University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
SEC Outdoor Championships
Track Records Strong Day Two Performance
May 15, 2015 | Track & Field
| Name | Event/Place/Mark |
|---|---|
| Drew Kelley | 1500m (p)/17th/3:53.18 |
| Matthew Hoty | Shot Put/4th/61-5.0 (18.72) |
| Tavis Bailey | Shot Put/7th/57-3.0 (17.45) |
| Nathan Strother | 400m (p)/12th/47.06 |
| Christian Coleman | 100m (p)/7th/10.19! (+2.8) |
» Full Results
| Name | Event/Place/Mark |
|---|---|
| Cidae'a Woods | Long Jump/17th/19-0.25 (5.80) |
| Erin Champion | Pole Vault/10th/13-1.75 (4.01) |
| Felecia Majors | 400m (p)/22nd/55.73 |
| Felicia Brown | 100m (p)/7th/11.32 (+2.5) |
» Full Results
Competing in the final SEC Championships of his career, Hoty unleased the best throw of his season on his second attempt in the men's shot put competition--61 feet, five inches (18.72)--to place fourth and earn five points for UT. He had entered the event as the No. 7 ranked competitor in the SEC.
Kelley made the most of his first SEC Championships, throwing up a big PR in the men's 1500 meter prelims. Though he did not qualify for the finals, his time of 3:53.18 qualifies him for the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in late June.
May 15, 2015
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Tennessee battled through Day Two of the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Mike Sanders Track Complex, punching two more tickets to the sprint finals and getting a couple solid performances from a pair of seniors in the men's shot put.
"Day Two at the SEC Championships continues to show the strength and the depth of this conference," said Tennessee director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "We had two great qualifiers--Felicia Brown and Christian Coleman--in the 100, doing their thing, running extremely well. I'm very proud of our shot put contingency. Matthew Hoty in the final SEC meet of his career stepped up and competed with great pride for Tennessee. Tavis rounded us out with two more well-earned points."
The Tennessee men came away with seven points in the men's shot put competition as Matthew Hoty and Tavis Bailey came away with fourth and seventh-place finishes, respectively. Having entered the event as the No. 7 ranked participant in the SEC, Hoty threw his way into the final at the No. 4 position with a season-best toss of 61 feet, five inches (18.72). His distance held throughout the finals, giving him his third top-five finish in four SEC Championships in the event and a valuable five points for UT.
With that effort, Hoty moves into the top-20 on the NCAA East Region performance list, all but securing his ticket to the NCAA East Regional in two weeks.
Bailey, meanwhile, tacked on another two points after coming in seventh place. His best throw of the afternoon measured 57 feet, three inches (17.45).
Hoty and Bailey's scores push the two-day total for the men to 10 points, which is good for 10th overall in the team standings heading into the final day. UT leads Alabama (9), Missouri (7), and LSU (4) in the team standings while Florida (50) is the men's leader.
The Tennessee women have competed in only two scoring events thus far this weekend and have yet to hang a tally on the women's team leaderboard.
Having qualified for the women's 200-meter dash final on Thursday night, Felicia Brown secured for herself a busy final day of the Championships with another strong performance on Friday evening. Brown ensured her place in another Saturday event as she punched her ticket to the finals of the women's 100-meter dash with a wind-aided time of 11.32 (+2.5). While she may have missed out on the top spot in her heat, her runner-up finish secured for her the seventh-fastest time of the preliminaries and placed in her inside the nine spots in the finals.
Just before Brown became finals-bound, Christian Coleman earned his spot in the men's 100-meter dash with a season-best 10.19 (+2.8). Running in the final heat of the preliminaries, Coleman found some redemption after being edged out of the 200-meter dash finals the night before. The freshman was runner-up in his heat but came in at No. 7 overall to clear his path to Saturday's final of the marquee sprints event.
Coleman will be the only freshman competing in Saturday's 100-meter dash final.
Saturday's sprint finals will be featured as part of a live, online broadcast of the SEC Championships through SEC Network +. Coverage begins at 3:50 p.m. ET and runs to the meet's conclusion with Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson in the booth and Jill Montgomery as the on-track reporter. SEC Network + can be accessed at ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.
"We're looking forward to tomorrow--the final day of SECs--where the action is always hot and we're looking to finish as strong as we can," Sullivan concluded.
Other notable Volunteer results from a busy Friday at the SEC Championships include a top-10 finish from Erin Champion in the women's pole vault and a big PR from Drew Kelley in the men's 1500 meters. Champion cleared the first two heights of the championship progression, recording a season-best vault of 13 feet, 1.75 inches (4.01), before bowing out at 13 feet, 7.75 inches (4.16). She finished in 10th place. Meanwhile, freshman Drew Kelley recorded a 1500-meter time of 3:53.18 to best his previous career-best mark of 3:57.83 by more than four seconds. He was the 17th-place finisher in the event.
The SEC Championships reach their climax on Saturday--the final day of competition. The Vols have 11 events on tap, including five field events and six on the track. The men's pole vault competition headlines Tennessee's day in the field as Jake Blankenship and Tyler Porter aim for SEC glory. Blankenship, whose current PR (19-0.25/5.80) matches the SEC Championship record, enters the meet as the No. 1 ranked vaulter in the SEC and the No. 2 vaulter in the NCAA. Meanwhile, Porter brought a No. 3 SEC ranking with him to Starkville.
The men's pole vault championship begins at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The men's discus--starting at 4:30 p.m.--should also generate some intrigue as Bailey resumes competition. He is ranked second in the SEC in the event heading into Saturday.
Out on the track, Coleman runs in his 100 final at 5:20 p.m. with Brown following shortly thereafter at 5:30. Austin Whitelaw and Kyle Walter will run in the men's 5000 meters at 6:40 p.m. while cross country and indoor All-American Chelsea Blaase makes her SEC debut in the women's 5k at 7 p.m.
Tennessee closes out its weekend with the men's 4x400-meter relay at 7:25 p.m.
For continued coverage of all things Tennessee Track & Field, be sure to follow @Vol_Track on Twitter. Fans can also follow @SEC_TFChamps15--the official Twitter account of the 2015 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
MEN'S RESULTS AT SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday
Javelin: 6. Kyle Quinn, 227-4 (69.29)
800m (prelim): 22. Chase Hilton, 1:51.83 - dna; 24. Nick Kaiser, 1:52.00 - dna ; 27. Antonio Carter, 1:55.50 - dna
200m (prelim): 10. Christian Coleman, 21.20 (-0.6) - dna
400mH (prelim: 11. Jalen Hunter, 53.19! - dna
Friday
1500m (prelim):Drew Kelley, 3:53.18! - dna
Shot Put: 4. Matthew Hoty, 61-5.0 (18.72); 7. Tavis Bailey, 57-3.0 (17.45)
400m (prelim): 12. Nathan Strother, 47.06 - dna
100m (prelim): 7. Christian Coleman, 10.19! (+2.8) - adv
WOMEN'S RESULTS AT SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday
200m (prelim): 2. Felicia Brown, 23.04 (-0.6)! - adv
Friday
Long Jump: 17. Cidae'a Woods, 19-0.25 (5.80) - dna
Pole Vault: 10. Erin Champion, 13-1.75 (4.01)
400m (prelim): 22. Felecia Majors, 55.73 - dna
100m (prelim): 7. Felicia Brown, 11.32 (+2.5) - adv
! - 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
Players Mentioned
