University of Tennessee Athletics
Track & Field Heads to East and West Coast
April 22, 2008 | Women's Track
Meet Notes (PDF)??
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- For the second time during the outdoor campaign, the 16th-ranked University of Tennessee women???s track & field team will split up and compete on two different coasts. For those specializing in running events, the 114th Penn Relays in Philadelphia will be the next stop, from Thursday to Saturday, while the throwers will head west to the San Diego area. There, they will compete in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational as well as attend a special meet at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.
At Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the Lady Vols are slated to be entered in nine events, including the 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x800m, 4x1500m and distance medley relays and the 100m hurdles, 5,000m, 10,000m and long jump. The historic meet is one of the nation???s largest, featuring high school, college and Olympic-caliber runners competing in front of crowds that range from 20,000 to 25,000 on Thursday to as high as 45,000-50,000 on Saturday. On that final day, college and Olympic caliber finals are contested, with ESPN2 televising live from 2 to 4 p.m. during a highly-anticipated USA vs. the World international showdown.
???Going to the Penn Relays is always an exciting time,??? UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. ???It???s one of the very rare opportunities in this country where you can get more than 20-30,000 people together for a track meet outside the Olympic Games. It???s a great atmosphere, and it???s fun to win and do well there.
???It brings the best out of everyone, and I look forward to the best coming from my group. We???re going there to do well, but we???re also going to have fun and enjoy the experience.???
Tennessee, the winner of the 2008 NCAA Indoor distance medley relay national championship, returns as the defending champion and the victor of two of the past four DMR crowns at Franklin Field, and the Lady Vols were runners-up in the 4x800m relay the past two seasons as well. Those experiences and many of the Lady Vols??? trips to the meet as high school competitors seem to prepare Clark???s troops for the large venue that often features a rather vocal, and sometimes raucous, crowd during the famed ???Championship of America??? relay races.
???A lot of them (Lady Vols) ran in the Penn Relays in high school, and they understand the atmosphere of the Penn Relays or at least they???ve heard about it or seen it on TV. Just being familiar with it is good, and the couple who haven???t been exposed to it will get the experience in a couple of days, and I???m sure it will be a weekend they???ll never forget.???
A year ago, Tennessee turned in an unforgettable come-from-behind triumph in the DMR on Thursday at Penn Relays, with Sarah Bowman (Warrenton, Va.) anchoring UT past hometown Villanova to claim the Big Orange???s third title in that event and 13th overall relay victory at the meet. UT, which returns only Bowman and 400m leg LaTonya Loche (Bastrop, La.) in 2008, also won the DMR in 2004 and 1983. Gone are Rose-Anne Galligan (1200m) and Leslie Treherne (800m), with freshman Brittany Sheffey (Bellport, N.Y.) and sophomore Phoebe Wright (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) likely to fill those turns.
Additionally, Bowman played a role in Tennessee finishing second in the 4x800m event the past two seasons, anchoring as a freshman and running the second leg last year. Joining her on the 2007 4x8 were Galligan, Wright and Treherne. Only Wright and Bowman return. Clark will pick two replacements from either Sheffey or juniors Rolanda Bell (Laurelton N.Y.) or Kimarra McDonald (Lumberton, N.J.) to run on Saturday afternoon.
UT???s other relay lineups would include freshman Jeneba Tarmoh (San Jose, Calif.), senior Cleo Tyson (Huntsville, Texas), Loche and sophomore Lynne Layne (New Rochelle, N.Y.) on the 4x1 and 4x2 units, on Thursday and Friday, respectively, with Bell, Bowman, Sheffey and Wright handling the 4x1500m on Friday. The Lady Vols have previously won two 4x1s at Penn, coming in 1984 and 1994, but they have never tasted victory in the other two events. The Big Orange was eighth in the 4x15 last season, did not finish the 4x1 after a bad exchange and last ran a 4x2 when they placed third in 2006.
Individually, Layne will tackle the long jump on Thursday afternoon, sophomore Jackie Areson (Delray Beach, Fla.) and junior Katie Van Horn (Glendora, N.J.) will take part in the 5K and 10K, respectively, at the distance carnival on Thursday night, and junior Celriece Law (Denver, Colo.) will enter the 100m hurdles on Friday.
