University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Take Group to Commodore Invitational
April 18, 2002 | Men's Track
April 18, 2002
Despite a planned off weekend, Tennessee head coach Bill Webb will send a small contingent to the Commodore Invitational in Nashville this weekend. The bulk of Tennessee?s participation in the meet occurs Saturday. The Vols who already own strong qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships will take the weekend off from competition. Tennessee results will be released Saturday night.
Gatlin Wins SEC Track Athlete of the Week
For the second consecutive week, Tennessee sprinter Justin Gatlin earned SEC Track Athlete of the Week honors, as announced by the conference office Wednesday. Including hurdler Karl Jennings? recognition the first week of the season, the Vols have won three of the four SEC Track Athlete of the Week designations this outdoor season. Gatlin?s heroics on the home track at the Sea Ray Relays sealed the deal. Gatlin entered four events, won all four events, posted NCAA automatic qualifiers in all four events and rewrote school and meet records in two events.
On Friday, Gatlin ran a barely wind-aided (2.3 mps) 10.00 to win the 100M dash at the 36th Sea Ray Relays. If the time had been wind legal, Gatlin would have broken his one-week-old school record and improved his then world-leading time from last week.
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In the 200M dash Friday, Gatlin ran a school record, meet record and track record 20.06, wind legal at 2.0 mps. Gatlin beat Mike Miller's 20.15 school record from 1982. He beat Ato Boldon's Tom Black Track record of 20.24 set in 1995. The time stands as the fastest non-altitude time in the world this year.
On Saturday, Gatlin ran two winning relays in NCAA automatic qualifiers. To close the Sea Ray Relays, he ran on the fastest 4x400M relay in the world this year, a blazing 3:02.14. Gatlin ran a smoking 44.2 split on the third leg of the relay to lead the Vols. The time stood as a school record, bettering the previous school record of 3:03.08 by Daryl Canady, Darryal Wilson, David Patrick and Anthony Blair in 1981.
For good measure earlier on Saturday, Gatlin ran the second leg on Tennessee's winning 4x100M relay in 39.08.
In summary, Gatlin currently stands fourth in the world this year in the 100M dash, second among non-altitude times. He stands second this year in the 200M dash, first among non-altitude times. The Tennessee 4x100M relay team currently stands fifth in the world, fourth among non-altitude times. The Vol 4x400M relay team currently leads the world this year.
Gatlin visited Vine Middle School today to speak to their students and give them some track pointers. Last year, Gatlin was one of a handful of Vols to attend every one of the track team's voluntary community service activities.
Vols Increase Lead in Trackwire Rankings
Propelled by a stellar Sea Ray Relays performance, Tennessee increased its lead in the top spot of the weekly Trackwire rankings. The Volunteers stand first with 95 projected NCAA Outdoor points, up from 84 last week. The 95-point prognostication is the most for Tennessee in the history of the rankings. Tennessee has led the Trackwire rankings each week since the indoor projections began in January.
SEC rival LSU stands second with 71 points. Arkansas is currently third with 33 points. Seventh-ranked Georgia, eighth (tie)- ranked Auburn and Florida, 11th-ranked Mississippi State, 12th-ranked South Carolina and 13th-ranked Alabama give the SEC nine of the top 13 teams.
The Trackwire rankings are formulated by analyzing NCAA event leader lists and other factors to predict the team scores at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge, La., May 29-June 1.
