University of Tennessee Athletics
Six Vols Make NCAA Indoor Championship Field
March 08, 2005 | Men's Track
March 8, 2005
Tennessee will send six track and field athletes for the NCAA indoor championships Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
"We've got a good group going, though it's a fairly young group," head coach Bill Webb said. "I like the fact that we competed aggressively at that facility two weeks ago at the SEC meet. We have some quality people who'll be in the mix there.
Sophomore Aries Merritt leads the list of Vols with his 60-meter hurdles time of 7.65 seconds, the second-fastest time in the NCAA. Merritt won the 55 hurdles in a Stokely Athletics Center record time of 7.12, which becomes 7.65 when converted to the NCAA 60 hurdles standard, at the Tennessee Classic Feb. 18. Merritt took fourth in 7.81 competing at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center at the SEC championships Feb. 27.
Sophomore Chris Helwick's season-best heptathlon score of 5,609 ranks sixth in the NCAA. Helwick pieced together an impressive SEC heptathlon Feb. 25-26 to score a lifetime-best 5,609 points and earn runner-up honors.
Senior Garland Porter's season-best weight throw measurement of 69 feet, 6 1/4 inches also ranks sixth in the NCAA. Porter threw that exact distance twice to finish second in the weight throw at the SEC meet Feb. 26. Porter's 69-6 1/4 effort marked the fifth time he has broken or tied the Tennessee school record in the weight throw.
Freshman Rubin Williams stands as the only Vol to qualify in two events. Williams' best 200 time of 20.81 ranks ninth and his 60 time of 6.69 stands 16th in the NCAA. Williams ran his 20.81 in the 200 to take seventh at the SEC championships Feb. 27. He clocked his 6.69 to win the 60 at the Penn State National Meet Jan. 28.
Fellow sprinter junior Jonathan Wade qualified in the 60 with the 11th-best time. Wade popped a lifetime-best 6.67 effort to notch the fastest 60 preliminary time at the SEC meet Feb. 26.
Sophomore Paul Cross took advantage of a last chance meet to gain entry to the NCAA 800 field. Cross' 1:48.01 time ranks 12th in the NCAA. After chopping seconds off his time the last two meets, Cross ran the 1:48.01 at Iowa State's NCAA Track and Field Qualifying Meet last Saturday.
"Arkansas at home will be the favorite in the meet," Webb said. "If we compete well, we're a top-10 team. We've gone through a good schedule with meets at Penn State, New York and SEC that have hardened us for competition. We appear to be healthy and ready to go. We want people to step up when it counts and represent Tennessee.
The Volunteers look to improve on a disappointing 56th-place tie at last year 's NCAA indoor championships, also held at Arkansas. Tennessee only scored two points courtesy of Sean Lambert's seventh-place finish in the 60.
Tennessee also authored one of the great highlights of program history at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center. In 2002, the Volunteers won the program's first NCAA indoor title after piling up 62.5 points to run past Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Villanova in a star-studded top five. Justin Gatlin, Leonard Scott, Marc Sylvester, Gary Kikaya, Karl Jennings, Rocky Danners and Dwayne Bell Jr. fueled Tennessee's first indoor title run in 2002.
TENNESSEE CLIMBS IN ALL THREE PRE-NCAA RANKINGS UPDATES
Tennessee moved forward in each of the three rankings services in the pre-NCAA update.
The Vols jumped from 12th to fifth in the U.S. Track Coaches Association Team Power Ranking, though those rankings don't predict NCAA performance. Tennessee holds a score of 338.58, compared to leader Indiana's 356.97 points.
Third-place Florida, with 346.73 points, is the only SEC foe ahead of the Volunteers. The USTCA Team Power Ranking measures depth and quality across all events and attempts to reward teams trying to field a complete squad. Tennessee has won the USTCA Team Power Rankings title nine times since 1991, most recently in the 2003 outdoor season. The USTCA Team Power Rankings are available on www.team-power.org.
Tennessee climbed to 11th in the Trackshark rankings. In the last edition of the Trackshark rankings on Feb. 16, the Vols ranked 15th. Tennessee owns a score of 40.97, compared to leader Arkansas' 100-point tally. Florida (second, 74.02), Auburn (sixth, 51.96) and LSU (10th, 43.93) give the SEC five teams in the top 11. The Trackshark rankings combine conference meet performance, conference strength and the Trackwire rankings to arrive at its list. The Trackshark rankings are available at www.trackshark.com.
The Volunteers jumped from 20th to a tie for 13th in the Trackwire 25. The rankings project the Vols will score 21 points at the NCAA indoor championships, up from a 13-point prognostication last week. Arkansas continues to lead the rankings with 55 points. Florida owns second with 46 points. Auburn moved up to a tie for fourth with 31 points. LSU stands seventh with 27 points to give the SEC four of the top seven teams. Mississippi stands 19th with 15 projected points. South Carolina arrives in a tie for 22nd with 10 points.
Trackwire bases its team rankings on a power ranking of each indoor event called the Dandy Dozen. The Vols currently ranked in the Dandy Dozen include Paul Cross (second, 800), Chris Helwick (fifth, heptathlon), Aries Merritt (fifth, 60 hurdles), Garland Porter (fifth, weight throw), Rubin Williams (eighth, 200; 10th, 60) and Jonathan Wade (12th, 60). The Trackwire 25, in existence since 1997, analyzes event leader lists and other factors to predict the team finish for the NCAA championships. The Trackwire 25 is available at www.trackwire.com.
