University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
SEC Indoor Championships
TRACK VOLS FINISH SECOND AT SEC INDOORS
February 25, 2007 | Men's Track
Feb. 25, 2007
The Tennessee men's track and field team finished second with 115.5 points on Sunday at the 45th SEC Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky. Michael Hogue successfully defended his conference indoor title in the pole vault, while Rubin Williams won the 200 and UT's distance medley relay team also took top honors.
Arkansas won the team scoring with 126 points as the Vols placed second for the third consecutive SEC meet after also doing so at the indoor and outdoor conference championships last season. Florida finished third with 93.5 points, while LSU's 79.5 points placed fourth. Georgia rounded out the top five with 66 points.
"I am very pleased with our results," head coach Bill Webb said. "I'm proud of the competitive effort of the team and how the guys came together to exceed our expectations with a strong second-place finish in the toughest conference in the nation. It would be interesting to see, but I think we could win any other conference title. We made ourselves much stronger for nationals this weekend and improved our chances of being a top-10 team again at the NCAA meet.
Hogue didn't defend his title easily. After clearing a personal-best height of 17 feet, 5 1/2 inches to improve his standing in 10th on Tennessee's all-time list in the event, he was tied for first with Auburn's Mark Johnson so they had a jump off to determine the champion. After misses by both athletes at the first four jump off heights, Hogue cleared the bar at 17-0 3/4 on his 13th jump of the competition and, after a Johnson miss, Hogue had won his second straight SEC indoor championship in the pole vault. The junior from Germantown is the fourth athlete in school history to win the pole vault at back-to-back conference indoor championships and the first since Lawrence Johnson in 1993-94.
"I was completely out of gas at the end," Hogue said. "I couldn't have won it without all the support from my teammates and the fans. It was the most intense pole vault competition I've ever been a part of.
Williams ran the fastest collegiate time in the nation in the 200-meter dash for the second straight day. After clocking 20.72 seconds in the preliminaries, the seven-time All-America blazed an indoor personal-best and NCAA-leading time of 20.57 as he became the first Tennessee athlete other than Justin Gatlin to win the 200 at the SEC Indoor Championships. Williams also finished third in the 60 after running the exact same time, 6.65, that he recorded in the preliminaries.
"Winning (the 200) wasn't that big of a deal," Williams said. "I was a lot more worried about our team points than where I finished individually. Running that time does give me a lot of confidence heading to nationals.
Tennessee's distance medley relay team of Jeff Day, Samdi Fraser, Andrew Dawson and Tyler DeVault claimed UT's fourth and final event championship in a provisional-qualifying and season-best time of 9:43.78. Day opened up a huge lead on the rest of the field from his leadoff position before handing the baton to Fraser and the rest of the runners made sure the lead would not be relinquished. The victory was the third distance medley relay SEC title in school history, the first since 1996, and stands as only the fourth time since Arkansas joined the conference that the Razorbacks did not win the event.
"Even though we knew we couldn't win the team title, we were still racing for pride," Day said. "Every time we put on the orange we have to make sure we represent it well. The sweetest part about the race was beating Arkansas convincingly, especially since they don't lose this event very often. I was also glad the distance guys were able to contribute points to the team total.
Team captain Jangy Addy finished third in the 60 hurdles, one day after winning the heptathlon, with a personal-best and provisional-qualifying time of 7.78. His time is now sixth on the school's all-time list, replacing Gatlin 's time of 7.86. Richard Wooten recorded a personal-best mark for the second straight day as he placed fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 62-8 3/4. The sophomore from Memphis moved to fifth on Tennessee's all-time list in the event during a competition that saw the previous SEC meet record broken five different times by Cory Martin from Auburn.
Tennessee had four sprinters score at the SEC indoor meet in the 60 for the first time in school history. In addition to Williams, Evander Wells, Kyle Stevenson and Matthieu Pritchett also scored. Wells finished fourth in 6.70 and also placed third in the 200, just one-hundredth of a second behind second, with his time of 21.02. Stevenson finished fifth in the 60 after covering the straightaway in 6.76, and Pritchett placed sixth in 6.77.
Akeem Hardnett finished second in the triple jump with a season-best leap of 50-0 3/4, and Carjay Lyles placed seventh in the event with his own season-best jump of 48-6. Andy Lane cleared a personal-best height of 17-1 1/2 and finished third in the pole vault. Team captain Chris Helwick recorded a season-best vault of 15-9 one day after automatically qualifying for nationals in the heptathlon and tied for eighth.
Andrew Dawson, competing in his first SEC championship meet, ran a personal-best time of 1:49.99 in the 800 to place fifth. Yarrick Kincaid finished sixth in the event with a season-best clocking of 1:50.46. Team captain Tyler DeVault finished seventh in the mile while running a personal-best time of 4:07.39. Jacob Dennis placed eighth in the 400 with his time of 47.24.
