Vols Claim 12 Individual Wins But Fall in Dual Meet

Saturday, January 7

Bloomington, Ind.

All Day

University of Tennessee

Indiana Dual

January 07, 2017 | Track & Field

Jan. 7, 2017

Results

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Tennessee track and field fell to Indiana in a dual meet on Saturday afternoon at Gladstein Fieldhouse. Tennessee won 12 events and posted 34 top three finishes in their first competition of the 2017 season.

"It is unfortunate that we didn't pull of the win on either side, we have a lot of things that are still a little bit rusty, in the early season that I think we are going to grow from a lot," director of track & field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We had some great performances as well. I don't believe our depth is there against a Big 10 team that is just based on so much depth. They have a lot of experience in dual meet competitions. As Tennessee, it is frustrating not to come out with the win, but at the same time we look at it as the start of a season and we really had some great performances today."

Tennessee notched one building record and two meet records and posted six marks which ranked in the top five in the country so far this season.

"Christian Coleman looked really comfortable in his 200 and came back and ran a 46 second split in the 4x400," Alford-Sullivan continued. "Mustaqeem Williams stepped into the game this year with a great 60, and then came back with a 21.15 in the 200. We had Shania Collins and Maia McCoy step up in the women's sprints areas. We had some great performances from Tristan Slater and Scotty Zajac. Stamatia Scarvelis also had a great competition winning both the shot put and the weight throw, and just really competing today. If we look at things across the board, our team is really developing and should grow through the season. This is always a risk you take early on, to come into a competitive scored meet a little bit earlier."

This was the 22nd all-time dual meet between Tennessee and Indiana. UT holds a 14-8 advantage on the men's side and a 9-3-1 lead on the women's side. This is the second consecutive season these teams have met after not having competed since 1999 prior to last year.

"It was a great day here in Gladstein Fieldhouse," Alford-Sullivan said. "I would like to say thanks to our host Indiana, they did a great job of hosting the meet, and there is great hospitality for our program here. Coach Ron Helmer has been a great person who pulls together great teams and great competition. I have to hand it to Indiana, they had a great team today, they really have some great athletes and some good Big 10 depth."

Men: Tennessee 49.5, Indiana 71.5

The Tennessee men posted some of the top times in the country on Saturday and notched five event wins and 19 top three finishes.

The day ended on a high note for the Vols as the 4x400m team of Ari Cogdell, Christian Coleman, Nathan Strother and Mustaqeem Williams posted a time of 3:10.25, the top mark in the country this year. The quartet surpassed Texas A&M's 4x400m time of 3:10.72 as the fastest recorded so far this year.

"I knew we would be up there," Coleman said. "Coming out here, we wanted to compete with Indiana and obviously win and they pushed us to a top time. Having a good time this early in the season just shows our potential. We will continue to get better and hopefully be in the same spot at Nationals."

The reigning 200m Indoor National Champion, Christian Coleman continued his great performances in the event as he won the competition by setting a facility record of 20.86 seconds. That mark was the second fastest 200m so far this year, .01 seconds from the top spot.

"I feel like it was pretty good, I executed what coach was telling me before the race," Coleman stated. "I got out real smooth. I came out of the bank, I can work on that a little bit. I just finished strong, this is my best season opener so far, I think the future is bright."

The Vols excelled in the other sprinting events as Mustaqeem Williams tied for the fourth fastest 60m mark in the country this year. Williams posted a time of 6.73 seconds as he took first and Malik Elion's time of 6.98 took second place. The Vols were dominant in the 400m competition as Strother and Cogdell posted two of the top three times in the country. Strother finished in 47.67 and Cogdell crossed the line in 47.71 to take the first two spots in the dual meet.

Seth Whitener 19.37m set a PR and moved into seventh on the school's all-time career list with second place finish in the men's weight throw.

Freshman Tristan Slater won the pole vault in his first career competition as he cleared 5.10m to earn the victory.

Women: Tennessee 53, Indiana 65

Tennessee fell to Indiana on the women's side despite seven event victories and 15 top three performances on the women's side.

Shania Collins and Maia McCoy dominated the women's sprinting events as the two of them set multiple PR's and went 1-2 in both the 60m and 200m dashes. Collins won the event with a time of 7.41 which equaled the meet record with Sue Walton who set the mark for UT in 1995. Collins' previous career high was 7.47 which she set while at Texas. McCoy bettered her time of 7.54 from the Hoosier Open in December. Cidae'a Woods completed the UT sweep with her own personal record of 7.70.

"I feel great about my performance in the 60, I fixed a lot of things with coach Hall," Collins said. "That is actually a PR since high school, I'm very happy about that. The start was great, and the finish was great with Maia pushing me until the end."

Collins and McCoy were at it again in the 200m as Collins set a PR of 23.63 to win the event, followed by McCoy's personal best of 24.01.

Woods added another first place finish as she took first place in the women's long jump with another PR. She leaped 6.18m to take first place and move into sixth place in the school's all-time record book. It is also the third best mark in the NCAA this season.

Tennessee notched another win in the 4x400m relay as Lenysse Dyer, Collins, Brooklynn Broadwater and Maia McCoy won the race in a time of 3:44.95. Collins helped the Vols build the lead in the second leg and McCoy held off the Hoosiers down the home stretch to earn the win for UT.

"I was really nervous before the 4x400," Collins said. "I was stressed out and tired, but Coach (Tim) Hall calmed me down, calmed us all down. We got ready, focused in on it. I tripped up on the corner, but I finished strong and Maia brought it home for us."

Stamatia Scarvelis won two events for the Vols as she claimed the weight throw and shot put crowns. Scarvelis posted a PR with the fourth best mark in school history at 19.05m as Tennessee took the top three spots in the weight throw. Savannah Marlow notched second and moved from eighth to sixth in the school record book with a throw of 18.25m. Candice Butler was the third Vol to set a PR with a mark of 17.55m.

"I was really happy with the weight throw, I got a fourth turn." Scarvelis continued, "it was my first time doing it, but I thought it was really cool to get the sweep with Savannah and Candice. That was really good to start off the meet."

Scarvelis followed that performance by claiming the shot put title with a mark of 16.03m which finished as the sixth best mark in school history as she set a PR, improving from her 15.21m distance in December. That mark also ranks in the top five in the NCAA Division I this year.

"The shot put was a collegiate indoor PR, so I am happy with that; especially with it being so early," Scarvelis said. "There is definitely room to improve, but I am happy with where I am at right now.

Tennessee started the day strongly as Domonique Turner and Maya Neal went 1-2 in the first event of the day, the 60m Hurdles with times of 8.78 and 8.98, respectively.

Up Next: Tennessee will head to Nashville, Tenn. next weekend for the Commodore Invitational hosted by Vanderbilt. The Vols were originally scheduled to head to Virginia Tech, but instead will head to the site of the SEC Indoor Championships. The two-day meet begins on Friday at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET and will continue on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET.