University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee announces 2017 Track & Field Schedule
September 08, 2016 | Track & Field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Beth Alford-Sullivan announced the 2017 Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field schedules on Thursday.
Tennessee will host three meets at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium this season. The Vols begin the outdoor slate with the Tennessee Rust Buster on March 25. UT will then host the 50th annual Tennessee Relays from April 6-8. The Vols will conclude the regular season by hosting the Tennessee Challenge on May 6.
Tom Black Track has undergone renovations over the last year to rearrange the infield. The track was also refinished and features a Smokey Grey surface with orange accents and white lines. Phase two of the renovation is underway and is scheduled to be completed in March.
"We've got a great 2017 indoor and outdoor schedule ahead of us," Alford-Sullivan said. "It is a very challenging, very trying schedule, but we are looking forward to it and feel our student-athletes will represent very well. We are excited to be hosting at the new Tom Black Track facility. We host one time per month over the three-month outdoor schedule and sprinkle in some great competition."
Tennessee will take part in nine meets during the indoor season before competing in a 10-meet outdoor slate. Overall, the Vols travel to 12 states from December to June. The 19-meet schedule will be supplemented by the USATF Championships and Junior Championships during the last weekend of June.
The Vols open the indoor season with the Hoosier Open on December 9. They return to that same track in Bloomington, Ind. for their first post-winter break race, a dual meet against Indiana on Jan. 7. The Vols competed in both the Hoosier Open and the Indiana Dual last season. Five Vols won events last season at the Hoosier Open including Nathan Strother (300m), Cameron Brown (weight throw) and Cassie Wertman (shot put).
The Vols will make a trip to Fayetteville, Ark. for the SEC Challenge sandwiched between two trips to Virginia Tech. The team will then split up on Feb. 10-11 with some members going to the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. and others going to Clemson.
"It is a very competitive and exciting schedule that adds in meets that are traditional for us, like heading to Virginia Tech and Indiana," Alford-Sullivan said. "We are adding a few new things this indoor season; great meets at Arkansas and Clemson."
On Feb. 24 and 25 the Vols will travel to Nashville for the SEC Championships hosted by Vanderbilt. Last season the Vols finished eighth on the men's side and tied for fourth on the women's side. Christian Coleman and Chelsea Blaase were named co-winners of the men's and women's Cliff Harper Award for high scorer at the SEC Championships, both return in 2017.
The individual qualifiers will then compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10-11. The Vols became the first school to ever sweep the Indoor National Championships in the 200m as Coleman and #VFL Felicia Brown won the both of the 200m titles.
The Vols will reopen Tom Black Track at the Tennessee Rust Buster on March 25 to begin the outdoor season. UT will then advance to split-squad meets at the Florida Relays and the Stanford Invitational on March 31 and April 1.
The Vols will follow that up with the three-day Tennessee Relays from April 6 to April 8 at Tom Black Track. This will be the 50th time the Vols have hosted the Tennessee Relays. The meet was held for 49 consecutive years starting in 1967 before being cancelled last season due to construction. The Vols won five events the last time the meet was held in 2015 and current senior Felecia Majors took second in the long jump.
Tennessee will then head to the Mt. Sac Relays and the LSU Relays before finishing the regular season with the Tennessee Challenge.
"We are giving our athletes multiple opportunities to perform at a high level, hitting qualifying marks for the NCAA First Round and also in preparation for the greatest track meets on earth; the SEC Championships and the NCAA Championships," Alford-Sullivan added.
South Carolina will host the SEC Championships on May 11-13. UT follows that up with a trip to the NCAA First Round hosted by Kentucky on May 25-27.
Tennessee wraps up competition at the NCAA Championships on June 7-10, the meet will be hosted by the University of Oregon at historic Hayward Field.
