University of Tennessee Athletics
Track Vols Await Kroger Invitational
January 17, 2002 | Men's Track
Jan. 17, 2002
Tennessee's track and field squad lands in Blacksburg, Va., Friday and Saturday for the Kroger Invitational. A field of 15 schools looks to make the Kroger Invitational the most competitive meet for the Vols to date. Tennessee opens Friday's slate of activity with the pentathlon and continues later that night with other track and field events. Saturday holds a full day of events.
"Our schedule continues to build as we get closer to the SEC Indoor Championships," head coach Bill Webb said. "Virginia Tech has a great indoor track facility with a 200M, banked, fast, Mondo-covered track. We're running just about everyone. We're looking forward to seeing where we are and how close we are to being able to compete on the SEC level."
Tennessee tests a traditional strength in the pentathlon. The pentathlon competition includes lining up in the 60M hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump and 1,000M run all in one day. The pentathlon takes on even more significance than usual because the event has been reinstated in the SEC Indoors for the first time since the early 1990s. However, there is still no pentathlon at the NCAA Indoors. Stephen Harris, runner-up in the 2001 NCAA decathlon, will only participate in selected events. However, multievents tutor Webb plans to send Kevin Thompson, Blake Sabo, Alex Hritcu, Kevin Yeager and Brett Frykberg to don the orange and white for the Volunteers. Tennessee and South Carolina comprise the bulk of the 14-athlete field.
Likewise, Webb expects the improved field (Pittsburgh, East Carolina, Virginia, Georgetown, South Carolina, James Madison, William & Mary, Wake Forest, N.C. State, George Mason, Clemson and host Virginia Tech) to push the Vols to better times and marks in the sprints, hurdles, middle distance, distance and field events Friday night and Saturday.
"I'm looking forward to having the pentathlon and seeing if they're as ready to go as I think they are," Webb said. "We're looking for a few surprises. I'm also looking forward to getting our quarter milers and sprinters back on the track. We're hoping for a little bit of a coming out meet for some people."
