Rocky Top Spotlight: Yaseen Abdalla

In just a couple of months on campus and with only a few meets under his belt, Yaseen Abdalla has sprinted into school and conference record books since hanging his hat in Tennessee.

A senior transfer from the University of Texas, Abdalla had already proved himself as a gifted long-distance runner. Beginning his collegiate career for the Longhorns in 2019, Abdalla would not compete until his sophomore year where he won the men's 5,000-meter with a personal-best time of 14:11.48 at the Charlie Thomas Invitational. He also had two top-five finishes at the Texas vs. Texas A&M dual meet, placing second in the 1,500m at 3:51.66 and winning the 3,000m with a time of 8:13.93.

Abdalla had a breakout year in his junior seasons as he opened the 2021 cross country season winning the Tornado Watch Invitational in the men's 5k, running a time of 14:56.4 while also becoming the 19th Longhorn to be named a cross country All-American.

On the track, Abdalla opened his indoor campaign at the Clemson Invite where he won the mile with a time of 4:01.39 and then won his first Big 12 individual title in the men's 5000m with a school-record time of 13:33.26. He ran the anchor leg of the national champion distance medley relay and helped Texas win its first ever NCAA Team Championship as the Longhorns finished the meet with 47 points.

Outdoors, Abdalla won the 5,000m run at the Texas Relays finishing with a time of 13:48.80 and helped the DMR finish fourth with a time of 9:50.47. He won both races at the Penn Relays, claiming the individual title in the 5000m (13:47.05) becoming the No. 4 performer in Texas history while aiding the 4xMile (16:17.45) team win the event for the third time in Texas history.

Despite a very successful junior year, Abdalla still felt that he could be better. He still had more left in the tank and believed he could be even faster. That is what sparked his move to Rocky Top to join Sean Carlson and Duane Ross who had been putting a national championship caliber roster together over the offseason. This is where Abdalla would make that big jump.

In his Big Orange cross country debut, Abdulla led Tennessee with a fourth-place finish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite with a time of 23:24.4 over the five-mile course. The Vols finished first at the NCAA South Regional Championships thanks to Abdulla placing second overall for the highest regional finish by a Vol since Doug Ellington in 1998.

This past fall, Abdalla earned his second All-American certificate. At the NCAA Cross Country Championships, he was the second Vol to cross the line with a time of 29:29.7 placing 33rd overall.

In his Tennessee track debut, Abdalla set the school record in the 3,000 meters with a time of 7:55.53 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. In his next meet at the Terrier Classic, Abdalla broke his previous school record in the 3,000-meter as well as a Sudanese national record with a time of 7:42.23. The mark was also good enough for second all-time in SEC history and sixth in collegiate history.

Abdalla looks to continue his upward trajectory heading into the postseason in Fayetteville, Arkansas from February 24-25 at Tyson Indoor Track Center. With just a couple of weeks left until the SEC Championships, Abdalla plans to do what he has always done, and that is to be better than he was before.

The University of Tennessee campus has witnessed incredible athletic success throughout the years, with student-athletes walking the hallowed grounds while garnering titles like Olympian, National Champion or Player of the Year. An exclusive group etched their names within the history of their respective sport and went on to become hall of famers. Vols and Lady Vols through the ages consistently ascend to the pinnacle of competition, and the current student-athletes are no exception. Rocky Top Spotlight is an effort to shine a big orange light on the many elite competitors at Tennessee.

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Yaseen Abdalla

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