University of Tennessee Athletics
Alexander, Bowman Lead UT to 4th at SECs
May 18, 2008 | Women's Track
Results??
AUBURN, Ala. -- Annie Alexander unleashed a Trinidad & Tobago national record in the discus, and Sarah Bowman won the eighth conference title of her career, leading the Tennessee women to a fourth-place finish Sunday at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Auburn???s Hutsell-Rosen Track.
Those performances helped the Lady Vols accumulate 84 points and place fourth for the second straight season. LSU claimed the SEC trophy with 157.50, followed by Florida (128), Arkansas (86.50), UT, Kentucky (83.50), Mississippi (72), Auburn (65), South Carolina (42.50), Alabama (33), Georgia (32), Mississippi State (28) and Vanderbilt (7).
Alexander, a freshman from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, won the shot put title Saturday night on her final attempt to complete the first indoor/outdoor season women???s sweep in that event by a conference freshman. On Sunday, she came back to seize victory in the discus, ripping off a toss of 187 feet, six inches on her sixth throw to break the facility mark and snap her country???s national record as well.
The measurement by Alexander was the third longest in SEC Championship history and the eighth-best mark in Lady Vol annals. The rookie wasn???t the lone thrower scoring points for her team, as senior Shanna Dickenson (Cincinnati, Ohio) snagged third at 170-6 and classmate Amara McKell (Nashville, Tenn.) produced a throw of 158-2 to wind up sixth.
???I am elated and just so happy,??? Alexander said. ???I want to thank coach Frazier and our strength and conditioning coaches, because we have been preparing for this. I am so happy that I could come out and execute it.
???It was great to break the national record, but my main goal is to make the Olympic ???A??? standard or ???B??? standard. I know I have a lot more work to do, but I am really happy that I could prove myself at this meet.???
???Coming in and winning indoor and outdoor shot put titles as a freshman is amazing,??? UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. ???Following that up with a discus win today is just very, very special. We appreciate her efforts, her attitude and for giving us her best. It???s just nice to see good things happen to good people.???
Moments later, Bowman won the SEC 1500 meters for the second time in the past three seasons. The Warrenton, Va., native, who finished first as a freshman and took second a year ago to Dacia Barr of Arkansas, turned the tables on the Lady Razorback this time, out-kicking Barr over the final 30 meters to win her sixth SEC individual title and eighth league crown overall.
Bowman, who owns pairs of SEC triumphs in the 1500m, mile, 3000m and distance medley relay, had orange-clad support in the race. Freshman Brittany Sheffey (Bellport, N.Y.) came through with a fifth-place effort of 4:25.76, while junior Rolanda Bell (Laurelton, N.Y.) took seventh in 4:26.83.
???I really was just going out to win it,??? Bowman said. ???That was my goal; I didn???t care about time. She (Barr) started to kick with 600 meters to go, and I was expecting that she would do that to tire me out. So I just sat on her and waited for the final 100m to come.
???It???s definitely a nice achievement, because right there we had the number two 1500m runner in the nation I was running against. You want to learn to compete, too, and be able to run every way they make you run. It???s nice to go out there and compete against that caliber of athlete. It just makes you better.???
???I am very proud of this team,??? Clark said. ???We had a very difficult year, just through all the injuries and things like that. I want to congratulate Annie for winning two events this meet and for the job that the throws group did.
???I also want to congratulate Sarah for her consistency throughout the SEC. It has been outstanding. I don???t take it for granted that she is putting points on the board every meet that I am starting to depend on. I was just happy to see her stay on her game and be able to contribute to the team.???
Tennessee got a couple of career-best third-place finishes, coming in the 800 meters and the 100m hurdles. Sophomore Phoebe Wright (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) gamely went out and set the pace for over half of her race and held on for a career-best time of 2:04.92 and a bronze result. Junior Celriece Law, meanwhile, cruised to her fastest time ever in the 100m hurdles, taking third in a slightly wind-aided (2.4 mps) time of 13.23. Without taking a leap in the finals and utilizing her first attempt of the competition, Law also grabbed sixth in the triple jump at 41-2 1/4.
