Three All-Time Top-10 Showings Highlight Saturday's Action From Clemson, Vanderbilt

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee track & field program wrapped up its 2021 indoor regular season with three marks that ranked inside the school's all-time top-10 lists, as the Vols and Lady Vols completed competition at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invite and Music City Challenge Saturday afternoon.

Saturday's top performances capped UT's most notable weekend of the year, as the Big Orange put up three SEC-leading marks and a historic top-10 run in the men's mile on Friday. UT will now take a two-week break from competition before heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the SEC Indoor Championships February 26-27.

"We're really, really pleased with the weekend and with the regular season," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We started off in early January a little rusty, especially after that long layoff we had. We turned it around and got to the middle of February, and it's go time. We had a great team meeting this week, and said it was time to lock and load and get things done. We did just that."

THRONSON ENTERS 3K TOP-10: In the women's 3,000-meter at Vanderbilt, Lady Vol junior Katie Thronson put together one of the fastest races in program history as she clocked in at a 17-second personal best time of 9:21.89. The Spokane, Washington, native now ranks as the No. 7 performer in school history in the event.

Olivia Janke also had an impressive clocking of 9:26.83 on Saturday, topping her personal record by nearly 11 seconds. The junior from Annapolis, Maryland, was just 0.2 seconds outside of placing her name alongside Thronson in the Lady Vol top-10, ranking 11th on the UT performance list.

Tennessee now has three of the 11 fastest 3K performers in school history on the current roster, as junior Ohio native Sydney Seymour ran a time of 9:24.60 at the Bob Pollock Meet earlier this season that sits 8th on the all-time top-10 list.

GRIFFIN GRABS ROOKIE RECORD: Tennessee true freshman Mike Griffin had a historic performance of his own on Saturday, clocking a 10-second PR of 8:08.18 in the men's 3,000-meter run in Nashville. His time was the fastest ever recorded by a UT freshman, topping former Vol Austin Whitelaw's mark of 8:11.68 from 2013. Additionally, Griffin's performance ranks No. 10 on the UT all-time top-10 list.

Griffin was one of five Vols to record a personal-best in the 3K on Saturday. Alex Crigger (8:09.88), Karl Thiessen (8:14.54), Conner Hawkins (8:23.52) and Max Barbour (8:29.55) also ran the fastest indoor 3,000-meter races of their respective careers.

"The distance kids have just continued to do it all," Sullivan said. "We've pressed the cross country season into a track season, and they've been very focused. I'm very pleased with the outcomes so far."

MEN'S 4X4 MEANS BUSINESS: At the Clemson Tiger Paw Invite, Saturday's top showing for Tennessee came in the meet's final event: the men's 4x400-meter relay. Sebastian Cooper, Christopher Bailey, Emmanuel Bynum and Jonathan Sacoor combined for a time of 3:05.97, ranking as the No. 2 indoor performance in Tennessee history. The group currently ranks third in the NCAA, trailing only North Carolina A&T (3:04.62) and Kentucky (3:05.46).

Cooper ran the opening leg in 47.61 seconds before handing off to Bailey, who had UT's fastest leg at 45.83. Bynum took two laps around the track in 46.18 and passed the baton to Sacoor, who anchored the group in 46.34.

"Our men's 4x4 was very purposeful this weekend," Sullivan said. "We felt we could run that fast, and we wanted to run fresh. Just had a great opportunity at Clemson to pull that together."

JEFCOAT EARNS SEASON'S FIRST W: Reigning SEC Women's Field Athlete of the Week Hannah Jefcoat claimed her first victory of the 2021 campaign on Saturday. The Dacula, Georgia, native placed first overall in the women's pole vault with a clearance of 4.20 meters (13-9.25) on her first attempt at the bar.

PR TRACKER: Tennessee athletes combined for 17 indoor personal records Saturday afternoon at the Tiger Paw Invite and Music City Challenge.

Joella Lloyd - Women's 200m - 23.63
Britton Wilson - Women's 200m - 24.29
Martina Weil - Women's 400m - 54.28
Allison Rand - Women's 800m - 2:13.49
Emma Dilullo - Women's 800m - 2:13.61
Katie Thronson - Women's 3000m - 9:21.89
Olivia Janke - Women's 3000m - 9:26.83
Caroline Lewis - Women's 60m Hurdles - 8.65
Skyler Reynolds - Women's 60m Hurdles - 9.29
Kayla Racine - Women's Weight Throw - 17.79m (58-4.5)
Will Mazur - Men's 800m - 1:52.12
Mike Griffin - Men's 3000m - 8:08.18
Alex Crigger - Men's 3000m - 8:09.88
Karl Thiessen - Men's 3000m - 8:14.54
Conner Hawkins - Men's 3000m - 8:23.52
Max Barbour - Men's 3000m - 8:29.55
Spencer Brown - Men's 60m Hurdles - 8.22

UP NEXT: The Vols and Lady Vols will begin indoor postseason competition in two weeks at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The conference meet is set for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27 at the Randal Tyson Track Center and will be televised on SEC Network.

"We've got a weekend off of competition, so the plan is to regroup and continue to solidify the travel squad for SECs," Sullivan said. "We want to put ourselves in a great position to compete at Arkansas in a couple weeks. It's shaping up to be one of the best SEC competitions that we've been at in a long, long time. It's going to be exciting, but the Vols are going to have to be ready. So we'll take these next weeks to do that."

For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee track & field, follow @Vol_Track on Twitter and Instagram.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Three All-Time Top-10 Showings Highlight Saturday's Action From Clemson, Vanderbilt

Players Mentioned

Christopher Bailey

Max Barbour

Spencer Brown

Emmanuel Bynum

Sebastian Cooper

Alex Crigger

Emma Dilullo

Mike Griffin

Conner Hawkins

Olivia Janke

Hannah Jefcoat

Caroline Lewis

Joella Lloyd

Will Mazur

Kayla Racine

Allison Rand

Skyler Reynolds

Jonathan Sacoor

Sydney Seymour

Karl Thiessen

Katie Thronson

Martina Weil

Britton Wilson

Related Videos