University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Indoor Championships
Lambert and Helwick Earn All-America Acclaim
March 13, 2004 | Men's Track
March 13, 2004
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Co-captain Sean Lambert continued to carry the flag for Tennessee's track and field squad Saturday night as the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships concluded in Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center. Despite entering the meet with the 15th-fastest time, Lambert secured a seventh-place finish in the 60m dash with a 6.72 clocking to earn his sixth career All-America certificate. While Helwick didn't score in the heptathlon, he did earn All-America honors in his first NCAA meet.
Lambert's 6.72 stands one-hundredth of a second slower than Friday's preliminary qualifier. The senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been remarkably consistent late in the season, stringing together multiple finishes in the 6.70-6.72 range. Lambert's seventh-place finish contributed two points for the Tennessee cause. Lambert lines up in the 100m and 200m dash, as well as passing the baton on 4x100m relay duty for the upcoming outdoor season.
Tennessee's two team points finished tied for 56th. It marked the Vols' lowest NCAA indoor finish since 1998, when Tennessee went scoreless but posted two America honorees. LSU won the team title in a shocker with 44.5 points. The Tigers defeated heavily-favored Arkansas on its home track to seize the improbable win. Arkansas and Florida tied for second to keep the top-three team finishes in the SEC family. An SEC team has won every NCAA indoor title since 1992. A notoriously tough place to compete, Tennessee was the last team to top the Razorbacks on their home indoor track in a championship meet at the 2002 NCAA indoors.
"As always, Sean Lambert did a great job for us," head coach Bill Webb said. "For his first NCAA meet, Chris Helwick had a very solid performance and was All-America. When you look at the list of finishers in the heptathlon, 10 of the 14 are seniors, so Chris has a good future ahead of him. Garland Porter just missed the finals in the weight throw by five centimeters. Taking that into account and Marc Sylvester getting hurt yesterday, it's kind of a bad luck, near miss meet for us.
"With this young team, I think we learned some things about how hard it is to score on the NCAA level," Webb said. "I also think we got some valuable experience that will help us in the outdoor season. Congratulations to coach J.J. Clark and the Lady Vols. They had a fine meet."
Freshman heptathlete Helwick gained ground during the final three events, climbing from 12th to ninth with 5,386 points. Helwick earned All-America honors as one of the top eight American finishers. Helwick posted two lifetime-bests in his last three events in attempts to claw into the scoring column. Finishing ninth, Helwick just missed the top-eight scoring cutoff.
Helwick opened the day with a 14th-place, 8.67 finish in the 60m hurdles, just five-hundredths of a second off his lifetime-best time. Helwick followed his hurdles with a fourth-place tie in the pole vault. Helwick matched his lifetime-best height with a 15-1 clearance. His aptitude in the pole vault, a feared deal-breaker for many aspiring multieventers, stands as another positive development in his freshman campaign. Helwick closed his third career heptathlon on a strong note with a lifetime-best time of 2:43.22 to finish fifth in the 1,000m run. Helwick will attempt to successfully add three more events to his worksheet to tackle the decathlon in the outdoor season.
Porter finished 10th in the weight throw with a 65-6 mark on his second attempt in the prelims. The school record holder fouled his third and final attempt to just miss one of the nine finals spots. Porter, a versatile thrower, is slated for duty in the shot put, discus and hammer throw in the outdoor season.
Now Tennessee can concentrate on the outdoor season, with events historically better suited for the Vols than the indoor season. Tennessee jumps right in with a weekend date in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the Alabama Relays.
VOL FINISHES
NCAA Indoor Championships
TOP 10 TEAMS
1. LSU 44.5
2t. Florida 38
Arkansas 38
4. Texas 31
5. Michigan 28
6t. Purdue 25
Baylor 25
8. TCU 24
9. Ohio State 20
10t. Wisconsin 19
Brigham Young 19
60m dash-finals
1. DaBryan Blanton, Okla. 6.59
7. Sean Lambert, Tenn. 6.72
Weight throw
1. Dan Taylor, Ohio St. 77-7.5
10. Garland Porter, Tenn. 65-6
Heptathlon
1. Donovan Kilmartin, Texas 6,136
9. Chris Helwick, Tenn. 5,386
Heptathlon 60m hurdles
1. Fred Townsend, S.C. 7.86
14. Chris Helwick, Tenn. 8.67
Heptathlon pole vault
1. Donovan Kilmartin, Texas 17-8.5
4t. Chris Helwick, Tenn. 15-1 PR
Heptathlon 1,000m run
1. Mustafa Abdur-Rahim, Dartmouth 2:37.08
5. Chris Helwick, Tenn. 2:43.22 PR
PR - career best/personal record; SB - season best.
