Six Individuals, Three Relays Qualify For NCAA Indoor Championships

Jonathan Sacoor @ SEC Indoor Championships

Six Individuals, Three Relays Qualify For NCAA Indoor Championships

March 02, 2021 | Track & Field

INDIANAPOLIS — Six individuals and three relay teams will represent the Tennessee track & field program next week at the 2021 NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships, as the final accepted entries were released Tuesday night. The nation's top collegians will compete in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

To qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships, athletes must rank inside the top-16 nationally in their respective events while relays must rank inside the top-12. In total, the Vols will send 21 athletes to Arkansas to compete in 10 events.

Carey McLeod (Junior, Men's Long Jump/Triple Jump)
McLeod will be the top seed in the men's triple jump and third seed in the long jump, qualifying in both events for the second year in a row. The Kingston, Jamaica, native is one of three individuals in the country to be entered in both horizontal jumping events.

McLeod sits atop the NCAA qualifying list in the men's triple jump, recording a mark of 17.17 meters (56-4) to win gold at the SEC Indoor Championships on Saturday. His performance met the 2020 Olympic qualifying standard, broke the all-time school record and ranks McLeod as the No. 10 performer in collegiate indoor history.

With a school-record long jump of 8.25 meters (27-0.75) at the conference meet, McLeod ranks third in the nation for the 2020-21 indoor campaign. His mark was good for second place at the SEC Indoor Championships and moved him up five spots to No. 13 on the all-time indoor collegiate list.

Jalen Tate (Senior, Men's Triple Jump)
Tate will make his second trip to indoor nationals after qualifying as a sophomore in 2019. The Clarksville native had a season-best triple jump of 16.38 meters (53-9) at the Hokie Invitational on January 22 that ranks No. 7 on the 2021 NCAA indoor qualifying list and No. 5 in Tennessee history.

Jordan West (R-Junior, Men's Shot Put)
West earned his first indoor national championship bid with the No. 10 mark in the country this season in the men's shot put. The Rahway, New Jersey, native had a throw of 19.98 meters (65-6.75) at the SEC Indoor Championships, breaking the all-time indoor school record and winning his first-career SEC silver medal.

Men's 4x400m Relay
Tennessee will be one of the top contenders in the men's 4x400-meter relay next week, as the group of Sebastian Cooper, Christopher Bailey, Emmanuel Bynum and Jonathan Sacoor set an NCAA-leading and school-record time of 3:04.08 for first place at the SEC Indoor Championships. Bailey notably clocked a staggering 44.66 split on the second leg before Bynum ran a 45.38 on the third to give the Vols a lead they would not relinquish.

UT sophomore Rasheeme Griffith will also make the trip to Fayetteville as an alternate for the men's 4x400-meter relay.

Men's Distance Medley Relay
Alex Kay, Christopher Bailey, Joe Hoots and Alex Crigger combined for a time of 9:36.41 at the SEC Championships to grab the 12th and final qualifying spot in the DMR, marking the first time since 2000 that Tennessee has earned a nationals bid in the event on the men's side. The group placed third overall at the conference meet, earning UT's first SEC medal in the event since 2011.

UT's mark of 9:36.41 was the third-fastest in school history and less than three seconds away from breaking the program record. Kay led off on Thursday with a mark of 2:59.91 in the 1,200-meter leg, before handing off to Bailey who took two laps around the track in 46.55. Hoots had the 800-meter portion and posted a 1:48.87 split, then Crigger anchored the Vols with a 4:01.09 over the final 1,600 meters.

Conner Hawkins and Kameron Helmlinger will also be entered in the meet as alternates for the men's DMR.

Joella Lloyd (R-Sophomore, Women's 60m Dash)
18-year-old sophomore Joella Lloyd will be the No. 2 seed when she makes her NCAA Indoor National Championship debut next week in the 60-meter dash. The St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda native won the SEC title with a time of 7.15 seconds, tying the school record and setting a 2021 U20 world lead in the process. She is the first Lady Vol ever to win an SEC 60-meter championship.

Additionally, Lloyd's time of 7.15 ranks No. 11 in the world this season and moved her up to No. 19 on the all-time collegiate indoor performance list.

Hannah Jefcoat (Senior, Women's Pole Vault)
Jefcoat broke her own all-time program standard in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.34 meters (14-2.75) at the Virginia Tech Doc Hale Elite Meet on February 6. The Dacula, Georgia, native sits No. 9 in the NCAA as she has qualified for her first-career indoor national championship.

Latavia Maines (Senior, Women's Shot Put)
The reigning back-to-back SEC shot put champion has qualified for her second consecutive NCAA Indoor Championship. Maines won her second conference title with a personal-best throw of 17.81 meters (58-5.25) on Saturday, breaking the all-time program record. Her mark ranks No. 4 in the NCAA and No. 26 in the world for the 2020-21 indoor campaign.

Women's 4x400m Relay
The Lady Vols 4x400-meter relay squad of Vanessa Watson, Martina Weil, Britton Wilson and Jada Chambers earned their indoor nationals bid in dramatic fashion. The group ran a season-best time of 3:37.25 on Saturday at the SEC Championships to claim the 12th and final qualifying spot for the Lady Vols.

Senior Kiara Rhodes is set to travel to Fayetteville as a 4x400-meter relay alternate.

Based on the current schedule, UT will begin NCAA Championship action on Friday, March 12 at 11 a.m. with the men's and women's shot put competition. A complete meet schedule can be found at this link.

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