VOLS FINISH SECOND AT SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sunday, May 14

Fayetteville, Ark.

All Day

University of Tennessee

SEC Outdoor Championships

May 15, 2006 | Men's Track

May 15, 2006

Results

The Tennessee men's track and field team finished second in the SEC outdoor championships Sunday at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The Vols scored 126.5 points and finished 11 points behind host Arkansas, which won the conference crown with 137.5 points. Tennessee outscored the Razorbacks 97.5-90.5 on the final day of competition, but could not claim the title. Aries Merritt defended his 2005 conference title and broke the Tennessee and SEC meet record in the 110-meter hurdles by winning the event in 13.22 seconds. Chris Helwick took home the Commissioner's Trophy as the highest individual scorer of the meet with 28.5 points, narrowly beating Josphat Boit from Arkansas, who scored 28.

"We got on a roll today," head coach Bill Webb said. "It reminded me of the SEC indoor meet where we made a run on the final day and finished second. We had a lot to do today in order to win, but Arkansas was dominant in the 5,000 and 10,000. I feel bad for our guys who tried so hard. I can't say enough about Helwick, he got first, third and fourth today after winning the decathlon Friday. I'm proud of Aries and Damond Campbell. Rubin (Williams) ran hard and we battled right down to the wire with LSU in the 4x100 relay. Yarrick Kincaid, Tyler DeVault and Eric Pierce all did a nice job today as well."

Helwick opened his scoring by winning the decathlon to pick up 10 points Friday. Sunday, Helwick scored 10 points in the pole vault, six in the javelin and two and a half in the high jump. Merritt's effort in the 110 hurdles extended his season-long undefeated streak in the event, and broke Willie Gault's school record of 13.26 and the SEC meet record of 13.29, which was set in 1999 by Terrance Trammell of South Carolina. Merritt's time is tied for fastest in the world this year, college or professional, with Trammell and Xiang Liu of China. He is the first Tennessee sprinter to win the 60 hurdles/110 hurdles double at the conference meet in same year since Jabari Greer in 2003.

Helwick claimed UT's fourth, and final, individual title by winning the pole vault after clearing his season-best and the regional-qualifying height of 16 feet, 6 3-4 inches, and defeating Trey Bell of South Carolina in a jump off. His victory was Tennessee's first outdoor pole vault conference champion since Rocky Danners in 2002, and followed Michael Hogue's indoor championship to give the Vols both 2006 conference titles in the event. After the vault, Helwick moved to the javelin where he hurled the spear 211-5 to break his personal record and move into 10th on UT's all-time top-10 list in the event. Once the javelin was over, Helwick competed in his 13th event of the meet, clearing a season-best height of 6-8 3/4 to tie for sixth.

DeVault finished third in the 1,500 in a personal-best and regional-qualifying time of 3:46.44, sprinting from ninth to third over the final 50 meters of the race. James Jones tied his personal-best clearance in the high jump, also finishing third after clearing the bar at 6-10 3/4. Williams took fourth in the 100 in a personal-best time of 10.31 and third in the 200 with a 20.62 clocking. Drew Brunson lowered his personal record to 13.79 while finishing fourth in the 110 hurdles, and Campbell broke his personal-best time, which was recorded during Saturday's preliminaries, by clocking 13.95 to finish ninth.

Jonathan Wade finished eighth in the 100 in a season-best time of 10.57 and Chris Wilson cleared a season-best height of 6-6 3/4 in the high jump to take eighth. The Vols' 4x100 relay team of Matthieu Pritchett, Wade, Merritt and Williams finished second in a season-best time of 39.48. Tennessee's 4x400 relay team of Jacob Dennis, Merritt, Kincaid and Williams finished seventh with a season-best, 3:11.79 clocking.

Hogue and Jeff Trembley tied for third, and added to Helwick's win, gave Tennessee 21 points in the pole vault. Trembley fought through a back injury to score five and a half points in his first outdoor competition of the year. Senior Eric Pierce recorded a wind-aided measurement of 50-11 1/2w to place fourth, and Kincaid ran the 800 in 1:50.54 to also place fourth. Pritchett also scored individually for the Vols, finishing seventh in the 100 in 10.56 and Zach Sabatino finished seventh in the 5,000 in 14:15.60 to add two more points to Tennessee's team total.