In the 400 meters, senior LaTonya Loche (Bastrop, La.) made her final SEC meet one to remember, charting a personal-best time of 52.78 and logging a top career conference outdoor finish of fourth. Her mark was an improvement over a 52.95 effort at the NCAA Mideast Regional as a freshman, and she bettered last year???s seventh-place SEC Outdoor finish. Loche also had placed fourth indoors this season.
The Lady Vols got seven points out of the 100m dash. Sophomore Lynne Layne (New Rochelle, N.Y.) improved from sixth a year ago to fourth this time around with a season-best readout of 11.38. Freshman Jeneba Tarmoh (San Jose, Calif.), meanwhile, charted her fastest race of 2008, running 11.44 to score in seventh position.
The Lady Vols closed out the meet by taking eighth in the 4x400m relay and slipped from fourth to third place as Arkansas moved up after getting six points for third place. The UT quartet of junior Kimarra McDonald (Lumberton, N.J.), Loche, Tarmoh and Wright covered the distance in 3:42.20.
???We had a chance to be in the top three, but no one probably would have expected that out of us this weekend,??? Clark said. ???We came very close. The effort that the team gave, with Lynne Layne, LaTonya Loche, Celriece Law, Phoebe Wright, Amara McKell, Shanna Dickenson, was just a tremendous effort tonight.???
While nearly everything else seemed to go according to plan, the Lady Vols weren???t able to capitalize in three areas where they had hoped to score. UT came out of the 5000 meters without points, but did get an NCAA regional qualifying mark. Junior Katie Van Horn (Glendora, N.J.) was Team Orange???s top finisher, taking 10th in 16:49.63 and meriting a trip to the regional meet. Sheffey came back to place 13th in 16:55.14, just missing the regional mark by a little over three seconds. Sophomore Jackie Areson (Delray Beach, Fla.) was 15th in a career best 17:08.19, while Bell, in her second race of the evening, also had a PR in 17:12.53.
Additionally, Layne ran 23.54 to wind up ninth in the 200 meters, and UT???s 4x100m relay combination of Tarmoh, Loche, senior Cleo Tyson (Huntsville, Texas) and Layne was unable to finish after a faulty baton exchange between the second and third legs.
UT will train for the next two weeks before heading to the NCAA Mideast Regional meet in Fayetteville, Ark., on May 30-31.
| THURSDAY, MAY 15 | ||
| Heptathlon (Auto: 5,500, Prov: 5,050) 5:00 p.m. CT | ||
| 12th | Jena??? Murphy | 2,526 pts. |
| (100mH: 11th/14.97!/w: 3.6/ 846; HJ: 12th/4-5.50!/1.36m/470; SP: 14th/ 26-10.50!/8.19m/412; 200m: 10th/25.99!/ w: 1.6/798) | ||
| FRIDAY, MAY 16 | ||
| Hammer (Regional: 177-8/54.15m) 2:00 p.m. CT?? | ||
| 2nd (8 pts.) | Shanna Dickenson | 194-3/59.22m# |
| 16th | Taylor Rotella | 136-1/41.47m! |
| Heptathlon (Auto: 5,500, Prov: 5,050) 3:00 p.m. CT | ||
| 13th | Jena??? Murphy | 4,186 |
| (LJ: 14th/15-6.25!/4.73m/ w: 1.7/487; JT: 12th/86-9/26.44!/409; 800m: 3rd/2:24.47!/764) | ||
| 800m Prelims (Regional: 2:09.80) 6:00 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | Phoebe Wright | 2:05.77p!#/1st, ht. 3 (1st) |
