University of Tennessee Athletics
Photo by: Forest Jersey/Tennessee Athletics
Vols Punch Six Tickets To NCAA Championships Friday At East Prelims
May 28, 2021 | Track & Field
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 17th-ranked Tennessee's men's track & field team posted six qualifying marks to the 2021 NCAA Outdoor National Championships on Friday, as UT wrapped up the men's portion of the NCAA East Prelims at Hodges Stadium.
The Vols will have 10 entries at the national meet following their showing at the regional competition. The NCAA Outdoor Championships are set for June 9-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
"The two days of competition for our Vols on the men's side has been an exciting ride," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "This is a challenging competition. It's very competitive and takes a lot to punch your ticket into the national championship, so I was very proud of the squad and its efforts this week.
"We have 10 opportunities in Eugene for this men's program. Today, I feel like our men's team caught the momentum that it takes in championship time to rise above. We excelled and put it out there in everything we did. The momentum propelled them all the way down to our 4x4. I saw our team compete with purpose and pride. It was a great day to be a Tennessee Vol, and we'll look forward to carrying this into the women's final day of the first rounds of the national championships."
TRIPLE JUMP U: The Vols had a pair of athletes punch tickets to nationals in the triple jump on Friday, as UT was one of two schools with multiple qualifiers in the event from the East region.
Redshirt sophomore Carey McLeod recorded an outdoor personal-best of 16.24 meters (53-3.5) on his third attempt, good for the fourth-best mark at the meet and the No. 6 performance in Tennessee history. The Kingston, Jamaica, native is the only athlete to qualify out of the East region in both horizontal jumping events after earning his nationals bid in the long jump on Wednesday in Jacksonville.
Reigning SEC triple jump champion Jah-Nhai Perinchief secured his spot at the NCAA Championships with a seventh-place finish on Friday, leaping a wind-aided 16.05 meters (52-8) in the second round. The graduate student from Hamilton, Bermuda, will make his NCAA Outdoor Championship debut in two weeks at Oregon.
FLYING TO EUGENE: Tennessee grad student Darryl Sullivan booked his first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday afternoon, clearing a bar of 2.19 meters (7-2.25) in the high jump for fifth-place in the regional competition. The Marion, Illinois, native will be the No. 2 seed at the national meet and is one of two collegiate men to record the Olympic standard height of 2.33 meters (7-7.75) this season, doing so at the SEC Championships to earn a silver medal.
EVERYBODY LOVES CHRIS: Representing Tennessee at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds for the first time in his career, redshirt sophomore Christopher Bailey claimed his first bid to the national championships in the 400-meter dash. The Atlanta native turned in a qualifying time of 45.69 to place 10th in the event on Friday.
LOCAL PRODUCT PUNCHES TICKET: Competing 100 miles away from his hometown of Ocala, Florida, redshirt freshman Alex Kay put on a show as he grabbed the 11th of 12 qualifying spots in the men's 800-meter run on Friday. Clocking in at 1:49.07, Kay placed fourth in his heat and made the cut for Eugene by 0.1 seconds.
RELAY IS NATTY BOUND: In the final event of the night, Tennessee earned an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championships in the 4x400-meter relay. Rasheeme Griffith, Emmanuel Bynum, Christopher Bailey and Alex Kay combined for a season-best time of 3:05.39 to place third in their heat and secure a spot at nationals.
After the Vols clinched their NCAA berth, chaos ensued when a power outage knocked out the stadium lights midway through the second heat. The relay continued, with Kentucky (3:04.23), Florida State (3:06.96) and Alabama (3:07.88) taking the top-three spots in the near pitch dark, as fans' cell phones temporarily illuminated the venue.
NCAA meet management made the decision to re-run the second heat of the 4x400-meter relay Saturday at noon, with results from the first and third heats withstanding.
