TO BILLING AT KENTUCKY INVITATIONAL
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LEXINGTON, Ky.
University of Tennessee Women's Track and Field Head Coach Myrtle Ferguson and her staff thought they had signed a strong freshman class for 2002. Now they know for sure. Spearheaded by top ten UT performances from freshmen Toyin Olupona and Dee Dee Trotter, the Lady Vols wrapped up the two-day Kentucky Invitational in impressive fashion on Sunday afternoon.
Olupona, who hails from Orillia, Ontario, Canada, became the third fastest Lady Vol ever in the 60m dash when she claimed first-place honors with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 7.44 at the University of Kentucky's Nutter Field House. Only former UT All-Americans Kelli White (7.24) and Heather Sumpter (7.37) were faster. Olupona made the finals by virtue of a 7.50 clocking in the prelims, also the fastest time among qualifiers. Fellow rookie Karla Marshall made her presence known, as she took third in the finals at 7.63 after posting a 7.69 mark in the prelims, while senior Aoife Hearne was fourth in her heat in 7.86 but did not advance.
As for Trotter, the first-year sprinter from Decatur, Ga., notched a third-place, personal-best effort of 24.26 in the 200 meters, missing out on a provisional mark by .21 of a second and grabbing seventh on UT's all-time performer list in that event. Olupona grabbed fifth in a career-best 24.67, while Hearne was 15th in a career-best 25.92 and sophomore Kelly Flowers was 40th in 27.50.
Another newcomer, Nicole Cook of Petersburg, Va., barely missed etching her name on the Big Orange 800m performers honor roll, as she cranked out a career-best run of 2:11.36 to garner second-place accolades. To add some perspective to that clocking, 2001 UT All-American Kameisha Bennett did not hit the 2:11 mark until the Southeastern Conference indoor meet of her sophomore season. Cook's noteworthy debut was just two seconds shy of the provisional standard.
As for Bennett, she didn't take a backseat to anyone on Sunday, as the junior from Dayton, Ohio, rolled to a 57.48 reading in the 400m dash to take top honors. The time was the second best quarter mile clocking she has ever run. Veteran pole vaulter Christie Elwin matched last weekend's provisional in her event, clearing 12-5.50 and had three solid attempts at 13-1, which would have been a school record. It appears fairly certain that the old mark of 12-8 is destined to fall in 2002.
Elsewhere, Diane Slinden charted the second best throw of her career in the shot put, taking third at 46-4, and UT's distance contingent of Jessica Southers and Elizabeth McCalley finished third and fourth in the 3000 meters, respectively with times of 10:27.01 and 10:38.37.
In all there were 11 personal bests on the meet for the Lady Vols. And perhaps underscoring Tennessee's improvement from one year to the next was the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay. Choosing to not overwork her troops and keep the team healthy, Ferguson sent out a "B team" lineup of Antoinette Gorham, Christina Billings, Cook and distance runner Anderson. The quartet responded by finishing fourth in a time of 3:58.35, a mark that would have been the third-best by UT during the entire 2001 indoor campaign.
"I am very pleased with how we performed this weekend," said Ferguson. "We wanted to see how all the newcomers would respond to the competition, and they all rose to the occasion. We picked up another provisional (Olupona) and Christie (Elwin) tied her provisional from last week. It is our goal to do those sorts of things every week.
"Since we do not compete next weekend, we are going to fine tune our training and get ready to go down to Gainesville for the SEC Multi Meet on Jan. 26. In that atmosphere, it will give us an excellent chance to see where we really stack up against our conference foes."
-Lady Vol schedule of events to follow-
LADY VOLUNTEER COMPETITORS
Kentucky Invitational - Lexington, Ky.
