UT Concludes 53rd Tennessee Relays Saturday Morning

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Big Orange wrapped up the 53rd Tennessee Relays totaling 13 victories, 29 top-three finishes and 32 outdoor personal records over the three-day course of competition. Saturday's action featured a pair of distance medley relays as the Vols and Lady Vols put a stamp on their first home meet since May of 2019.

"The 53rd Tennessee Relays were very unique," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said after the meet. "With impending weather we were facing all weekend, our meet management, the visiting coaches and my staff really did a great job to revamp our schedule and make Friday the quintessential, perfect track meet kind of day. It was a long day, and we really appreciate the effort from the officials, the meet management and the support staff to allow all the athletes that came to participate in this year's Tennessee Relays to have a great shot.

"The meet really produced. Overall, I was really proud of the Tennessee Vols and Lady Vols. We had 13 wins and some unbelievably great performances. It was great to see people like Darryl Sullivan, Joseph Maxwell, Maia McCoy and a few other super seniors being able to compete in their extra time with us. Our teams really took advantage of the opportunity and were in the thick of it throughout the weekend.

"There was a great competitive spirit within our team and from the environment of the competition. This is a historic meet, and I really feel like it had some great pride and some great life to it yesterday. We're excited about having pulled it off in these conditions, and look forward to our next home meet in May."

SATURDAY RELAYS RECAP: Tennessee competed in the women's and men's distance medley relays, finishing fourth and third in those events respectively. Erin Spreen, Emma Dilullo, Emily Knight and Ainsley Cooper posted a time of 12:27.26 for the Lady Vols, while the men's quartet of Thomas Gardiner, Preston Ruth, Will Mazur and Matthew McMillan completed the 4,000-meter event in 10:17.05.

Four Lady Vol redshirt rookies opened Saturday's festivities in the women's 4x1,500-meter relay, going head-to-head with Furman. Kayla Gholar, Callie Tucker, Carolyn Barksdale and Msgana Araya finished the race in 20:10.09, placing first as the Lady Paladins were disqualified due to a duplicate entry on the opening and closing legs.

UP NEXT: Tennessee will travel to Charlottesville, Virginia, for the UVA Challenge (April 16-17) and Columbia, South Carolina, for the USC Open (April 17) next weekend.

Full results from the 53rd Tennessee Relays can be found at this link. For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee track & field, follow @Vol_Track on Twitter and Instagram.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Msgana Araya

Carolyn Barksdale

Ainsley Cooper

Emma Dilullo

Thomas Gardiner

Kayla Gholar

Emily Knight

Joseph Maxwell

Will Mazur

Maia McCoy

Matthew McMillan

Preston Ruth

Erin Spreen

Darryl Sullivan

Callie Tucker

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