University of Tennessee Athletics
TRACK & FIELD CENTRAL: Tennessee Relays
April 08, 2015 | Track & Field
April 9-11 | Knoxville, Tennessee
10 am Thurs. | 9 am Fri. | 9 pm Sat.
LIVE RESULTS | MEET HISTORY
TWITTER | #TNRelays15
TENNESSEE WOMEN
TENESSEE MEN
BROADCAST INFO
- Live video streaming for the 49th Tennessee Relays Powered by Sea Ray is unavailable this weekend.
- Fans unable to make it out to Tom Black Track for the weekend's events (admission is free) can stay up to date through the live results linked above or by following @Vol_Track on Twitter.
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MEET INFO
- The 49th Tennessee Relays Powered by Sea Ray will be held this weekend at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium on the campus of the University of Tennessee. UT will be hosting the meet in conjunction with the Knoxville Track Club.
- 2015 marks the second consecutive year that the Tennessee Relays will feature a combined collegiate and high school competition. Over 1,750 athletes are entered into the weekend's events making this one of the largest Relays in years.
- After 20 years of proud support, the Sea Ray name has become synonymous with the annual spring meet.
- Admission is free to all spectators.
- On Saturday at 12:20 p.m., the Tennessee Track and Field team will be recognizing its 14 seniors during a short ceremony just prior to the start of the day's track events.
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MEN'S COMPETITION
- The Tennessee men enter the weekend ranked 13th in the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings.
- In total, 26 UT men will compete across 20 events over the weekend -- a figure that includes eight Tennessee season debuts.
- On a jam-packed Friday, freshman Jalen Hunter will make his outdoor collegiate debut in both the men's 400-meter hurdles and 110-meter hurdles. Another freshman, Malik Elion is expected to make his first collegiate start in the 400-meter dash and 200-meter dash that same afternoon.
- Heading into Friday's evening session, senior Antonio Carter opens up his outdoor season in the 800 meters, while J.R. Creekmore and Jack Little debut in the 5000 meters to round out the day.
- Friday may also mark the season-opener for dual athlete Devrin Young. A running back with football, Young is entered to compete in Friday's 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash, as well as the 4x100-meter relay on Saturday.
- Freshman Josh Wheeler will be in action Thursday and Friday as he competes unattached in the decathlon. On Thursday night, senior Anthony Simpson launches his season in the 10,000 meters.
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EVENTS TO WATCH
- Saturday's 200-meter dash invitational promises to be one of the most exciting races of the weekend as freshman phenom Christian Coleman looks to best his season-best time of 21.08, which ranks 26th in the NCAA.
- The pole vault invitational looks to be one of the strongest events at the Tennessee Relays as a pair of All-Americans head up UT's vaulting efforts. Jake Blankenship ranks second in the nation and is just one of two vaulters in the country this year to have cleared 19 feet. Meanwhile, teammate and senior Tyler Porter comes into his final Tennessee Relays as the No. 4 pole vaulter int he country.
- Saturday will also showcase the men's discus invitational--an event that will feature school record holder Tavis Bailey. The senior will be looking to write more history at Tom Black Track after putting forth his record-setting throw of 64.51 at last year's Tennessee Challenge in Knoxville.
- On Friday evening, Austin Whitelaw competes in the men's 5000 meters. Just last weekend, Whitelaw became the first UT runner to break the 14-minute mark in the event since 2006 when he turned in a career-best 13:58.69 at the Stanford Invitational.
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WOMEN'S COMPETITION
- This weekend's Tennessee women's squad will feature 11 athletes competing across 13 events. Four of those athletes will be making their season debuts.
- Freshman Megan Linder will open up her outdoor season in both the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash on Friday afternoon. She will be followed by Lizzie Cornell and Julia Petree, who are each competing for the first time this spring in the 800 meters.
- Caroline Duer will also be making her outdoor season debut on Friday evening in the women's 1500 meters.
- Brielyn Rogers will compete in the women's heptathlon for the first time this season and will be in action on Thursday and Friday morning at Tom Black Track. Similarly, Felicia Brown is slated to compete in the 100-meter dash for the first time this spring.
EVENTS TO WATCH
- On Thursday and Friday, Brielyn Rogers competes in the women's heptathlon.
- Junior Erin Champion will take to the women's pole vault on Friday afternoon, looking to improve on her season-best mark of 12 feet, 11.5 inches, which ranks 10th in the SEC.
- Saturday's 200-meter dash invitational will feature the talents of Felecia Majors (23.40) and Felicia Brown (23.48). Both athletes are ranked inside the NCAA's top 20 in the event, with Majors holding the No. 17 spot and Brown coming in at No. 19.
LAST TIME OUT
- Tennessee Track and Field recorded one new school record, six new PRs, and eight top-15 finishes over a productive weekend at the Pepsi Florida Relays and the Stanford Invitational.
- The weekend in Gainesville began with the debut of freshman sprinter and NCAA Indoor All-American Christian Coleman in the men's 100-meter dash. The Atlanta native turned in a solid time of 10.22 to finish in fifth place overall. His time is the eighth-fastest in the NCAA thus far this season and stands at No. 3 on the SEC performance list.
- Fellow freshman Nathan Strother continued his strong start to the spring season with another PR in the men's 400-meter dash. He placed 15th overall with a time of 46.64.
- UT also got a couple of strong performances from sophomore Felecia Majors, who recorded a season-best 52.92 in the 400-meter dash and a new career-best time of 23.40 in the 200 meters. She finished 10th and 17th, respectively, in those races.
- Late Friday night on the opposite coast in Stanford, California, Tennessee distance specialists Chelsea Blaase and Austin Whitelaw put forth historic performances in their events.
- . Racing in the women's 10,000 meters, Blaase broke her own school record with a time of 32:28.39. She finished seventh overall in the event, but was the No. 2 collegiate finisher behind Arkansas' Dominique Scott. It was the second consecutive year that Blaase had set a new program record in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational.
- Meanwhile, Whitelaw eclipsed the 14-minute barrier in the men's 5,000 meters, becoming the first UT runner in this century to do so. The last time a Tennessee athlete produced a sub-14 in the outdoor 5,000 meters was in 1999 when Doug Ellington accomplished the feat.
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FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
- First-year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan is set to host her first Tennessee Relays Powered by Sea Ray:
- On hosting the Tennessee Relays: "We're thrilled to be hosting at Tom Black Track and to be hosting the legendary Tennessee Relays. It's the 49th year running, so it's a great, historic track and field meet and we're excited to get out there and represent."
- On the excitement of a home meet: "This is just a great time of year with the good weather in the spring and track and field getting into full swing. So we're looking forward to it. We'll have some fun in the relays but we're looking forward to some of the individual events too, just really taking advantage of a hometown crowd and a friendly track."
- On the key events this weekend: "If you're a field event person, you've got to come out for the men's pole vault. To see a 19-foot collegiate is always something should try to see and we've got some great guys in Tyler Porter and Michael Maira both in their final seasons. The field is very stacked in competition. On the track, you're always going to have some great sprints here. The invite 200 on Saturday should be good and we'll see some great middle distance and distance running."
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UP NEXT
- Next weekend Tennessee makes the trip to Auburn, Alabama, to compete in the War Eagle Invitational at Hutsell-Rosen Track on April 17-18.
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Players Mentioned
XC/Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
XC/Distance
/ Track & Field
XC/Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track & Field
XC/Sprints/Middle Dist.
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps/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