Jan. 11-12, 2002
| EVENT (NCAA QUALIFYING MARKS) | ||
| FRIDAY, JAN. 11 | ||
| High Jump (Auto: 1.83, Prov: 1.77) 7 p.m. | ||
| 14th | Kelly Flowers | 5-1.25/1.56m |
| Wt. Throw (Auto: 19.50, Prov: 17.70) 7 p.m. | ||
| 7th | Diane Slinden | 51-4.50/15.66m |
| 9th | Janine Tessarzik | 48-2/14.68m! |
| 19th | Lindsey McFarland | 38-2.25/11.64m! |
| Triple Jump (Auto: 13.30, Prov: 12.80) 8 p.m. | ||
| 11th | Jamie Rebella | 36-1.50/11.01m! |
| DMR (Auto: 11:19.00: Prov: 11:36.00)^ 8:45 p.m. | ||
| 1st | Christy Baird/Antoinette Gorham | 12:15.34 |
| Monique Berarducci/Brooke Novak | ||
| SATURDAY, JAN. 12 | ||
| Pole Vault (Auto: 4.10, Prov: 3.80) 11 a.m. | ||
| 1st | Christie Elwin | 12-5.50/3.80m+ |
| 2nd | Mandy Bergey | 10-11.75/3.35m |
| 4th | Kendra Rhyne | 10-8/3.25m! |
| Shot Put (Auto: 16.10, Prov: 14.90) 11 a.m. | ||
| 3rd | Diane Slinden | 46-4/14.12m |
| 11th | Lindsey McFarland | 40-9/12.42m! |
| 13th | Janine Tessarzik | 38-11/11.86m |
| Long Jump (Auto: 6.40, Prov: 6.10) 11 a.m. | ||
| 8th | Dee Dee Trotter | 17-11.75/5.48m! |
| 19th | Jamie Rebella | 15-11.50/4.86m! |
| Scratch | Karla Marshall | |
| 60mH Pre(Auto: 8.17, Prov: 8.43) 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Scratch | Karla Marshall | |
| 60m Pre (Auto: 7.30, Prov: 7.44) 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Toyin Olupona | 7.50p (won ht. 1) |
| Adv. | Karla Marshall | 7.69p (won ht. 5) |
| Didn't Adv. | Aoife Hearne | 7.86p (4th ht. 2) |
| Mile (Auto: 4:42.60, Prov: 4:48.40)^ 1:30 p.m. | ||
| 12th | Erin Anderson | 5:23.19 |
| Scratch | Brooke Novak | |
| Scratch | Christy Baird | |
| 60mH Fin (Auto: 8.17, Prov: 8.43) 1:50 p.m. | ||
| No UT participants | ||
| 60m Fin. (Auto: 7.30, Prov: 7.44) 2 p.m. | ||
| 1st | Toyin Olupona | 7.44+ |
| 3rd | Karla Marshall | 7.63 |
| 400m (Auto: 53.50, Prov: 54.70)^ 2:35 p.m. | ||
| 1st | Kameisha Bennett | 57.48 |
| 22nd | Christina Billings | 61.49! |
| Scratch | Samantha Coulson | |
| Scratch | Antoinette Gorham | |
| Scratch | Amy Ranker | |
| 800m (Auto: 2:06.90, Prov: 2:09.60)^ 3:20 p.m. | ||
| 2nd | Nicole Cook | 2:11.36! |
| 18th | Amber Ayub | 2:29.96! |
| Scratch | Monique Berarducci | |
| 200m (Auto: 23.50, Prov: 24.05)^ 3:50 p.m. | ||
| 3rd | Dee Dee Trotter | 24.26! |
| 5th | Toyin Olupona | 24.67! |
| 15th | Aoife Hearne | 25.92! |
| 40th | Kelly Flowers | 27.50 |
| Scratch | Christina Billings | |
| Scratch | Samantha Coulson | |
| Scratch | Karla Marshall | |
| 3000m (Auto: 9:23.20, Prov: 9:37.20)^ 4:15 p.m. | ||
| 3rd | Jessica Southers | 10:27.01! |
| 4th | Elizabeth McCalley | 10:38.37! |
| Scratch | Erin Anderson | |
| Scratch | Christy Baird | |
| 4x400mR (Auto: 3:35.80, Prov: 3:41.80)^ 5:05 p.m. | ||
| 4th | Antoinette Gorham/Christina Billings | 3:58.35 |
| Nicole Cook/Erin Anderson "B Team" | ||
KEY
b - Banked Track Qualifying Standard
dnr - Did Not Run In Finals
f - Facility Record
h - Hand Times
p - Prelims
* - NCAA Automatic Qualifier
+ - NCAA Provisional Qualifier
! - Personal Record (Indoors)
^ - Oversized Track Qualifying Standard
sr - School Record (Indoors)
u - Undersized Track Qualifying Standard
