University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Sea Ray Relays
Snapp Closes Sea Rays With Wilson Trophy
April 13, 2013 | Track & Field
April 13, 2013
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee track & field team produced seven event wins and Lady Vol senior Nijgia Snapp was named the women's running Tony Wilson Memorial Trophy winner to cap off the 47th annual Sea Ray Relays at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium on Saturday.
Snapp highlighted the action for the Big Orange, winning the women's Sea Ray Showcase 800-meter race with a season-best time of 2 minutes, 5 seconds. The Mays Landing, N.J., product then anchored the Lady Vols to a win in the 4x800m relay with a time of 8:42.73. Her 800m time currently ranks ninth in the nation.
"We had a good weekend all the way around the board," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country J.J. Clark. "From the throws with (Matthew) Hoty's win to Jake (Blankenship) and the vaulters it was a total team effort.
"On the track, we saw good life with Kia Jackson in the 100m, Felicia Brown being consistent in the 400m and Nijgia making her winning mark in the 800m, which ultimately earned her the Tony Wilson Memorial Trophy."
Tennessee honored seniors Chris Bodary, Breon Dixon, Jessie Harrison, Kia Jackson, Kelsey Kane, Nijgia Snapp and Drew Thomas following the Showcase 4x100mR.
"It's always great to host a meet. We have such great track & field tradition here at Tennessee," Clark said. "It was a great award presentation for our seven seniors and we look forward to seeing how they perform through the rest of the year."
After being honored for Senior Day, Snapp became the sixth Lady Vol to win the Tony Wilson Memorial Trophy. With 2012 graduate Ellen Wortham winning the last two seasons, Snapp has now extended the streak to three-consecutive Lady Vols.
The award is given each year to the most outstanding male and female athlete in both the running and field events at the Sea Ray Relays. It is named in honor of Wilson, who was the SEC high jump champion in 1971 while competing for the Vols.
Indiana State's Felisha Johnson was the women's field winner. On the men's side, Findlay's Derrick Vicars and Ashland's Drew Windle were the Tony Wilson Memorial field and running award winners, respectively.
Snapp was joined on the 4x800m relay by teammates Brittney Jackson, Amirah Johnson and Alexis Panisse. The Lady Vols currently hold this season's world-leading time in the event, a mark (8:28.81) they set last week at the Pepsi Florida Relays.
Tennessee also got event wins from Brown in the Showcase 400m, as she crossed the line in 53.64, and from Jackson, who won the Showcase 100m in 11.56 seconds.
The Lady Vols picked up their fifth win of the day in the distance medley relay race, finishing in a season-best time of 11:44.88. The quartet was made up of Amber Zimmerman, Julia Petree, Kianna Ruff and Kane.
In field action, freshman Cassie Wertman notched a fourth-place finish in the shot put (50-7.25/15.42m).
Building off Matthew Hoty's stellar performance in the men's shot put on Friday night, the Vol pole vaulters came out big on Saturday afternoon. With freshman Jake Blankenship leading the way, three Vols placed in the top four of the invitational competition. Blankenship became the ninth Vol to win the event at the Sea Ray Relays and the first since 2007 with a clearance of 18-0.5 (5.50m). Juniors Tyler Porter (17-4.50/5.30m) and Chase Brannon (17-4.50/5.30m) followed close behind, placing third and fourth, respectively.
Defending Invitational discus champion Tavis Bailey was unable to repeat, but placed second in the event with a throw of 183-4 (55.88m).
On the track it was junior Arnez Hardnick that had the big day for the Vols. Hardnick doubled-up with the 100m and 200m races and anchored the Orange and White to a win in the men's 4x100m relay. Tennessee, which owns the nation's 10th-best time this season, crossed the line well ahead of the competition in 40.17 seconds. Hardnick placed third in the 200m (21.33w) and eighth in the 100m (10.87). Reggie Juin, Jamol James and Jarael Nelvis made up the opening three legs of the relay in that order.