| 200m Prelims (Regional: 23.96) 6:35 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | Lynne Layne | 23.74p# (w: -1.2)/2nd, ht. 3 (3rd) |
| 19th | Jeneba Tarmoh | 24.46p (w: -1.0)/4th, ht. 2 |
| 22nd | Cleo Tyson | 24.79p (w: -1.0)/6th, ht. 1 |
| SATURDAY, MAY 17 | ||
| Javelin (Regional: 142-6/43.45m) 12:30 p.m. CT | ||
| 11th | Holly Kane | 116-4/35.47m |
| Long Jump (Regional: 19-8.25/6.00m) 4:00 p.m. CT | ||
| 6th (3 pts.) | Lynne Layne | 19-11.50/6.08m!# (w: -0.2) |
| 18th | Celriece Law | 18-3/5.56m (w: 0.0) |
| Pole Vault (Regional: 12-7.50/3.85m) 4:00 p.m. CT | ||
| nm | Alicia Essex | Missed at opening ht. (12-7.50/3.85m) |
| 1500m Prelims (Regional: 4:27.80) 6:00 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | Brittany Sheffey | 4:25.40p#/1st, ht. 1 (1st) |
| Adv. | Sarah Bowman | 4:27.55p#/1st, ht. 2 (5th) |
| Adv. | Rolanda Bell | 4:28.79p#/3rd, ht. 2 (8th) |
| Shot Put (Regional: 46-11/14.30m) 6:30 p.m. CT | ||
| 1st (10 pts) | Annie Alexander | 56-6.75/17.24m# |
| 10th | Amara McKell | 44-5.25/13.54m! |
| 100mH Prelims (Regional: 13.92) 6:30 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | Celriece Law | 13.39p# (w: 0.1)/1st, ht. 3 (3rd) |
| 17th | Jena??? Murphy | 15.19p (w:-0.1)/7th, ht. 2 |
| 400m Prelims (Regional: 54.61) 7:00 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | LaTonya Loche | 53.13p#/1st, ht. 4 (4th) |
| 100m Prelims (Regional: 11.75) 7:40 p.m. CT | ||
| Adv. | Lynne Layne | 11.46p# (w: 0.5)/1st, ht. 1 (2nd) |
| Adv. | Jeneba Tarmoh | 11.57p# (w: 0.5)/3rd, ht. 1 (6th) |
| 20th | Cleo Tyson | 12.06p (w: 0.6)/8th, ht. 2 |
| SUNDAY, MAY 18 | ||
| Triple Jump (Regional: 40-5/12.32m) 3:00 p.m. CT | ||
| 6th (3 pts.) | Celriece Law | 41-2.25/12.55mw# (w: 2.1) |
| Discus (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) 3:30 p.m. CT | ||
| 1st (10 pts) | Annie Alexander | 187-6/57.14m!#fTR |
| 3rd (6 pts.) | Shanna Dickenson | 170-6/51.96m# |
| 6th (3 pts.) | Amara McKell | 158-2/48.22m# |
| 4x100m Relay Final (Regional: 45.70) 5:00 p.m. CT | ||
| dnf | Jeneba Tarmoh/LaTonya Loche/Cleo Tyson/Lynne Layne | dropped baton |
| 1500m Final (Regional: 4:27.80) 5:20 p.m. CT | ||
| 1st (10 pts) | Sarah Bowman | 4:19.02# |
| 5th (4 pts.) | Brittany Sheffey | 4:25.76# |
| 7th (2 pt.s) | Rolanda Bell | 4:26.83# |
| 100mH Final (Regional: 13.92) 5:40 p.m. CT | ||
| 3rd (6 pts.) | Celriece Law | 13.23w# (w: 2.4) |
| 400m Final (Regional: 54.61) 6:00 p.m. CT | ||
| 4th (5 pts.) | LaTonya Loche | 52.78!# |
| 100m Final (Regional: 11.75) 6:20 p.m. CT | ||
| 4th (5 pts.) | Lynne Layne | 11.38# (w: 1.6) |
| 7th (2 pts.) | Jeneba Tarmoh | 11.44# (w: 1.6) |
| 800m Final (Regional: 2:09.80) 6:40 p.m. CT | ||
| 3rd (6 pts.) | Phoebe Wright | 2:04.92!# |
| 200m Final (Regional: 23.96) 7:25 p.m. CT | ||
| 9th | Lynne Layne | 23.54# |
| 5000m Final (Regional: 16:52.00) 7:45 p.m. CT | ||
| 10th | Katie Van Horn | 16:49.63# |
| 13th | Brittany Sheffey | 16:55.14! |
| 15th | Jackie Areson | 17:08.19! |
| 16th | Rolanda Bell | 17:12.53! |
| 4x400m Relay Final (Regional: 3:42.00) 8:25 p.m. CT | ||
| 8th (1 pt.) | Kimarra McDonald/LaTonya Loche/Jeneba Tarmoh/Phoebe Wright | 3:42.20 |
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).