Tennessee's 4x400 relay team of Nathan Grace, Dennis, Wells and Williams recorded a season-best, provisional-qualifying time of 3:09.35. Williams ended his third event of the day by recording a split of 45.2, the fastest of the quartet.
Matthew Maloney broke his personal record in the weight throw with his mark of 58-4 1/2 and finished 11th. Matt Piccarello ran a season-best time of 14:42.57 while placing 10th in the 5,000. Andy Baksa and Ben Lukowski finished 11th and 16th, respectively in the 5,000. Brad Holtz tied for 13th in the pole vault and Nick Panezich placed 16th in the weight throw.
"I was happy to see the performances of Addy, Helwick, Hogue and Williams," Webb said. "What people won't see is the sacrifices made by people like Yarrick Kincaid, who was battling the flu before coming to Lexington, to contribute to this finish.
Tennessee's four victories, which were the most for UT since 2002, were more than any other school during the weekend, and LSU was the only other team to earn three. The Vols finished as the highest Eastern Division team for the eighth time, more than any other school, since the SEC moved to the current 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring format in 1993. Tennessee's point total was the highest since 2002 when the Vols earned 130 points and also finished second.
Tennessee's coaching staff will send a select group of athletes to last chance meets next weekend as they get one more chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held March 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark.
| TENNESSEE RESULTS | ||
| SEC Indoor Championships, Lexington, Ky. | ||
| Final Team Standings | ||
| 1. | Arkansas | 126 |
| 2. | Tennessee | 115.5 |
| 3. | Florida | 93.5 |
| 4. | LSU | 79.5 |
| 5. | Georgia | 66 |
| 6. | Auburn | 59 |
| 7. | Kentucky | 40 |
| 8. | Alabama | 33 |
| 9. | Mississippi | 27 |
| 10. | South Carolina | 23.5 |
| 60 | ||
| 1. | Jeremy Hall, Fla. | 6.64* |
| 3. | Rubin Williams, Tenn. | 6.65* PR |
| 4. | Evander Wells, Tenn. | 6.70* |
| 5. | Kyle Stevenson, Tenn. | 6.76 |
| 6. | Matthieu Pritchett, Tenn. | 6.77 |
| 200 | ||
| 1. | Rubin Williams, Tenn. | 20.57** SB |
| 3. | Evander Wells, Tenn. | 21.02* |
| 400 | ||
| 1. | Reginald Dardar, LSU | 46.11* |
| 8. | Jacob Dennis, Tenn. | 47.24 |
| 800 | ||
| 1. | Jamaal James, LSU | 1:49.08* |
| 5. | Andrew Dawson, Tenn. | 1:49.99 PR |
| 6. | Yarrick Kincaid, Tenn. | 1:50.46 SB |
| Mile | ||
| 1. | Emmanuel Bor, Ala. | 4:01.74* |
| 7. | Tyler DeVault, Tenn. | 4:07.39 PR |
| 5,000 | ||
| 1. | Ian Burrell, Ga. | 14:00.93* |
| 10. | Matt Piccarello, Tenn. | 14:42.57 SB |
| 11. | Andy Baksa, Tenn. | 14:46.83 |
| 16. | Ben Lukowski, Tenn. | 15:02.37 |
| 60 hurdles | ||
| 1. | John Yarbrough, Miss. | 7.67** |
| 3. | Jangy Addy, Tenn. | 7.78* PR |
| 4x400 relay | ||
| 1. | Kentucky | 3:05.87** FR |
| 6. | Tennessee | 3:09.35* SB |
| (Grace, Dennis, Wells, Williams) | ||
| Distance medley relay | ||
| 1. | Tennessee | 9:43.78* SB |
| (Day, Fraser, Dawson, DeVault) | ||
| Pole vault | ||
| 1. | Michael Hogue, Tenn. | 17-5 1/2* PR |
| 3. | Andy Lane, Tenn. | 17-1 1/2* PR |
| 8-t. | Chris Helwick, Tenn. | 15-9 SB |
| 13-t. | Brad Holtz, Tenn. | 15-3 |
| Triple jump | ||
| 1. | Nkosinza Balumbu, Ark. | 52-2* |
| 2. | Akeem Hardnett, Tenn. | 50-0 3/4 SB |
| 7. | Carjay Lyles, Tenn. | 48-6 SB |
| Weight throw | ||
| 1. | Cory Martin, Auburn | 76-5* MR |
| 4. | Richard Wooten, Tenn. | 62-8 3/4 PR |
| 11. | Matthew Maloney, Tenn. | 58-4 1/2 PR |
| 16. | Nick Panezich, Tenn. | 54-9 1/4 |
FR-Nutter Field House facility record; MR-SEC Indoor Championship meet record; PR-personal record/career best mark; SB-season-best mark; **-NCAA automatic-qualifying mark; *-NCAA provisional-qualifying mark
