University of Tennessee Athletics
Photo by: Cayce Smith/Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Collects 10 Medals, Both Squads Finish Top-5 At SEC Indoor Championships
February 25, 2023 | Track & Field, Cross Country
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In the program's first postseason outing under head coach Duane Ross, Tennessee track & field claimed a pair of top-five team finishes and totaled 10 medals across both days of competition at the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships. The Lady Vols were third as a team with 56.33 points, while the men of UT placed fifth with 54 points throughout the conference meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The third-place finish on the women's side was the highest for the Lady Vols at the indoor conference championships since also taking third in 2011. The combined result for both squads represented the first time since 2009 that UT was top-five in both the men's and women's standings at the SEC indoor meet.
The Big Orange closed out the championships with seven medal-winning performances on Saturday, headlined by SEC titles for sprint specialist Jacious Sears in the 60-meter dash and long-distance standout Dylan Jacobs in the 3,000-meter run.
Sears lit up the straightaway with her sixth 60-meter PR of the season, lowering her own school record with a time of 7.11. The Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, native edged out Georgia's Kaila Jackson (7.17) and Arkansas' Ackera Nugent (7.20) to claim Tennessee's second women's 60-meter dash title in program history. The result also marked her second indoor conference title in as many seasons after winning ACC gold for Miami with a time of 7.28 in Feb. 2022.
Jacobs established a new SEC championship record in the 3k, outlasting challengers from Ole Miss and South Carolina with a time of 7:52.49 for Tennessee's first title in the event since 1990. The graduate transfer from Orland Park, Illinois, had a hand in two conference titles for the weekend after a strong closing leg of the DMR on Friday night and will continue his historic debut campaign for the Vols at the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
Tennessee doubled its silver medal tally on Saturday with runner-up finishes from a pair of Caribbean athletes — Charisma Taylor (Bahamas) in the women's triple jump and Rasheem Brown (Cayman Islands) in the men's 60-meter hurdles. Taylor cleared 13.82m (45-4.25) on her first attempt of the meet to finish second in the conference and pick up a medal in the event for the second consecutive season, while Brown crossed the line in 7.72 seconds in a tightly packed final for his first conference medal as an SEC athlete.
Three bronze medals were secured on the second and final day of the conference meet, with Taylor finishing the 60m hurdles in 8.03 seconds, Sears clocking a fifth-consecutive PR in the 200-meter dash at 22.96 and the men's 4x400-meter relay quartet of Emmanuel Bynum, Clement Ducos, Jakwan Hale and Rasheeme Griffith turning in a time of 3:05.51. All three marks were good for third place at the nation's top league meeting.
Combining her two podium finishes with her fourth-place outing in the long jump on Friday, Taylor led all UT athletes with 19 points scored for the Lady Vols at the conference meet. Jacobs led the men with 12.5 points in his first career SEC track & field championship.
ALSO SCORING: In addition to the seven medals on Saturday, Tennessee had four more scoring performances from Canaan Anderson, Jesse Henderson, Suzan Ogunleye and Joella Lloyd to round out day two of the conference meet.
Making his first appearance in the SEC men's mile final, Anderson took fourth with a time of 4:05.35 to round out his memorable junior campaign. Competing at his fifth and final SEC Indoor Championships, Henderson also nabbed a fourth-place finish with his time of 7.74 in the 60-meter hurdles final.
Lloyd scored in the SEC 60-meter dash for the third consecutive season, turning in a time of 7.34 for seventh place in the conference. Ogunleye added one point for the Lady Vols in her first collegiate conference championship, placing eighth in the triple jump after recording a PR of 12.85m (42-2) on three separate jumps.
UP NEXT: Tennessee athletes that post top-16 NCAA qualifying marks will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the 2023 NCAA Indoor National Championships. The nation's top athletes will converge upon the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday and Sunday, March 10-11.
Tennessee Medal Count - 2023 SEC Indoor Championships
Gold (3)
The third-place finish on the women's side was the highest for the Lady Vols at the indoor conference championships since also taking third in 2011. The combined result for both squads represented the first time since 2009 that UT was top-five in both the men's and women's standings at the SEC indoor meet.