Out on the West Coast, Tennessee will have seniors Shanna Dickenson (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Amara McKell (Nashville, Tenn.) and freshman Annie Alexander (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago) taking part in the USATF Discus Development Series on Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. On Friday and Saturday, they will head up to LaJolla to compete in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational. The same three Lady Vols will compete in the discus on Friday, and Dickenson will take part in the hammer throw as well. On Saturday, Alexander and McKell will throw the shot, while freshman Holly Kane (Knoxville, Tenn.) will enter the javelin competition.
???We decided to split our group this year and let the throwers go out to what usually is a very high quality meet out in California,??? Clark said. ???We wanted to provide this opportunity for our throwers to go out there and get good marks on the board. They usually go to Penn Relays, but we decided to experiment and see how it works this year. I think things will fall into place, and they???ll come up with some solid performances.???
Alexander ranks No. 1 in the SEC in the discus (175-8) and No. 2 in the shot (57-3), while Dickenson is second in the league in both the hammer (190-01) and discus (164-7). McKell stands seventh in the conference in the discus at 154-2. Kane is ninth in the SEC in the javelin at 131-10.
| THURSDAY, APRIL 24 AT PENN RELAYS | ||
| (265) Long Jump Champ. (Regional: 19-8.25/6.00m) Noon | ||
| Lynne Layne | ||
| (12) 4x100m Heats (Regional: 45.70) 1:00 p.m. | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Tarmoh/Tyson/Loche/Layne) | ||
| (58) DMR (Regional: 45.70) 5:15 p.m. | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Sheffey/Loche/Wright/Bowman) | ||
| (74) 5000m Champ. (Regional: 16:52.00) 8:30 p.m. | ||
| Jackie Areson | ||
| (79)10,000m Champ (Auto: 33:30.00, Prov.: 35:00.00) 10:05 p.m. | ||
| Katie Van Horn | ||
| THURSDAY, APRIL 24 AT USATF DISCUS DEVELOPMENT SERIES | ||
| ???B??? Discus (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) Noon PT/3 p.m. ET | ||
| Amara McKell | ||
| ???A??? Discus (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) 1 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. ET | ||
| Annie Alexander | ||
| Shanna Dickenson | ||
| FRIDAY, APRIL 25 AT PENN RELAYS | ||
| (114) 4x100m Finals (Regional: 45.70) 12:55 p.m. | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Tarmoh/Tyson/Loche/Layne) | ||
| (122) 4x1500m Relay Final (Not An NCAA Event) 1:25 p.m.?? | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Wright/Sheffey/Bell/Bowman) | ||
| (124) 4x200m Relay Heats (Not An NCAA Event) 2:05 p.m.?? | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Tarmoh/Tyson/Loche/Layne) | ||
| (133) 100mH Heats (Regional: 13.92) 3:35 p.m. | ||
| Celriece Law | ||
| FRIDAY, APRIL 25 AT UCSD TRITON INV. | ||
| Hammer (Regional: 177-8/54.15m) 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET?? | ||
| Shanna Dickenson | ||
| Discus (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET | ||
| Annie Alexander | ||
| Shanna Dickenson | ||
| Amara McKell | ||
| SATURDAY, APRIL 26 AT PENN RELAYS | ||
| (230) 4x200m Relay Final (Not An NCAA Event) 2:25 p.m.?? | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Tarmoh/Tyson/Loche/Layne) | ||
| (234) 4x800m Relay (Not An NCAA Event) 2:45 p.m. | ||
| Lady Vol Lineup TBD (Wright/Bowman/Sheffey/Bell/McDonald) | ||
| (241) 100mH Finals (Regional: 13.92) 4:05 p.m. | ||
| Celriece Law | ||
| SATURDAY, APRIL 26 AT UCSD TRITON INV. | ||
| Javelin (Regional: 142-6/43.45m) 11:00 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET | ||
| Holly Kane | ||
| Shot Put (Regional: 46-11/14.30m) 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET | ||
| Annie Alexander | ||
| Shanna Dickenson | ||
| Amara McKell | ||
KEY
# - NCAA Regional Qualifier, * - NCAA Automatic Qualifier, + - NCAA Provisional Qualifier, ! - Personal Record (Outdoors), dnf - Did Not Finish, dnq - Did Not Qualify, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Start, dq - Disqualified, f - Facility Record, fs - False Start, h - Hand Times, nm - No Mark, p - Prelims, s - School Record (Outdoors).