"On Friday night, the 10Ks were solid," said Clark. Stephen Derlath has a PR of over 1:45 and All-American Peter Okwera had a PR to finish second. Collectively, the men's and women's marks were good throughout the weekend."
Tennessee will split up next week to compete at both the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., and the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville.
LADY VOL RESULTS AT THE SEA RAY RELAYS
Saturday
800m (Showcase): 1. Nijgia Snapp, 2:05.00
100m (Showcase): 1. Kia Jackson, 11.56 (w: +0.5)
400m (Showcase): 1. Felicia Brown, 53.64
DMR (Showcase): 1. Amber Zimmerman / Julia Petree / Kianna Ruff / Kelsey Kane, 11:44.88
4x800mR: 1. Brittney Jackson / Amirah Johnson / Alexis Panisse / Nijgia Snapp, 8:42.73
4x100mR (Showcase): 3. Kia Jackson / Felicia Brown / Bianca Blair / Emily Yarnell, 46.10
Shot Put: 4. Cassie Wertman, 50-7.25/15.42m; 7. Aslynn Halvorson, 47-7/14.50m; nm. ReJean Rouse (una.), F
4x400mR: 4. Brittney Jackson / Kianna Ruff / Bianca Blair / Felicia Brown, 3:40.47; 19. Julia Petree / Nijgia Snapp / Ty-Vonna Johnson / Charity Honeycutt, 3:57.89
Discus (Inv.): 5. Aslynn Halvorson, 161-3/49.16m; 7. Cassie Wertman, 154-4/47.05m!; 11. Katelyn Williams, 123-5/37.62m
200m final: 5. Emily Yarnell, 24.17w (w: +2.7)
Long Jump: 6. Kasha McDougald, 18-8/5.76mw (w: +2.4); 11. Kia Jackson, 17-4.75/5.30m (w: +0.0); nm. Allison Outerbridge, F
Friday
800m (Open): 1. Amirah Johnson, 2:09.11!; 2. Alexis Panisse, 2:10.07; 6. Kelsey Kane, 2:11.43!; 7. Brittney Jackson, 2:12.29; 8. Charity Honeycutt, 2:12.37!; 19. Amber Zimmerman, 2:14.94; 20. Julia Petree, 2:15.73; 27. Ty-Vonna Johnson, 2:17.11; 28. Patavia Lowery, 2:17.31
400m (Open): 2. Kianna Ruff, 55.13
3000m Steeplechase: 3. Hannah Davidson, 10:44.75
Pole Vault: 4. Linda Hadfield, 13-1/5/4.00m; 5. Erin Champion, 13-1.5/4.00m!
Javelin: 4. Katherine Dresch, 128-9/39.24m
Triple Jump: 4. Allison Outerbridge, 40-0.5/12.20m (w: +4.1); 10. Kasha McDougald, 39-1.75/11.93m! (w: +4.1)
100m Hurdles: 6. Bianca Blair, 13.64 (w: +2.3); 24. Kasha McDougald, 14.73 (w: +2.3)
1500m (Open): 18. Lizzie Cornell, 4:59.72
100m Prelims: adv. Kia Jackson, 11.53 (w: +2.5)/Ht. 1, 1st (1st); dna. Emily Yarnell, 11.86 (w: +2.5)/Ht. 1, 2nd (9th); dna. Jazmen Townsend, 12.77 (w: +2.7)/Ht. 2, 6th (39th)
200m Prelims: adv. Felicia Brown, 23.04 (w: +4.6)/Ht. 2, 1st (1st); adv. Kia Jackson, 24.06 (w: +2.1)/Ht. 3, 1st (6th); dna. Emily Yarnell, 24.36 (w: +2.7)/Ht. 5, 2nd (12th); dna. Bianca Blair, 25.52 (w: +4.6)/Ht. 2, 6th (34th)
Thursday
