University of Tennessee Athletics
4x4 Improves NCAA Stock
March 05, 2011 | Women's Track
March 5, 2011
By Eric Trainer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Competing at two different last chance meets on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Vol 4x400-meter relay unit and Vol sprinter Dentarius Locke improved their chances of qualifying for next weekend's NCAA Indoor Championship meet. They'll have to wait until Monday afternoon's announcement by the selection committee to find out officially whether it was enough.
The Tennessee women's 4x4 combination of junior Ellen Wortham, sophomores Nijgia Snapp and Martinique Octave, and freshman Kianna Ruff rolled to a third-place finish in a season-best clocking of three minutes, 35.12 seconds at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind. That mark, which left them third behind Central Florida (3:34.00) and Florida (3:34.61), improved them to 11th nationally and quite possibly earned them a trip to College Station, Texas, for the NCAA meet on March 11-12. Their mark is the eighth-fastest in Lady Vol history.
Also running at the Notre Dame meet was Vol senior Peter Sigilai, who logged a career-best time of 1:49.26 to place sixth. His effort, which moved him to No. 10 on UT's all-time performers list, leaves him at No. 34 nationally and out of NCAA consideration.
Locke, meanwhile was competing in Blacksburg, Va., at the Virginia Tech Final Qualifier, and put himself in the conversation for an NCAA bid. His career-best time of 6.64 left him second at the meet in the 60-meter dash behind Florida's Terrell Wilks (6.59) and moved him from 20th to 13th on the NCAA list, pending any other last chance meet results.
The redshirt freshman, who moved to No. 6 on UT's all-time performers list with his effort in the final, ran 6.80 and 6.72 in the first two rounds. Freshman teammate Jarael Nelvis placed sixth in heat one in 7.04 and did not run in the semifinal round.
Nelvis and Locke also gave it a shot in the 200 meters, but neither logged improvement. Competing in a multi-heat, timed final, Nelvis wound up fourth in 21.34 while Locke was fifth in 21.36.
UT RESULTS AT THE ALEX WILSON INVITATIONALLady Volunteers
4x400m Relay: 3. Ellen Wortham / Nijgia Snapp / Martinique Octave / Kianna Ruff, 3:35.12b
Volunteers800m: 6. Peter Sigilai, 1:49.26b!
UT RESULTS AT THE VIRGINIA TECH FINAL QUALIFIER
Volunteers60m Prelims: Adv. Dentarius Locke, 6.80p/2nd, ht. 1 (4th); Adv. Jarael Nelvis, 7.04p/6th, ht. 1 (15th)
60m Semifinals: 2. Adv. Dentarius Locke, 6.72p/2nd, ht. 2 (3rd); DNS - Jarael Nelvis
60m Final: 2. Dentarius Locke, 6.64p!
200m Final: 4. Jarael Nelvis, 21.34b; 5. Dentarius Locke, 21.36b
* - NCAA automatic qualifying mark, ! - personal record, ^ - oversized track, b - banked track, DNF - did not finish, DQ - disqualified, F - foul, fr - facility record, FS - false start, h - heat, m - meters, mr - meet record, NM - no mark registered, NH - no height registered, p - preliminary round, sr - school record
