University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Outdoor Championships
WILLIAMS TAKES THIRD, VOLS FINISH SIXTH IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
June 10, 2006 | Men's Track
June 10, 2006
Rubin Williams ran to a third-place finish in the 200 meters Saturday at the NCAA outdoor championships in Sacramento, Calif. The Vols, ranked ninth in the nation coming into the meet, scored 32 points during the four-day meet and finished sixth.
"We really hit on all cylinders this meet," head coach Bill Webb said. "Rubin was terrific in this meet, he powered out well in the 200. He almost finished second coming out of the eighth lane and he did a great job. We had an outstanding meet. I'm very proud of our guys and they look forward to taking a little break. Some of our guys will be in the USA championships, but I'm not sure exactly which guys will be there.
Williams ran the 200 final in a personal-best time of 20.49 seconds, lowering his PR of 20.51 he ran during the semifinals Friday. His time ranks sixth on Tennessee's all-time list in the event. The sophomore from San Jose, Calif., earned his seventh career All-America certificate and finished just one-hundredth of a second behind the second-place finisher.
Top-ranked Florida State took the overall team championship with 67 points.
LSU finished second with 51 points, followed by Texas in third with 36.
Arizona scored 34 points and finished fourth. Arkansas rounded out the top five with 33 points.
Aries Merritt headlined the meet for the Vols by winning the 110 hurdles in a personal-best time of 13.21 and earning his seventh All-America honor Friday.
His time broke the NCAA meet record of 13.22 previously held by Greg Foster of UCLA and lowered his school-record time of 13.22 from the SEC outdoor championships. The junior from Marietta, Ga., finished his collegiate season undefeated in every 55, 60 and 110 hurdles race he finished. Merritt's time is the second-fastest clocking ever by a collegian, trailing only collegiate-record holder Renaldo Nehemiah's time of 13.00 from 1979, and is tied with Xiang Liu of China for the fastest time, collegiate or professional, in the world this year.
Co-captain Chris Helwick scored the first points of the meet for the Vols, finishing second in the decathlon with a score of 7,772 points Thursday. The junior from Greeley, Colo., followed his second-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor championships and earned his fifth All-America certificate.
The Vols' 4x100 relay team recorded the fourth-fastest time in Tennessee history Friday and finished second in 38.86. The quartet of Matthieu Pritchett, Jonathan Wade, Merritt and Williams improved on their time of 39.20 during the semifinals Wednesday which, at the time, was the sixth-fastest time in Tennessee history. Pritchett earned his first All-America honor, while Wade picked up his fifth All-America certificate.
Williams and Merritt are automatically qualified for the USA championships June 22-25 in Indianapolis, Ind. Zach Sabatino and Drew Brunson are also possible entries for the Vols in that meet. Former Tennessee athletes Justin Gatlin, Leonard Scott, Anthony Famiglietti, Garland Porter, Patrick Gildea and Jebreh Harris are also expected to compete.
TENNESSEE RESULTS
NCAA championships, Sacramento, Calif.
Saturday, June 9, 2006
Tennessee All-Americas/Scorers
Aries Merritt, first, 110 hurdles 13.21, 10 pts.
Rubin Williams, third, 200, 20.49, 6 pts.
Chris Helwick, second, decathlon, 8 pts.
4x100 relay, second, 8 pts.
| Final Team Standings (Top 10) | ||
| 1. | Florida State | 67 |
| 2. | LSU | 51 |
| 3. | Texas | 36 |
| 4. | Arizona | 34 |
| 5. | Arkansas | 33 |
| 6. | Tennessee | 32 |
| 7. | UTEP | 31 |
| 8. | Wisconsin | 30 |
| 9. | BYU | 26 |
| 9. | USC | 26 |
| 9. | North Carolina | 26 |
| 200 | ||
| 1. | Walter Dix, Fla. St. | 20.30 |
| 3. | Rubin Williams, Tenn. | 20.49 PR |
PR-personal record/career best time
