University of Tennessee Athletics
VOLS TRAVEL TO SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 09, 2006 | Men's Track
May 9, 2006
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The Tennessee men's track and field team will travel 700 miles west to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the SEC outdoor championships hosted by the University of Arkansas Thursday through Sunday. The Vols expect to be in a tight points battle with LSU, Florida and host Arkansas for the conference crown. The meet will be the first competition held on John McDonnell Field, the Razorbacks' new track and field facility which was just finished this month.
"We always like to be in the top three at the conference meet, and we believe we are, especially after we finished second at SEC indoors," head coach Bill Webb said. "The SEC is clearly the toughest conference in the nation. There are four teams in the running this year. It should be a close meet with LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida all capable of scoring 120 points. I think 125 points could win the whole meet this year, so we will not only need wins from our stars, but from guys scrapping to pick up seventh and eighth-place points as well.
The SEC outdoor championships traditionally rate as the most anticipated meet of the year for the Vols for good reason, as Tennessee has captured a league-best 24 SEC outdoor titles and 67 total SEC championships, 27 more than Arkansas in second place. Some think it's harder for a team to win the SEC title than the NCAA title. With only one exception, SEC teams have won every men's NCAA outdoor title since 1989, including two by the Vols in 1991 and 2001. The SEC's national dominance appears most strikingly at the NCAA outdoor championships, where SEC schools swept the top-three spots for the second straight year in the 2005 meet.
Tennessee's coaching staff narrowed its travel squad to the mandated 30 athletes for the SEC outdoor meet, and they are sending four athletes to Fayetteville currently ranked first on the SEC performance list for 2006. Aries Merritt, with a season-best time of 13.33 seconds, stands first in the conference in the 110-meter hurdles and will look to defend his conference title from last year. Co-captains Chris Helwick and Jim Sexton lead the conference in the decathlon and hammer, respectively. James Jones enters the outdoor championships positioned in a three-way tie atop the conference rankings in the high jump.
Zach Sabatino is second in the steeplechase and third in the 10,000, while Jeff Day is ranked third in the steeplechase. Eric Pierce ranks second on the performance list in the triple jump, and Helwick currently sits third in the javelin. Rubin Williams ranks third on the performance list in both the 100 and 200. Michael Hogue is the final Vol ranked in the top three on the conference performance list for this year, currently tied for third in the pole vault. Tennessee's 4x100 team of Matthieu Pritchett, Jonathan Wade, Merritt and Williams owns a season-best time of 39.77 and is ranked third.
"Arkansas will pick up points right away at home on their new track in front of their family and friends, but we expect big things from our big people, too," Webb said. "We have seven guys on the cover of our media guide-Rubin Williams, Aries Merritt, Zach Sabatino, Eric Pierce, Chris Helwick, Jim Sexton and Michael Hogue. We expect them to produce, but also believe all 30 guys we are taking can score. It will be a battle for the conference championship, but if we can get some guys to scrap for some points in addition to our big guys scoring big points, we will be in the thick of the race.
Williams, Wade and Pritchett will run the 100, and Williams will double up and run the 200 as well. Jacob Dennis will run the 400 to complete UT's traveling sprint corps. Merritt headlines the Vols' hurdlers and will be joined by Drew Brunson and Damond Campbell in the 110 hurdles. Carjay Lyles will run the 400 hurdles. Lyles will also compete with Pierce and Akeem Hardnett in the triple jump, while Brunson will join Jones and sophomore Chris Wilson in the high jump. Jangy Addy will compete in the decathlon alongside Helwick, the defending conference champion. Addy has not competed since injuring his hamstring while winning the decathlon 100 at the Sea Ray Relays April 12. Helwick is expected to contest the pole vault and high jump in addition to the decathlon and javelin. Senior Jeff Trembley is expected to be the Vols' third pole vaulter vying for the conference crown.
Yarrick Kincaid and Kenny Schappert are entered in the 800. Tyler DeVault, Chris Platt, Dusty Miller and Day are entered in the 1,500. Ben Lukowski and Matt Piccarello will run the 10,000, the longest event contested this weekend. Doug Brown will join Sabatino and Day in the steeplechase. Sabatino, DeVault, Platt, Lukowski, Day, Piccarello, Miller and Brown are all entered in the 5,000, the last individual event of the meet.
Senior Tim Nguyen, along with freshmen Nick Panezich and Richard Wooten, will join Sexton in the hammer throw. Sexton and Panezich will throw the discus, and Wooten will compete in the shot put with Panezich.
The SEC outdoor championships begin Thursday at 4 p.m. Central Time with the decathlon. Competition Friday begins at 1 p.m. with the hammer throw. Saturday 's competition starts at 5 p.m. with the shot put and long jump, and Sunday's competition begins with the men's discus at noon.
VOLS SEVENTH IN TRACKWIRE POLL
Tennessee remained seventh in this week's Trackwire 25 rankings. The rankings project the Vols will score 26 points at the NCAA outdoor championships.
Florida State remained in the top spot with 50 points, followed by UTEP in second with 49 points. LSU fell to third place with 48 points, and Texas stayed in fourth with 46. Arizona moved into fifth alone with 34 points after being tied with Arkansas last week. Arkansas (sixth, 30 points), Florida (10th, 22 points) and South Carolina (23rd-tie, 13 points) are also ranked in this week's poll, giving the SEC five teams in the top 25.
The Trackwire 25 rankings, available at www.trackwire.com, are based primarily on individual leader lists for each of the events contested in the NCAA outdoor championships and other factors. The resulting formchart, the "Dandy Dozen," is used to predict team finishes at the NCAA outdoor championships.
Tennessee has five athletes ranked in the Dandy Dozen this week. NCAA indoor champion and outdoor regional qualifier Aries Merritt is ranked first in the 110-meter hurdles. Rubin Williams, who is qualified for the Mideast regional in the 100 and 200, is ranked second in the 200 and seventh in the 100. Chris Helwick, who scored 7,707w points at the Sea Ray Relays, is ranked fourth in the decathlon. Zach Sabatino, with his personal-best time of 8:46.64, is ninth in the steeplechase. Eric Pierce, who is qualified for the Mideast regional in the triple jump and long jump, is ranked 10th in the triple jump. In addition to the five individuals, Tennessee's 4x100 relay team of Matthieu Pritchett, Jonathan Wade, Merritt and Williams, which boasts a season-best time of 39.77, is ranked eighth.
