University of Tennessee Athletics
Track & Field Central: Florida Relays
March 29, 2017 | Track & Field
Watch Live (Friday) | Watch Live (Saturday) | Live Results | Schedule of Events | Heat Sheets
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee track & field will head to SEC rival Florida for the three-day Pepsi Florida Relays starting on Thursday at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
Tennessee will begin the meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. with the 200m open race. The women's hammer competition starts Friday's action for the Vols at 12 p.m. as Savannah Marlow and Candice Butler compete. Saturday will also begin at 12 p.m., as the women's team will feature a Shuttle Hurdle Relay squad for the first time this year.
A live stream of the relays will be available from 12:10-4:10 p.m. on Friday and from 2:35-7:10 p.m. on Saturday via SEC Network + (Online).
Competitions to Watch
Women's Shot Put -- Cassie Wertman and Stamatia Scarvelis finished first and second in the opening meet of the year. They both put up marks that rank in the top 16 as Wertman is currently eighth with a throw of 16.62m while Scarvelis sits in 16th in the nation with a 16.18m throw.
Men's 4x100m and 4x400m Relays -- Ari Cogdell, Christian Coleman, Nathan Strother, Mustaqeem Williams, Malik Elion will make up the two relay teams for the Vols as they look to set down some early standards in the outdoor season. Coleman and Williams will be making their outdoor debuts after they both qualified for the NCAA Championship indoors, Coleman won both the 60m and 200m National Championships in record-breaking fashion.
Women's Hammer Throw -- Scarvelis set a school record in the hammer throw during the Tennessee Rust Buster last week as she had a throw of more than 200 feet at 61.30m (201-1). Scarvelis enters the Florida Relays in 13th in the NCAA.
Men's Hammer Throw -- Cameron Brown opened the outdoor season with a second place finish in the hammer throw. He sits in 18th in the country entering the weekend as he had a toss of 64.14m (210-5) last week.
Men's 400m -- Nathan Strother and Ari Cogdell will compete in the 400m for the first time this outdoor season. Both ran in the 200m at the season opener as Strother finished in second place while Cogdell took sixth. However, they both return to their specialty looking to better their fifth (Strother) and sixth (Cogdell) places from last year.
Men's 1500m -- Zach Long will be competing in the 1500m for the first time this season after he won the 800m competition over the weekend. Long has a personal best mark of 3:47.86 in the 1500m which he set at last year's SEC Championship.
Men's High Jump -- Freshman Darryl Sullivan will be making his outdoor season debut after qualifying for the NCAA Championship meet during the indoor season. Sullivan set a freshman record in the high jump indoors and will be looking to surpass Tim Bell's outdoor freshman mark of 2.23m (7-3.75) set in 1998.
Men's Long Jump -- Williams looks to defend his Florida Relays title in the long jump on Friday evening. Williams won the competition last year with a mark of 7.48m (24-6.5). He will be joined by Bruce DeGrilla who posted a 7.33m jump in his only competition of the indoor season at the SEC Championship.
Competing Teams
Student-athletes from more than 90 schools will be in attendance at the Florida Relays including Florida (no. 1 men/no. 6 women), Oregon (2/1), Alabama (8/15), Ole Miss (13/23), Syracuse (16/--), Virginia Tech (21/20), Kentucky (22/2), Western Kentucky (23/--), South Carolina (25/22), Florida State (--/10), Harvard (--/14), Miami (Fla.) (--/16), Penn State, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt. Tennessee enters the competition ranked no. 14 in the men's poll and no. 11 in the women's poll.
Last Time Out
Tennessee opened its outdoor season by hosting the Tennessee Rust Buster on Saturday at the newly resurfaced Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium. Tennessee had four performances that rank in the school's all-time top 10 marks including a school record by Stamatia Scarvelis. Scarvelis claimed first in the hammer throw when she threw a personal best of 61.30m (201-1), passing Shanna Dickenson's 2007 record (60.43m) for first in the Tennessee record books.
The Vols finished the day with eight event wins, 30 top-five finishes and 30 personal records. Cassie Wertman and Scarvelis finished first and second in the shot put, something the Vols also pulled off in the women's 400m and women's triple jump. Brooklynn Broadwater took first in the 400m with a time of 54.20 while Layla White finished second in 54.33. LaChyna Roe leaped 12.61m to win the last event of the evening, while Rebecka Miranda finished second with a jump of 11.99 as both Vols set personal bests.
Shania Collins also accomplished that feat in the women's 200m, posting a time of 23.08 while Lenysse Dyer took third with a time of 23.36.
