University of Tennessee Athletics
SEA RAY RELAYS GET UNDERWAY WEDNESDAY AT TOM BLACK TRACK
April 09, 2003 | Women's Track
April 9, 2003
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
The 37th-annual Sea Ray Relays will get underway Wednesday afternoon, and more than 1500 athletes from over 100 different affilations will be competing in the four-day track & field extravaganza at the University of Tennessee's Tom Black Track.
Women's action begins at 4 p.m. on Wednesday with 17 competitors slated to face off in the first day of the heptathlon. Events include the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash. Georgia's Hyleas Fountain, coached by former Lady Vol multi-eventer Tonya Lee, should be one of the favorites after winning the SEC indoor pentathlon title a few weeks ago.
Thursday features the final three events of the heptathlon, beginning again at 4 p.m. After the long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run conclude that event, the distance carnival will get underway. Women's events include the Invitational 3000 meters at 6:30 p.m., the Invitational 5000 meters at 7:15 p.m. and the 10,000 meters at 8:50 p.m. to bring day two to a close.
The third day of Sea Rays dawns and offers a full slate of individual events on the track and the infield. A pair of women's field events will kick things off Saturday, as the hammer throw is contested at 9:15 a.m. and the discus competition is held at 12:15 p.m. The open 3000m run will follow at 12:55 p.m. as the first event of the afternoon on the oval. The women's 1500m is the final distaff event of the day-three slate.
UT Head Coach J.J. Clark will have more than a little interest in the 1500m race, as three Lady Volunteers are slated to line up as well as Clark's wife Jearl Miles-Clark and his sister Hazel, whom he coached at Florida. Under the tutelage of J.J., both Miles-Clark and Hazel Clark joined Joetta Clark (J.J. and Hazel's older sister and former Lady Vol) to comprise the U.S. 800m contingent at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Austrlia.
Among the top teams to watch in the sprints are indoor runner-up South Carolina as well as Clemson, Penn State, Seton Hall and host Tennessee. Some of the programs with strong distance contingents to challenge the home-standing Lady Vols include Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Penn State, Villanova and West Virginia.
The throws events will be bolstered by the presence of unattached competitors such as former Lady Vol discus All-American Diane Slinden, 1996 discus Olympian and former UT volunteer assistant Aretha Hill (Sea Ray Relays record holder), 2002 Clemson national hammer throw champ Jamine Moton, former Kent State standout Roberta Collins and ex-Indiana State star Jenny Folz. Collegiate prodigies include North Carolina's Laura Gerraughty (2003 NCAA Indoor shot champ), Penn State star Deshaya Williams (1999 Sea Ray discus champ) and Eastern Michigan's Brit Klanert (2002 Sea Rays javelin champ) among many others.
In the jumps, former MTSU great Andreja Ribac will be back to try and make it three in a row in the triple jump and should receive a challenge from other notables such as Chi-Chi Aduba of Penn State or Kentucky's Simidele Adeagbo. In the long jump, Aduba and South Carolina's Antoinette Wilks should be strong contenders, while in the high jump, Kentucky All-American Janet Crawford, Michigan's Stephanie Linz and Georgia's Fountain are among the favorites. In the pole vault, Georgia's Fanni Juhasz (fifth at 2003 NCAA Indoor) and Tennessee school record-holder Christie Elwin should be among those in the mix.
Saturday's final day of activity, which is comprised mainly of relays and field events, begins at 1 p.m. for the women with the shuttle hurdle relay. The afternoon of racing concludes at 5:20 p.m. with the women's 4x400m relay. At the end of the meet, the top running and field event competitors will be recognized with the Tony Wilson Memorial Awards for each of those areas.
To follow the meet event-by-event, fans can go to the 2003 Sea Ray Relays Web site and select the event results they wish to view. The address is www.utsports.com/sports/m-track/sea-relays/, or you can pull up the Lady Vol Web site at www.utladyvols.com, go to the track & field page and click on the Sea Ray Relays logo at the top of the page.
