University of Tennessee Athletics
Helwick Earns Provisional Qualifier in First Heptathlon
January 31, 2004 | Men's Track
Jan. 31, 2004
CLEMSON, S.C., LEXINGTON, Ky. and BOSTON -- Chris Helwick may be listed as a freshman, but head coach Bill Webb is grateful he didn't compete like one as the Clemson Heptathlon concluded Saturday. In his first collegiate multievent, Helwick captured third place and accumulated 5,210 points, more than 100 points better than the NCAA Indoor provisional-qualifying standard.
Helwick's 8.84 in the 60m hurdles to begin the day was rather pedestrian. However, the freshman bounced back with a lifetime-best 14-9 clearance in the pole vault, the bane of many a multieventer. Helwick also added a strong closer in the 1,000m run, finishing the heptathlon-capping event in a fourth-place, 2:48.39 time. Helwick will likely need to add some points to make the NCAA Indoor field, but his Clemson performance shines as a promising opener.
"Chris Helwick did an excellent job in his first multievent competition for Tennessee," Webb said. "We had mixed results today. We'll learn from some things. We need to go back to the drawing board and be ready for the SEC Heptathlon."
Blake Sabo slipped to fifth to close the event with 5,082 points, just 16 points away from the provisional-qualifying plateau. Sabo's highlight came on the first event of the day, the 60m hurdles. Sabo finished sixth in 8.34, just one-hundredth of a second off his season-best outing.
Alex Hritcu climbed to sixth after finishing the first day seventh. Hritcu scored 4,968 points. Hritcu also capped his meet with his highlight of the day, running to fifth in 2:51.84 in the 1,000m run.
Kevin Yeager met his downfall in the pole vault, the sixth of the heptathlon's seven events. Yeager no-heighted to miss out on points in the pole vault. However, Yeager bounced back to lead the Vols in the final event, finishing third with a 2:48.11 in the 1,000m run.
Meanwhile, the day's largest contingent of Volunteers competed at Kentucky's McCravy Memorial. The distance corps provided the bright spot of the day for Tennessee with three lifetime-best efforts in the 3,000m run. Freshman Chris Platt whacked 11 seconds off his 3,000m run lifetime best to lead the Vols with a fifth-place, 8:28.89 effort. Matthew Lapp arrived in 10th with a time of 8:36.75, seven seconds faster than he has ever run the 3,000m. In his first time running the 3,000m run this season, Ed Davis
neared his PR with an 11th-place, 8:36.76 time. Meanwhile, after taking a tumble in the 3,000m run last week, Doug Brown rebounded with a 15th-place, 8:41.62 time, a whopping 17-second improvement on his personal best.
A couple of Tennessee's young sprinters and hurdlers made improvement in the Bluegrass State, as well. Blake Jones matched his lifetime-best time of 6.93 with a fourth-place qualifier in the 60m dash prelims. Jones went on to take 11th in the finals in 7.01.
In the 200m dash, Alonzo Williams offered up a respectable opener with a 10th-place, 22.24 to lead the Vol trio. Jones posted a season-best 22.26 to finish 11th. Newcomer Jacob Dennis finished 15th in 22.50.
Additionally, Craig Sutherland's 8.24 to place 10th in the 60m hurdles finals also ties his season-best outing.
In the middle distances, Kenny Schappert ran a 4:23.73 mile to earn 14th.
Tennessee capped its three-meet weekend Saturday night with a reserved lane in the distance medley relay at the adidas Boston Indoor Games. Running in the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center against some certain scorers at the NCAA Indoors, Tennessee didn't put together the race it wanted. The Volunteers finished sixth in 9:55.84 with Paul Cross, Jak Taylor, Frank Francois and Rob Cloutier passing the baton. Taylor's 47.0 400m dash leg proved the highlight for the Volunteer effort.
Tennessee returns to action Saturday at the Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., as the SEC Indoor meet creeps ever closer (Feb. 27-29).
