University of Tennessee Athletics
Current and Former Vols Ready for USA Championships
June 21, 2005 | Men's Track
June 21, 2005
Though the collegiate season has concluded, some of the most desired titles in track and field come up for grabs throughout the summer. Six current and 10 former Volunteers begin that chase Thursday through Sunday at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and USA junior championships at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
The top-three finishers at the USA championships who have met the 'A' qualifying standard will qualify to compete for Team USA at the IAAF world championships, the biggest global track and field meet in a non-Olympic year. The world championships will be held Aug. 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland.
Current Vols Aries Merritt, Rubin Williams and Garland Porter met qualifying standards and will compete in the USA championships against the best collegiate and professional athletes the nation can muster. In the 110-meter hurdles, sophomore Merritt owns the sixth-best time among Americans with his lifetime-best 13.38-second offering to win the SEC title. In the 200, freshman Williams ranks 20th on the U.S. list with a 20.56 clocking. Departing senior Porter owns the 23rd-best mark by an American in the hammer at 216 feet, 8 inches. Current Vol 800 man Paul Cross and decathlete Chris Helwick qualified to compete in the USA championships but will not make the trip.
While nine former Vols are slated to compete at the USA championships for a slot in the world championships, a 10th former Tennessee athlete offers a compelling reason to follow the master's 110 hurdles. Willie Gault, the standard by which all other Volunteer high hurdlers are measured, is listed as an entrant in the master's 110 hurdles at the USA championships at age 44.
Gault froze the clock at 13.26 in the 110 hurdles in 1982 to chisel a school record that still stands despite several elite hurdlers following him on The Hill. A NCAA indoor hurdles champion, Gault also earned multiple All-America honors outdoors in the 110 hurdles and 4x100 relay. Gault made the 1980 U.S Olympic team in the 110 hurdles, but the Americans boycotted the Games held in Moscow. He also made the 1988 Winter Olympic team, assigned to the No. 3 U.S. bobsled. Gault became the first and only Vol to earn acclaim in track and field, football and bobsled.
Also a school record holder and All-America selection in football at Tennessee, Gault went on to an impressive NFL career. Gault and his Chicago Bears teammates won Super Bowl XX in 1986. His tenure with the Bears also inspired the first of many forays into the world of entertainment as Gault joined Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, William "The Refrigerator" Perry and others for "The Super Bowl Shuffle." Authoring one of the most wide-ranging stories in Tennessee track and field history, to say the least, Gault has also starred in several films and played roles on television programs including "The West Wing," "In the Heat of the Night," "Baywatch" and "Tales from the Crypt." Gault writes the next chapter to an interesting life story Sunday at 3:40 p.m. ET in the master's 110 hurdles at the Home Depot Center. Gault enters the meet with a season-best time of 14.52, just 19 hundredths of a second away from matching the 2005 regional qualifying standard for current collegians.
Nine other former Vols are scheduled to compete at the USA championships. In the 100 and 200, Justin Gatlin and Leonard Scott are qualified. Gatlin's 9.84w time stands as the fastest wind-aided 100 mark by an American this year. Scott's 10.03 ranks tied with former world record holder Maurice Greene as the fastest wind-legal 100 time by an American this year. In the 200, Gatlin's 20.00 time ranks third, while Scott's 20.48 stands 13th. In the 110 hurdles, Dawane Wallace's 13.48 time ranks 14th among Americans. Counting Gault, Merritt, Gatlin and Wallace, four of the top-six hurdlers in Tennessee history will be competing in an event at the 2005 USA championships.
In the 800, Jebreh Harris owns the sixth-fastest time by an American at 1:46.03. In the steeplechase, 2004 Olympian Anthony Famiglietti holds the U.S. lead with an 8:20.04 time. In the 10,000, Patrick Gildea ranks 11th after running the event in 28:38.72. Assistant head coach George Watts coached Harris, Famiglietti and Gildea during their collegiate careers.
In the field events, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Tim Mack holds the third-best leap by an American this year with a 19-2 1/4 clearance according to USA Track and Field. Leigh Smith's 249-1 javelin throw ranks fourth among U.S. competitors. Stephen Harris holds the 13th-best decathlon score at 7,618 points.
Three current Vols contest the USA junior championships, open to U.S. athletes who meet a predetermined qualifying standard and are 19 or younger. On the mend after missing the Mideast Regionals and NCAA championships, freshman Matthieu Pritchett returns to action in the 100 at the junior meet. Freshman Drew Brunson will compete in both the 110 hurdles and high jump at the junior meet. Brunson also competed in both events at the SEC outdoors and Mideast Regionals. Akeem Hardnett, who redshirted his freshman season in 2005, qualified for the triple jump. Contestants at the USA juniors compete not only for titles but also a spot on the Team USA roster for the world junior championships July 13-17 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