The Big Orange closed out the championships with seven medal-winning performances on Saturday, headlined by SEC titles for sprint specialist Jacious Sears in the 60-meter dash and long-distance standout Dylan Jacobs in the 3,000-meter run.
Sears lit up the straightaway with her sixth 60-meter PR of the season, lowering her own school record with a time of 7.11. The Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, native edged out Georgia's Kaila Jackson (7.17) and Arkansas' Ackera Nugent (7.20) to claim Tennessee's second women's 60-meter dash title in program history. The result also marked her second indoor conference title in as many seasons after winning ACC gold for Miami with a time of 7.28 in Feb. 2022.
Jacobs established a new SEC championship record in the 3k, outlasting challengers from Ole Miss and South Carolina with a time of 7:52.49 for Tennessee's first title in the event since 1990. The graduate transfer from Orland Park, Illinois, had a hand in two conference titles for the weekend after a strong closing leg of the DMR on Friday night and will continue his historic debut campaign for the Vols at the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
Tennessee doubled its silver medal tally on Saturday with runner-up finishes from a pair of Caribbean athletes — Charisma Taylor (Bahamas) in the women's triple jump and Rasheem Brown (Cayman Islands) in the men's 60-meter hurdles. Taylor cleared 13.82m (45-4.25) on her first attempt of the meet to finish second in the conference and pick up a medal in the event for the second consecutive season, while Brown crossed the line in 7.72 seconds in a tightly packed final for his first conference medal as an SEC athlete.
Three bronze medals were secured on the second and final day of the conference meet, with Taylor finishing the 60m hurdles in 8.03 seconds, Sears clocking a fifth-consecutive PR in the 200-meter dash at 22.96 and the men's 4x400-meter relay quartet of Emmanuel Bynum, Clement Ducos, Jakwan Hale and Rasheeme Griffith turning in a time of 3:05.51. All three marks were good for third place at the nation's top league meeting.
Combining her two podium finishes with her fourth-place outing in the long jump on Friday, Taylor led all UT athletes with 19 points scored for the Lady Vols at the conference meet. Jacobs led the men with 12.5 points in his first career SEC track & field championship.
ALSO SCORING: In addition to the seven medals on Saturday, Tennessee had four more scoring performances from Canaan Anderson, Jesse Henderson, Suzan Ogunleye and Joella Lloyd to round out day two of the conference meet.
Making his first appearance in the SEC men's mile final, Anderson took fourth with a time of 4:05.35 to round out his memorable junior campaign. Competing at his fifth and final SEC Indoor Championships, Henderson also nabbed a fourth-place finish with his time of 7.74 in the 60-meter hurdles final.
Lloyd scored in the SEC 60-meter dash for the third consecutive season, turning in a time of 7.34 for seventh place in the conference. Ogunleye added one point for the Lady Vols in her first collegiate conference championship, placing eighth in the triple jump after recording a PR of 12.85m (42-2) on three separate jumps.
UP NEXT: Tennessee athletes that post top-16 NCAA qualifying marks will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the 2023 NCAA Indoor National Championships. The nation's top athletes will converge upon the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday and Sunday, March 10-11.
Tennessee Medal Count - 2023 SEC Indoor Championships
Gold (3)
- Women's 60m - Jacious Sears (7.11 - school record)
- Men's 3000m - Dylan Jacobs (7:52.49 - meet record)
- Men's DMR - Yordanos Zelinski, Rasheeme Griffith, Joe Hoots, Dylan Jacobs (9:32.75)
- Women's 5000m - Kayla Gholar (16:05.79)
- Women's Triple Jump - Charisma Taylor (13.82m / 45-4.25)
- Men's 5000m - Yaseen Abdalla (14:10.19)
- Men's 60m Hurdles - Rasheem Brown (7.72)
- Women's 200m - Jacious Sears (22.96)
- Women's 60m Hurdles - Charisma Taylor (8.03)
- Men's 4x400m Relay - Emmanuel Bynum, Clement Ducos, Jakwan Hale, Rasheeme Griffith (3:05.51)
Players Mentioned
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