On the men's side, Zach Long set a personal best in the 800m as he took first place with a time of 1:50.1. Matthew Zajac claimed the discus crown surpassing his previous high with a throw of 56.76m (186-3). The men's 4x400m relay team of Ari Cogdell, Malik Elion, Darryl Harris, and Nathan Strother also posted a first place finish with a time of 3:08.72.
Last Year
At last year's Pepsi Florida Relays Williams won the long jump competition with a mark of 7.48m (24-6.5). That mark was the second-best long jump of the season for Williams.
Christian Coleman made his first foray into the school's all-time top 10 list in the 100m as he ran a time of 10.16 and finished in fifth. Coleman will not compete in an individual event this weekend, but is scheduled to run on the 4x100m and 4x400m Tennessee relay teams. Nathan Strother and Ari Cogdell will join him in the relays after the duo placed fifth and sixth in the 400m at last year's Florida Relays. Strother finished in a time of 46.18 and Cogdell crossed the line in 46.45.
On the women's side, Felecia Majors took second in the 200m invitational with a time of 23.01. The Vols also claimed three relays in the top four as the 4x200m squad took second and both the 4x100m and 4x400m teams finished in fourth place. The 4x100m team's mark of 43.45 was the fastest of the season for the Vols.
Schedule of Events
Men's Competitors
100m College: Mustaqeem Williams - Friday, 12:15 p.m.
200m Open:Malik Elion - Thursday, 2:25 p.m.
400m College: Nathan Strother, Ari Cogdell, Chase Sholl - Friday, 1:50 p.m.
400m Open: Darryl Harris - Thursday, 3:10 p.m.
1,500m: Zach Long - Friday, 8:50 p.m.
4x100m Relay: Tennessee (Ari Cogdell, Christian Coleman, Nathan Strother, Mustaqeem Williams, Malik Elion) - Saturday, 3:05 p.m.
4x200m Relay: Tennessee (Darryl Harris, Chase Sholl, Darryl Sullivan, Bruce DeGrilla) - Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
4x400m Relay: Tennessee (Ari Cogdell, Christian Coleman, Nathan Strother, Mustaqeem Williams, Malik Elion) - Saturday, 6:35 p.m.
1,600m Sprint Medley Relay: Tennessee (Darryl Harris, Chase Sholl, Zach Long, Bruce DeGrilla, Marcellus Fletcher) - Saturday, 12:55 p.m.
Pole Vault: Tristan Slater - Saturday, 1 p.m.
High Jump: Darryl Sullivan - Friday, 1 p.m.
Long Jump: Bruce DeGrilla, Mustaqeem Williams - Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Hammer Invite: Cameron Brown - Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Hammer: Seth Whitener, Matthew Zajac - Thursday, 5 p.m.
Javelin: Nick Hassler - Thursday, 7 p.m.
Women's Competitors
100m: Shania Collins, Maia McCoy - Friday, 12:35 p.m.
200m Invite: Shania Collins, Lenysse Dyer - Friday, 3:55 p.m.
200m Open: Maia McCoy, Domonique Turner - Thursday, 2 p.m.
400m College: Layla White - Friday, 1:25 p.m.
400m IM Hurdles: Brooklynn Broadwater - Friday, 3:05 p.m.
4x100m Relay: Tennessee (Lenysse Dyer, Shania Collins, Layla White, Maia McCoy, Cidae'a Woods) - Saturday, 2:40 p.m.
4x200m Relay: Tennessee (Maya Neal, LaChyna Roe, Rebecka Miranda, Brooklynn Broadwater) - Saturday, 4:10 p.m.
4x400m Relay: Tennessee (Lenysse Dyer, Shania Collins, Layla White, Maia McCoy, Brooklynn Broadwater) - Saturday, 6:25 p.m.
4x100m Shuttle Hurdle Relay: Tennessee (Brielyn Rogers, Maya Neal, Domonique Turner, Cidae'a Woods, LaChyna Roe) - Saturday, 12 p.m.
Long Jump Invite: Cidae'a Woods - Friday, 1 p.m.
Long Jump: Maya Neal - Friday, 5 p.m.
Triple Jump: Brielyn Rogers, Cidae'a Woods - Saturday, 4 p.m.
Shot Put Invite: Cassie Wertman, Stamatia Scarvelis - Saturday, 1 p.m.
Discus Throw Invite: Stamatia Scarvelis - Friday, 6 p.m.
Hammer Throw Invite: Stamatia Scarvelis - Friday, 3 p.m.
Hammer Throw: Candice Butler, Savannah Marlow - Friday, 12 p.m.