Akeem Hardnett and Carjay Lyles finished 11th and 12th, respectively in the triple jump, while Dusty Miller and Jeff Day finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 1,500. Nick Panezich took 13th in the discus and Jim Sexton, the 2006 SEC champion in the hammer throw, finished 15th in the discus. Ben Lukowski, Matt Piccarello, DeVault, Doug Brown, Chris Platt and Miller all competed in the 5,000 for Tennessee.

Tennessee's second-place finish was its highest finish at the outdoor conference meet since 2003 when the Vols were also second. Tennessee led 122.5 to 110.5 with two events remaining, but Arkansas took first, second, fourth, sixth and eighth in the 5,000 to score 27 points and clinch the team championship. Tennessee currently has 23 regionally qualified performances and will be in action next at the mideast regional meet, hosted by the University of Tennessee May 26-27 at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.

TENNESSEE RESULTS
SEC Outdoor Championships, Fayetteville, Ark.
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Final Team Standings
1.	Arkansas	137.5
2.	Tennessee	126.5
3.	Florida	110
4.	LSU	109
5.	South Carolina	77
6.	Alabama	67.5
7.	Kentucky	58
8.	Georgia	52.5
9.	Auburn	31
9.	Mississippi	31
11.	Mississippi State	19
100
1.	Chauncey Harris, Ala.	10.14*
4.	Rubin Williams, Tenn.	10.31*PR
7.	Matthieu Pritchett, Tenn.	10.56
8.	Jonathan Wade, Tenn.	10.57 SB
200
1.	Xavier Carter, LSU	20.30*
3.	Rubin Williams, Tenn.	20.62*
800
1.	Shane Stroup, Fla.	1:49.46*
4.	Yarrick Kincaid, Tenn.	1:50.54
1,500
1.	John Richardson, Ky.	3:43.90*
3.	Tyler DeVault, Tenn.	3:46.44*PR
11.	Dusty Miller, Tenn.	3:53.46
12.	Jeff Day, Tenn.	4:02.64
5,000
1.	Josphat Boit, Ark.	13:52.17*
7.	Zach Sabatino, Tenn.	14:15.60
20.	Ben Lukowski, Tenn.	14:49.45
24.	Matt Piccarello, Tenn.	14:52.19
29.	Tyler DeVault, Tenn.	15:02.55
31.	Doug Brown, Tenn.	15:08.15
33.	Chris Platt, Tenn.	15:15.28
35.	Dusty Miller, Tenn.	15:39.57
110 hurdles
1.	Aries Merritt, Tenn.	13.22*MR,SR,PR
4.	Drew Brunson, Tenn.	13.79*PR
9.	Damond Campbell, Tenn.	13.95*PR
4x100
1.	LSU	39.35*
2.	Tennessee (Pritchett, Wade, Merritt, Williams)	39.48*SB
4x400
1.	LSU	3:05.98*
7.	Tennessee (Dennis, Merritt, Kincaid, Williams)	3:11.79 SB
High jump
1.	Michael Morrison, Fla.	7-2 1/4*
3.	James Jones, Tenn.	6-10 3/4*PR
4.	Drew Brunson, Tenn.	6-9 1/2
6-t.	Chris Helwick, Tenn.	6-8 1/4 SB
8.	Chris Wilson, Tenn.	6-6 3/4 SB
Pole vault
1.	Chris Helwick, Tenn.	16-6 3/4*SB
3-t.	Michael Hogue, Tenn.	16-2 3/4
3-t.	Jeff Trembley, Tenn.	16-2 3/4
Triple jump
1.	Nkosinza Balumbu, Ark.	53-4 1/2w
4.	Eric Pierce, Tenn.	50-11 1/2w*
11.	Akeem Hardnett, Tenn.	48-1 3/4w
12.	Carjay Lyles, Tenn.	48-0 1/2w
Discus
1.	Westley Stockbarger, Fla.	188-8*
13.	Nick Panezich, Tenn.	157-0
15.	Jim Sexton, Tenn.	152-5
Javelin
1.	Eric Brown, Ark.	251-9*
3.	Chris Helwick, Tenn.	211-5*PR