University of Tennessee Athletics
TRACK VOLS INCREASE TRAVEL SQUAD FOR VIRGINIA TECH INVITATIONAL
January 11, 2007 | Men's Track
Jan. 11, 2007
The Tennessee men's track and field team will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to compete in the Virginia Tech Invitational this weekend. The meet will be held on the Hokies' campus at the Rector Field House.
"This weekend will be a more competitive meet," head coach Bill Webb said.
"We will continue to compete in a similar way to what we did at Indiana (last weekend), but this meet will be much bigger and more competitive. We will get another look at our young sprinters. This week is all about stepping up in a more competitive meet and also adding a few more people.
Seven-time All-America and reigning 55-meter dash SEC champion Rubin Williams is expected to make his season debut this weekend. Williams is scheduled to compete in the 60 and 200. The junior will be joined in the 60 by Matthieu Pritchett, who finished third in the event last weekend at the Indiana Open, and true freshmen Kyle Stevenson and Evander Wells. Wells stopped the clock at 6.82 last weekend to place second in the 60. Wells will also join Williams in the 200 alongside freshmen Nathan Grace and John Hewitt. Freshman De'Lon Isom will represent Tennessee in the 60 hurdles.
Another anticipated debut will take place in the weight throw when Matthew Maloney will compete in orange and white for the first time. Maloney, a sophomore transfer from Oregon, competed in the World Junior Championships last year and also placed himself seventh on Oregon's all-time list in the javelin during his freshman season. Richard Wooten, who ranks eighth on Tennessee's all-time list in the weight throw, and Nick Panezich will also contest the event. Wooten and Panezich are expected to compete in the shot put, as well.
Multi-event athletes Jangy Addy, Alex Dobranowski and Chris Helwick will continue to prepare for a full heptathlon by competing in different events this weekend. All three athletes will contest the long jump and the 60 hurdles, while Dobranowski and Helwick will also add the 60 and shot put to their schedules.
Tennessee's pole vaulters will compete this weekend for the first time in 2007. Michael Hogue, Brad Holtz and Andy Lane are expected to vault for the Vols. All three athletes competed in the Clemson Opener in December and finished second, sixth and third, respectively.
"The pole vaulters' workouts have been good," Webb said. "I'm looking forward to seeing them compete.
Sophomore Akeem Hardnett will compete in his specialty, the triple jump, for the first time after long jumping in the Vols' first two meets of the season. Carjay Lyles is also expected to triple jump. Brenard Wilson, who won the high jump last weekend at the Indiana Open, and James Jones will high jump for Tennessee.
Senior Jacob Dennis will move up from his normal distance of 400 to contest the 500 this weekend. Last year at the Virginia Tech Invitational, Dennis moved to eighth on Tennessee's all-time list in the 500 with his time of 1:04.53. The senior will be joined by freshman Samdi Fraser. Fellow 400 runners Grace and Hewitt will drop down in distance and run the 300. The Vols will send a 4x400 relay team to the starting line, but the quartet will not be decided until Saturday.
Tennessee will also unveil distance runners for the first time this year, albeit slowly. Sophomore Steve Tobin will compete in the mile, while freshman Greg Thomas will run the 1,000.
"I'm looking forward to a competitive meet at a nice facility," Webb said. "We might get a qualifier this weekend in one or more events. We have had good things happen for us before at Virginia Tech.
Friday's action at the Virginia Tech Invitational begins with the triple jump at 5 p.m. The meet gets underway on Saturday with the long jump at noon. Live results will be available throughout the meet at utsports.com.
