TRACK & FIELD CENTRAL: Hoosier Open

Friday, December 8

Bloomington, Ind. / Gladstein Fieldhouse

University of Tennessee

Hoosier Open

December 07, 2017 | Track & Field

Live Stats Hoosier Open - Schedule of Events Participant List

Tennessee opens its indoor track and field season on Friday, Dec. 8, at the Hoosier Open

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee officially opens its 2018 indoor track and field season on Friday in Bloomington, Indiana, with the Hoosier Open at Gladstein Fieldhouse.

The Hoosier Open is a one-day meet that will start at 3:45 p.m. ET with the women's weight throw. The men's 4x400 is the final event and it is scheduled for an 8:45 p.m. ET start.

Tennessee director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan is looking forward to seeing the early results of the team's hard work in fall training.

"This week's meet will serve as a baseline test coming off the fall conditioning program and preparing the student-athletes," Alford-Sullivan said. "Speaking from a head coach's perspective, we are also very interested in making sure that our student-athletes go in and compete to their fullest. Yes, in one sense, you get a test and get to see a result and where you are, but this also starts the process of competing and competing hard. We will be excited to see how it plays out for everybody."

Saturday's meet will feature a pair of Vols who competed at the 2017 NCAA Men's and Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in sophomore men's high jumper Darryl Sullivan and junior women's thrower Stamatia Scarvelis.

Sullivan earned second-team All-America honors last season after tying for 12th with a high jump of 2.10 meters (6-10.75) at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

"It will be fun to see our jumpers compete," Alford-Sullivan said. "Darryl Sullivan, a national qualifier last year as a true freshman, is a year older, a year wiser and a year better and will probably have some great opportunities there."

Scarvelis earned second-team All-America honors in 2017 when she took 10th place at NCAA Indoors in the weight throw with a throw of 20.50 meters (67-3.25). She also earned 2017 All-America Honorable Mention accolades for the hammer throw in outdoor season. On the men's side, junior Seth Whitner, who earned 2017 Outdoor All-America honors for the hammer throw, and senior Matthew Zajac, a 2017 Outdoor All-American in the discus, will make their season debuts.

"I think you are going to see some great stuff out of our throwers," Alford-Sullivan said. "Our throwers, every time I have attended their practices and weight sessions, they have just been killing it this fall. I'm very excited to see them open up and they are all a year older, ready to go and looking really good."

Several of UT's top-flight sprinters will be in action on Saturday as well. Redshirt senior Felecia Majors will compete for the first time since 2016 when she earned Indoor All-America and Outdoor All-America honors for the 400 meters and 4x400. Junior and 2017 Outdoor All-American in the 200 meters Shania Collins will also start her 2018 indoor season at Gladstein.

On the men's side, Saturday will mark the debut for senior sprinter Nathan Strother, who earned 2017 Outdoor All-America honors for the 400 meters and 4x400, junior Ari Cogdell (2017 Outdoor All-American in the 4x400) and junior Darryl Harris (2017 Outdoor All-American in the 4x100).

"Our sprint squad is extremely well-stocked and has a ton of talent, so there's a lot of expectation," Alford-Sullivan said. "I'm excited to see how they open up and how they do."

Tennessee will return to Gladstein Fieldhouse on Jan. 6 for the Tennessee-Indiana Dual Meet.