UP NEXT: Tennessee track & field will wrap up the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Saturday with the No. 25 Lady Vols being represented in eight events. Action begins at 1:30 p.m. with SEC silver medalist Nayoka Clunis competing in the discus throw.
Full results through Friday can be found at this link. For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee track & field, follow @Vol_Track on Twitter.
The Vols will have 10 entries at the national meet following their showing at the regional competition. The NCAA Outdoor Championships are set for June 9-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
"The two days of competition for our Vols on the men's side has been an exciting ride," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "This is a challenging competition. It's very competitive and takes a lot to punch your ticket into the national championship, so I was very proud of the squad and its efforts this week.
"We have 10 opportunities in Eugene for this men's program. Today, I feel like our men's team caught the momentum that it takes in championship time to rise above. We excelled and put it out there in everything we did. The momentum propelled them all the way down to our 4x4. I saw our team compete with purpose and pride. It was a great day to be a Tennessee Vol, and we'll look forward to carrying this into the women's final day of the first rounds of the national championships."
TRIPLE JUMP U: The Vols had a pair of athletes punch tickets to nationals in the triple jump on Friday, as UT was one of two schools with multiple qualifiers in the event from the East region.
Redshirt sophomore Carey McLeod recorded an outdoor personal-best of 16.24 meters (53-3.5) on his third attempt, good for the fourth-best mark at the meet and the No. 6 performance in Tennessee history. The Kingston, Jamaica, native is the only athlete to qualify out of the East region in both horizontal jumping events after earning his nationals bid in the long jump on Wednesday in Jacksonville.
Reigning SEC triple jump champion Jah-Nhai Perinchief secured his spot at the NCAA Championships with a seventh-place finish on Friday, leaping a wind-aided 16.05 meters (52-8) in the second round. The graduate student from Hamilton, Bermuda, will make his NCAA Outdoor Championship debut in two weeks at Oregon.
FLYING TO EUGENE: Tennessee grad student Darryl Sullivan booked his first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday afternoon, clearing a bar of 2.19 meters (7-2.25) in the high jump for fifth-place in the regional competition. The Marion, Illinois, native will be the No. 2 seed at the national meet and is one of two collegiate men to record the Olympic standard height of 2.33 meters (7-7.75) this season, doing so at the SEC Championships to earn a silver medal.
EVERYBODY LOVES CHRIS: Representing Tennessee at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds for the first time in his career, redshirt sophomore Christopher Bailey claimed his first bid to the national championships in the 400-meter dash. The Atlanta native turned in a qualifying time of 45.69 to place 10th in the event on Friday.
LOCAL PRODUCT PUNCHES TICKET: Competing 100 miles away from his hometown of Ocala, Florida, redshirt freshman Alex Kay put on a show as he grabbed the 11th of 12 qualifying spots in the men's 800-meter run on Friday. Clocking in at 1:49.07, Kay placed fourth in his heat and made the cut for Eugene by 0.1 seconds.
RELAY IS NATTY BOUND: In the final event of the night, Tennessee earned an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championships in the 4x400-meter relay. Rasheeme Griffith, Emmanuel Bynum, Christopher Bailey and Alex Kay combined for a season-best time of 3:05.39 to place third in their heat and secure a spot at nationals.
After the Vols clinched their NCAA berth, chaos ensued when a power outage knocked out the stadium lights midway through the second heat. The relay continued, with Kentucky (3:04.23), Florida State (3:06.96) and Alabama (3:07.88) taking the top-three spots in the near pitch dark, as fans' cell phones temporarily illuminated the venue.
NCAA meet management made the decision to re-run the second heat of the 4x400-meter relay Saturday at noon, with results from the first and third heats withstanding.
UP NEXT: Tennessee track & field will wrap up the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Saturday with the No. 25 Lady Vols being represented in eight events. Action begins at 1:30 p.m. with SEC silver medalist Nayoka Clunis competing in the discus throw.
Full results through Friday can be found at this link. For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee track & field, follow @Vol_Track on Twitter.
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