University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
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Four Vol Wins on Final Day of Relays
April 11, 2015 | Track & Field
April 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tavis Bailey (discus), Jake Blankenship (pole vault), and Felicia Brown (200 meters) all picked up individual victories and the women's 4x100-meter relay team tacked on one more win as Tennessee came away with four top-finishes on the final day of the 49th Tennessee Relays Powered by Sea Ray.
In total, Tennessee captured nine top-five finishes on Saturday to bring its weekend total to 17. The Volunteers also recorded nine new personal bests at the Relays, including two on Saturday.
Heading up Saturday's strong concluding effort was an award-winning performance from sprinter Brown. The junior earned her second individual victory of the Relays with a season-best 23.42 in the 200-meter dash, adding to her haul after she topped the field in Friday's 100-meter dash (11.31). Her 23.42 is projected to rank 14th nationally when results are tallied on Monday, and fifth in the SEC. Brown was also instrumental in UT's win the women's 4x100-meter relay, running the anchor leg as she and teammates Cidae'a Woods, Felecia Majors, and London Freeland posted a time of 45.23.
For her efforts, Brown was awarded the Tony Wilson Award as the most outstanding athlete in the women's track events. She becomes the fourth UT women's athlete to take home the Relays' top individual honor in the last five years, joining Nijgia Sapp (2013) and Ellen Wortham (2011, 2012).
Melissa Gergel of Team Pacer claimed the Tony Wilson Award for women's field athlete after she set a new meet record with a mark of 14 feet, 5.25 inches (4.40) in the invitational section of the women's pole vault. On the men's side, Tim Glover (unattached) captured the field athlete award after a meet record throw of 275 feet, 11 inches (84.09) in the men's javelin and Lamar Hargrove of Tiffin University won the men's track athlete honor following his winning time of 20.56 in the men's 200-meter dash invitational.
The men's field events produced a pair of victories on Saturday as Bailey and Blankenship each reigned over their respective events. Bailey cruised to the top spot in the men's discus invitational, turning in a season-best throw of 193 feet (58.84) to distance himself from the second-place finisher by almost 15 feet. It was the second straight season that Bailey had won the discus invite.
Meanwhile, Blankenship picked up his first win of the season with a vault of 18 feet, one inch (5.51). He has now finished inside the top five in seven of his last eight competitions dating back to last season.
The final day of the Tennessee Relays began with a special Senior Day presentation on Tom Black Track as UT paid tribute to its 13-member class of 2015. Bailey, Antonio Carter, J.R. Creekmore, Lizzie Cornell, Jeremy Dickie, Matthew Hoty, Nick Kaiser, Michael Maira, Deon McAdoo, Julia Petree, Tyler Porter, Anthony Simpson, and Kyle Walter were each honored prior to the start of the days' track events.
Indoor All-American Christian Coleman registered a new PR in the 200-meter dash on Saturday, finishing in the runner-up position of the invitational section with a 20.73. Teammate Nathan Strother placed seventh in the same race with a new career-best time of 21.64.
Coleman's PR will most likely rank inside the top 10 of the NCAA outdoor qualifying list and third on the SEC performance list.
The outdoor season rolls on next weekend when UT travels to Auburn, Alabama, for the War Eagle Invitational. That meet gets underway on Friday, April 17 and rolls into Saturday, April 18.
MEN'S RESULTS AT TENNESSEE RELAYS
Thursday
Decathlon: 2. Josh Wheeler (UNAT), 3468 (thru 5 events)
Hammer: 11. Deon McAdoo, 55.37 (181-08); 15. Carson Frost, 53.46 (175-05); 6. Cameron Brown (UNAT), 63.00 (206-08)!
10,000m: Anthony Simpson - dnf
Friday
Decathlon: 3. Josh Wheeler (UNAT), 6473
400mH: 14. Jalen Hunter, 55.68!
110mH: 9. Jalen Hunter, 14.74w(+2.1)
400m: 30. Malik Elion, 51.24
200m: 23. Malik Elion, 22.27; 39. Wesley Edwards, 22.89!
800m: 3. Chase Hilton, 1:51.19!; 5. Nick Kaiser, 1:51.81; 12. Antonio Carter, 1:53.26
Pole Vault: 8. Michael Maira, 4.71 (15-5.50)
Long Jump: 5. Christian Coleman, 7.29 (23-11.00); 7. Nathan Strother, 7.25 (23-9.50)!
1500m: 33. Drew Kelley, 3:57.83!; 24. Tyler Woodrome (UNAT), 3:52.92
Shot Put: 4. Tavis Bailey, 18.73 (61-5.50); 8. Matthew Hoty, 17.31 (56-9.50)
5000m: 5. Kyle Walter, 14:22.25!; 27. J.R. Creekmore, 15:13.00
Saturday
Discus Invite: 1. Tavis Bailey, 58.84 (193-00); 7. Matthew Zajac, 49.94 (163-10)
DMR: 3. Tennessee `B' (Kaiser, Hunter, Carter, Hilton), 10:01.37
200m Invite: 2. Christian Coleman, 20.73!; 7. Nathan Strother, 21.64!
Pole Vault Invite: 1. Jake Blankenship, 5.51 (18-1.00); 8. Tyler Porter, 5.26 (17-3.00)
Javelin: 5. Kyle Quinn, 69.13 (226-10)
High Jump Invite: 8. Wesley Edwards, 2.01 (6-7.00)
4x400: 4. Tennessee `A' (Hunter, Strother, Elion, Carter), 3:13.91
WOMEN'S RESULTS AT TENNESSEE RELAYS
Thursday
Heptathlon: 10. Brielyn Rogers, 2783 (thru 4 events)
Hammer: 30. Danielle Holdren (UNAT), 39.99 (131-02)!
Friday
Heptathlon: 10. Brielyn Rogers, 4357!
100m: 1. Felicia Brown, 11.31w(+3.9)
100mH 7. Cidae'a Woods, 14.13w(+2.3)
400m: 15. London Freeland, 57.04; 29. Megan Linder, 58.73
800m:26. Lizzie Cornell, 2:23.90!; 39. Julia Petree, 2:38.22
Long Jump: 2. Felecia Majors, 5.96 (19-6.75); 4. Cidae'a Woods, 5.88 (19-3.50)
1500m: 41. Caroline Duer, 4:52.25; 19. Amirah Johnson (UNAT), 4:39.02; 50. Anna Jernigan, 5:01.48
Saturday
Javelin: 3. Maria Jimenez, 43.45 (148-09)
Pole Vault: 6. Erin Champion, 3.95 (12-11.50)
4x100m: 1. Tennessee `A' (Woods, Majors, Freeland, Brown), 45.23
200m Invite: 1. Felicia Brown, 23.42; Felecia Majors - dnf
! - Personal Best, $ - SEC Record, a - American Record, b - Banked Track, c - Collegiate Record, adv. - Advanced, dna - Did Not Advance, dnf - Did Not Finish, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Score, dq - Disqualified, F - Foul, f - Facility Record, fr - Freshman Record, fr* - Tied Freshman Record, fs - False Start, H - Heptathlon, h - Hand-Timed, mr - Meet Record, nh - No Height, nm - No Mark, P - Pentathlon, sr - School Record, u - Undersized Track, w - wind-aided, wr - World Record