Hammer: 8. Jessie Harrison, 170-8/52.01m; 20. ReJean Rouse (unattached), 136-8/41.65m!; 21. Katelyn Williams, 115-2/35.11m
VOL RESULTS AT THE SEA RAY RELAYS
Saturday
Pole Vault (Inv.): 1. Jake Blankenship, 18-0.5/5.50m; 3. Tyler Porter, 17-4.50/5.30m; 4. Chase Brannon, 17-4.50/5.30m
4x100mR (Showcase): 1. Reggie Juin / Jamol James / Jarael Nelvis / Arnez Hardnick, 40.17
Discus (Inv.): 2. Tavis Bailey, 183-4/55.88m; 11. Matthew Hoty, 153-5/46.77m
100m (Showcase): 3. Jamol James, 10.66 (w: +1.4); 8. Arnez Hardnick, 10.87 (w: +1.4)
200m (Showcase): 3. Arnez Hardnick, 21.33w (w: +2.1); 5. Jarael Nelvis, 21.57w (w: +2.1)
DMR: 3. Jeremy Dickie / Michael Williams / Antonio Carter / Kyle Walter, 9:56.71
4x1500mR: 6. Jeremy Dickie / Chris Bodary / Nick Kaiser / Austin Whitelaw, 16:21.93
High Jump: 7. Derek McClardy, 6-4.75/1.95m
4x400mR: 7. Antonio Carter / Jarael Nelvis / Michael Williams / Terrance Livingston, 3:11.94
800m (Showcase): 9. Antonio Carter, 1:52.65!
1500m (Showcase): Peter Okwera - DNF
Friday
Shot Put: 1. Matthew Hoty, 62-8.75/19.12m!; 7. Tavis Bailey, 57-5.75/17.52m!
400m (Open): 1. Terrance Livingston, 47.04
10000m: 2. Peter Okwera, 30:10.54!; 6. Stephen Derlath, 30:37.60!; 16. J.R. Creekmore, 31:36.59!
5000m: 6. Chris Bodary, 14:49.81; 11. Jake Rainey, 15:09.39;
400m Hurdles: 7. Michael Williams, 53.23
1500m (Open): 8. Jeremy Dickie, 3:58.00; 15. Alex McCandless, 4:01.19
Pole Vault (Open): 10. Michael Maira, 15-1/4.60m
3000m Steeplechase: 12. Daniel Tobin, 9:25.43
800m (Open): 25. Nick Kaiser, 1:56.14
100m Prelims: adv. Arnez Hardnick, 10.52 (w: +2.1)/Ht. 8, 1st (2nd); adv. Jamol James, 10.53 (w: +1.4)/Ht. 2, 1st (5th); dna. Jarael Nelvis, 10.64 (w: +0.3)/Ht. 3, 3rd (14th); dna. Reggie Juin, 10.79 (w: +2.6)/Ht. 4, 3rd (26th)
200m Prelims: adv. Arnez Hardnick, 21.15 (w: +2.7)/Ht. 8, 1st (2nd); adv. Jarael Nelvis, 21.26 (w: +3.0)/Ht. 3, 1st (7th); dna. Jamol James, 21.48 (w: +1.7)/Ht. 9/4th (14th); dna. Reggie Juin, 21.87 (w: +2.7)/Ht. 4, 4th (27th); dna. Derek McClardy, 23.44 (w: +2.0)/Ht. 2/3rd (47th)
Thursday
Hammer: 11. Drew Thomas, 188-11/57.59m!; 18. Deon McAdoo, 177-6/54.10m!; 21. Cameron Brown, 173-7/52.90m; F. Carson Frost
! - Personal Best, !* - Ties Personal Best, a - American Record, c - Collegiate Record, adv. - Advanced, dna - Did Not Advance, dnf - Did Not Finish, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Start, dq - Disqualified, F - Foul, f - Facility Record, fr - Freshman Record, fr* - Tied Freshman Record, fs - False Start, mr - Meet Record, nh - No Height, nm - No Mark, sr - School Record, tr - Track Record, w - wind-aided, wr - World Record
Players Mentioned
