University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Looks Toward Friday At NCAAs
June 07, 2012 | Women's Track
June 7, 2012
THURSDAY RESULTS l FRIDAY START LISTS l ATHLETE QUOTES
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Tennessee track & field teams will turn their focus toward four scoring chances on Friday after missing on three qualifying opportunities on Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
With only entries in a trio of women's semifinal events on day two at Drake Stadium, the Lady Vols were unable to advance in the 200 meters, 1500 meters and 4x400-meter relay despite some strong performances.
The 4x4 did almost everything it could to move along to Saturday's championship race, but its two-second season-best time of three minutes, 31.57 seconds left the quartet two spots shy of earning a lane in the final. The quartet of senior Ellen Wortham, sophomore Kianna Ruff, junior Nijgia Snapp and junior Martinique Octave offset an awkward exchange between the first two legs to log a fourth-place finish in heat one and an overall outcome of 10th, fueled by a 51.78 leg from Snapp.
About two hours earlier, senior Brittany Sheffey also came up short in her attempt to make an NCAA final. Running in a very fast first section of the 1500 semifinals, the Lady Vol distance standout ran near the front of the pack for 1200 meters before the quick pace finally took its toll. Try as she might, she could not maintain her position and wound up finishing 10th in that race at 4:18.63 and 19th overall. That clocking was the second best of her career.
Senior Brittany Jones started day two for the Lady Vols, but she was unable to move out of the semifinal round in the women's 200. Jones checked in with a wind-aided 23.35 readout to place sixth in heat one and 15th overall out of 24 competitors.
Tennessee will have entrants in four events on Friday. Sophomore Chase Brannon competes in the men's pole vault final at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 ET), senior Annie Alexander takes part in the women's shot put final at 5 p.m. CT (6 ET), Wortham runs in the women's 400m hurdles final at 5:45 p.m. CT (6:45 ET) and senior Chanelle Price competes in the women's 800m final at 6:20 p.m. CT (7:20 ET). Portions of the meet will be shown live on www.espn3.com, starting at 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 ET).
Thursday
4x400m Semifinals: DNA - Ellen Wortham / Kianna Ruff / Nijgia Snapp / Martinique Octave, 3:31.57p/4th, ht. 1 (10th)
200m Semifinals: DNA - Brittany Jones, 23.35pw (w: 2.2)/6th, ht. 1 (15th)
1500m Semifinals: DNA - Brittany Sheffey, 4:18.63p/10th, ht. 1 (19th)
Wednesday
Discus Throw Final: 5. Annie Alexander, 186-0/56.69m
Pole Vault Final: t20. Linda Hadfield, 12-9.50/3.90m
800m Semifinals: Adv. Chanelle Price, 2:01.66p/1st, ht. 3 (1st)
400m Hurdles Semifinals: Adv. 55.67p/1st, ht. 2 (2nd)
4x100m Semifinals: DNA - Ashley Harris / Brittany Jones / Martinique Octave / Kia Jackson, 44.26p/4th, ht. 1 (12th)
Thursday
No Vols In Action
Wednesday
4x100m Semifinals: Adv. - Reggie Juin / Jamol James / Jarael Nelvis / Arnez Hardnick, 39.25p/3rd, ht. 3 (8th)
! - personal record, Adv. - Advanced to next round, DNA - did not advance, DNF - did not finish, DNS - did not start, 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, utfr - UT freshman record, w - wind-aided
