University of Tennessee Athletics
T&F CENTRAL: SEC Indoor Championships
February 25, 2015 | Track & Field
Feb. 25, 2015 
Feb. 27-28 | Lexington, Ky.
All Day | 10 a.m. start
TENNESSEE WOMEN
TENESSEE MEN
BROADCAST INFO
- Both days of the 2015 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships will be broadcast live on SEC Network +, the online, digital component of the SEC Network.
- To access SEC Network +, click here to access Friday coverage and log in using your satellite or cable account information. Saturday's coverage can be found hereFans can also follow the match on their mobile devices by downloading the WatchESPN app.
MEN'S COMPETITION
- The 13th-ranked Tennessee men's squad will send 18 student-athletes to the SEC Championships and will compete across 12 events over the course of the weekend.
- Wesley Edwards opens competition for the Vols at 1 p.m. on Friday when he takes part in the high jump. From there, the quartet of Tavis Bailey, Cameron Brown, Deon McAdoo, and Carson Frost compete in the weight throw at 2 p.m.
- Brown (76-8.5/23.38) and Bailey (71-11.5/21.93) currently rank first and second, respectively, on the SEC's performance list for men's weight throw. Brown will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal from a year ago while Bailey seeks his first SEC medal in the event.
- Freshman Christian Coleman kicks off the men's track events on Friday as he competes in the 60-meter dash preliminaries at 5 p.m. Coleman (6.58) owns the SEC's second-fastest time in the event this season as he enters his first SEC Championships.
- UT will also be looking for big things out of Jake Blankenship in Saturday's pole vault competition. The team captain, Blankenship (18-8.25/5.70) owns the second-best vault in the league this season. In the Saturday's shot put competition, both Bailey and senior Matthew Hoty will look to build on their fifth-place finishes from last year in College Station, Texas.
- Entering its indoor championship, the SEC boasts eight ranked programs on the men's side. Top-ranked Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Georgia, and No. 11 Alabama precede No. 13 Tennessee in the rankings. South Carolina comes in at No. 21.
- At last year's championships, the Tennessee men finished in ninth-place with 34 total points. Arkansas took home the SEC title with 121 points.
-
WOMEN'S COMPETITION
- Fifteen student-athletes comprise UT's women's squad this weekend in Lexington. The group will compete in 11 events over the two days.
- The weekend opens on the women's pole vault as Morgan Allen (12-4.75/3.78) and Erin Champion (13-6.25/4.12) enter the championship field. Champion set her personal-best in the event at last year's SEC Indoor Championships. The women's long jump, featuring Cidea'a Woods and Felecia Majors, also gets underway at 1 p.m.
- Team captain Cassie Wertman brings UT's proceedings in the field to a close on Friday when she takes part in the shot put. Wertman (55-1.5/16.80) holds the SEC's No. 3 spot in the event and has finished top-three in all six meets in which she has competed this season.
- The trio of Majors, Felicia Brown, and London Freeland are the first on the track for UT as they compete in the 400-meter preliminaries at 6:10 p.m. Rounding out Friday's running events, cross country All-American Chelsea Blaase competes in the 3000 meter final at 8:15. Blaase (9:22.28) owns the SEC's third-fastest time in the 3000.
- Blaase won a silver in the 5000 meters a year ago, but did not compete in the 3000. Currently holding the seventh-fastest time in the nation in the 5000 meters (15:50.40), the St. Joseph, Illinois, native is also scheduled for the final in that even on Saturday at 3:25.
- The latest USTFCCCA rankings show eight women's programs in the SEC among the nation's top 25. Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida hold down spots 1-3, respectively, while Texas A&M and Kentucky round out the league's top 10 representation at No. 7 and No. 9. Mississippi State is ranked 18th, Missouri is 20th, and LSU comes in at No. 21.
- At the 2014 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Tennessee women placed seventh with 35 total points. Florida's 102 points were enough to take home the conference crown.
LAST TIME OUT
- A busy weekend saw Tennessee split its duties across two meets as the majority of the team took part in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, while the distance specialists competed simultaneously at the Husky Classic in Seattle.
- The biggest finish of the weekend for UT came in the Emerald City when Chelsea Blaase placed second amidst a highly competitive field in the 5000 meters. The junior posted a career-best time of 15:50.40 in the race, a mark that paces the SEC and ranks seventh in the NCAA.
- Back in Fayetteville, Tennessee closed out the Tyson Invitational with seven new personal-bests. Most notable in that group may have been thrower Tavis Bailey. The junior finished runner-up in the men's weight throw behind a career-best mark of 71 feet, 11.5 inches (21.93 meters) -- the third best throw in UT's indoor history.
- Then the reigning SEC Men's Runner of the Week, true freshman Christian Coleman had another quality outing in the 60 meters, advancing all the way to the final where he took second place with a time of 6.65. Coleman was back in action on Saturday, posting a career-best 21.08 in the 200 meters.
- Joining an elite group in the pole vault invitational, junior Jake Blankenship placed third with a vault of 18 feet, 6.5 inches (5.65m) -- just a little less than two feet below his lifetime-best established earlier this season. He finished behind only Andrew Irwin of Arkansas and Shawn Barber of Akron, who broke the men's collegiate record with his winning vault.
-
FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
- First-year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan looks ahead to her first SEC Indoor Championships:
- On the championship environment: "We're looking forward to heading to Lexington and competing in the Nutter Field House. It's been the site of a lot of SEC Championships during the indoor season and we're looking forward to competing at our best in that environment. The squads are healthy and they're ready to go and we're excited as a staff for our first SEC competition together. We have the teams ready and we're poised to bring our best game forward into that competition. We're really in the right mentality for this championship."
- Previewing the women's competition: " Chelsea Blaase will compete in the 3000-meter, and we're looking forward to seeing her talents there. Cassie Wertman, our team captain, will have a great competition in the shot put and a real opportunity to be challenged. Both Felicia Brown and Felicia Majors have been coming into form lately and we're looking to seem them rise to the occasion at the Championships. The rest of the squad is also very focused and motivated."
- Previewing the men's competition: " Cameron Brown and Tavis Bailey continue to be the dominant force in the weight throw, which is very exciting. I also think we're going to see a great weekend out of our freshman Christian Coleman, competing in the 60 meters and maybe a relay. In the pole vault, Jake Blankenship has a natural rival in the young man from Arkansas so it will be great to be on a neutral runway for the both of them to be able to really contend against each other."
-
UP NEXT
- At 10 p.m. ET on March 3, the NCAA will announce the field for the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, to be held March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Ahead of the SEC Championships this weekend, Tennessee has six student-athletes in qualifying position for an NCAA Championship berth.
-
Players Mentioned
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
XC/Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & FieldEverything Orange S2 | Sarah Schmitt (Track & Field)
Thursday, April 17
Track & Field | 400m Hurdles Feature
Wednesday, May 22
Track & Field | Tennessee Invite Recap
Wednesday, April 10
Track & Field | Battle on the Bayou Recap
Saturday, March 30
