University of Tennessee Athletics
No. 22 Vols Send Six to Last Chance Meets
March 05, 2009 | Men's Track
March 5, 2009
The No. 22-ranked Tennessee men's track and field team has six athletes in action at two last chance meets on Saturday. All six Vols have met NCAA provisional standards in their event but need to improve those marks in order to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 13-14.
"This weekend is about giving our guys that are very close a chance to get into the NCAA meet," Tennessee head coach Bill Webb said. "Our program has made a habit of qualifying guys during this weekend and having them go on to score at the NCAA Championships, so this is an exciting weekend for us. We have a few guys who just need slight improvement and a few who have more work to do, but we know they can get there."
A group of five athletes will travel to Virginia Tech for the third time this season. In field events, Southeastern Conference champion Joseph Berry and Brad Holtz will hope to pole vault past the 5.30m (17-4.5) mark and into consideration for a spot at the NCAA Championships. Akeem Hardnett will compete in the triple jump looking to improve his season-best distance of 15.47m (50-9.25).
Two Vols will also take to the track in Blacksburg with the NCAA meet on their minds. Charlton Rolle, who has posted a 60m hurdles clocking of 6.85 seconds this season, will try to better that time while Evander Wells will try to drop a few hundredths from his 60m time of 6.68 seconds. Wells' 200m time of 20.90 is likely fast enough to earn him an invitation to College Station in that event.
The lone Volunteer traveling to South Bend, Ind., for Notre Dame's Alex Wilson Invitational is Joseph Franklin, who needs slight improvement on his 800m time of 1:49.29 in order to qualify for the NCAA meet.
Michael Ayers and Nick Panezich have already done the work necessary to participate at the NCAA Championships. Ayers posted an automatic-qualifying total of 5,717 points en route to winning the SEC Heptathlon, and Nick Panezich registered a provisional shot put mark of 19.23m (63-1.25) at the Virginia Tech Challenge on Feb. 21 that will rank high enough on the national list to earn him an invitation.
The Virginia Tech meet begins at 10:00 a.m. ET Saturday, while Franklin will run the 800m in South Bend at 12:25 p.m. Live results from the Virginia Tech meet are available at UTsports.com.
SIX TRACK VOLS NAMED ALL-SEC
The Tennessee men's track and field had six athletes earn Southeastern Conference postseason honors, the conference office announced Thursday.
The four Vols who claimed conference crowns, Michael Ayers, Joseph Berry, Nick Panezich and Brenard Wilson, were named first-team All-SEC. Brad Holtz was selected for second-team honors, and Joseph Franklin was named to the All-Freshman Team.
Ayers posted the fourth-highest heptathlon point total in meet history at 5,717 en route to winning that event at the SEC Championships last weekend. Berry and Holtz finished 1-2 in the pole vault after both clearing a final height of 5.26m (17-3). Panezich won the shot put with a top throw of 18.55m (60-10.50), and Wilson claimed victory in the high jump after clearing the bar at 2.15m (7-0.5). Franklin was the first freshman across the finish line and third overall in the 800m at 1:50.43.
UT CROSS COUNTRY EARNS ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM HONORS
The UT men's cross country team was named a Division I All-Academic Team, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Thursday.
For a team to be considered for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award, they must have competed and compiled a team score at an NCAA Regional and must also have a minimum 3.00 team cumulative grade point average. The Vols posted a cumulative grade point average of 3.12 in the fall semester and earned a fifth-place finish at the NCAA South Regional in November.
Tennessee has earned the academic distinction in each of the last three seasons.
