University of Tennessee Athletics
TRACK & FIELD CENTRAL: Hoosier Open
December 08, 2016 | Track & Field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee track and field team will open the 2017 indoor season on Friday as they head to the Hoosier Open at Gladstein Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Indiana.
The meet will begin at 3:45 p.m. ET with the women's 20 lb. weight throw. The track events will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the Women's 60m Hurdle Trials. In addition to student-athletes from the host, Indiana, the meet will feature competitors from Cincinnati, Purdue and Kentucky.
"We head to Indiana for the Hoosier Open this weekend," director of track & field and cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We are excited to get this 2017 drive started, even though it will still be 2016 this week. We're taking a moderate squad for both the men and women. It's at the end of our finals week; we are looking at this as definitely a startup meet, a rust-buster and just getting our sprints, jumps and throws crew an opportunity to compete after a long fall of high-intensity training."
The Hoosier Open starts with Candice Butler, Savannah Marlow and Stamatia Scarvelis competing in the women's weight throw at 3:45 p.m. ET. Sophomore DeAndra Greer, sophomore Maia McCoy and junior Cidaea' Woods will compete in UT's first track event of the season when they compete in the women's 60m trials at 4:50 p.m. Junior Malik Elion, sophomore Darryl Harris and freshman Matthew Moore run in the first men's track race of the season in the men's 60m trials at 5:00 p.m. ET. At the bottom of this release is a schedule of the events Tennessee is slated to compete in on Friday.
Eight Vols will make their Tennessee debut on Friday; freshmen Matthew Moore, Brooklynn Broadwater, Kadeem-Jamal Middleton, Adam Johnston, Cole Patterson and Darryl Sullivan along with junior Shania Collins and sophomore Stamatia Scarvelis will don the Orange and White for the first time in competition.
"We are excited to see what we got and get it started, Indiana hosts a great meet," Alford-Sullivan stated. "We will compete this weekend and then everything will go on hold until January, when we hit the competitive part of our season."
WHO TO WATCH - TENNESSEE MEN
The men's team will feature the reigning indoor 200m national champion and Olympian Christian Coleman as he opens up the 2017 indoor season. Coleman claimed the title with a 20.55 mark in the finals last year. This weekend, Coleman will move back 100m and compete in the 300m race alongside Nathan Strother, Harris and Moore.
Strother finished second in the men's 400m competition at last year's NCAA Championship competition. Last year at the Hoosier Open, Coleman and Strother competed in the 300m distance and finished 1-2. Strother took first with a mark of 33.67 while Coleman crossed the line in 33.68. Those were the seventh and eighth fastest times in school history at the 300m distance.
Sophomore Ari Cogdell and Middleton will compete in the 500m competition. Cogdell will return to competition for the first time since he took fourth in the men's 400m final at the 2016 USA Junior Championships outdoors. Cogdell earned both indoor and outdoor All-American honors last season for his role on the 4x400 Tennessee relay squad.
Redshirt sophomore Matthew Zajac and sophomore Seth Whitener will compete in the weight throw for the second consecutive season at the Hoosier Open. Zajac took third last year with a mark of 19.35m (63-6).
WHO TO WATCH - TENNESSEE WOMEN
Senior Brielyn Rogers will compete in the triple jump for the Vols looking to better her second place finish at last year's Hoosier Open. Rogers jumped 12.37m (40-7) on her first jump to take second.
Rogers will also compete in the long jump alongside sophomore Maya Neal and junior Cidae'a Woods. Neal will be competing in her second sport during the fall semester as Neal starred for the Tennessee Soccer team starting 19 games, scoring three goals and being named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Neal will compete in the long jump and the women's 500m race alongside Broadwater.
In addition to featuring in the long jump, Woods will compete in the 60m competition alongside Maia McCoy and DeAndra Greer. Greer raced in the 60m and the 200m competition at last year's Hoosier open finishing fourth in the 60m (7.57).
McCoy was part of the 300m field last year which also featured Lenysse Dyer. Both Dyer and McCoy will compete in the 300m again this season alongside Collins. Dyer finished fifth last year in 38.80 just behind Felecia Brown (1st, 37.12) and Felecia Majors (2nd, 37.50).
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
TRACK
4:50 p.m. - Women's 60m Trials -- DeAndra Greer, Maia McCoy, Cidae'a Woods
5:00 p.m. - Men's 60m Trials -- Malik Elion, Darryl Harris, Matthew Moore
5:35 p.m. - Women's 60m Finals -- Qualifiers from 60m trials
5:40 p.m. - Men's 60m Finals -- Qualifiers from 60m trials
6:10 p.m. - Women's 500m -- Brooklynn Broadwater, Maya Neal
6:20 p.m. - Men's 500m -- Ari Cogdell, Kadeem-Jamal Middleton
7:25 p.m. - Women's 200m - DeAndra Greer
7:35 p.m. - Men's 200m -- Malik Elion
7:45 p.m. - Women's 300m -- Shania Collins, Lenysse Dyer, Maia McCoy
8:00 p.m. - Men's 300m -- Christian Coleman, Darryl Harris, Matthew Moore, Nathan Strother
8:30 p.m. - Men's 3000m -- Adam Johnston
8:45 p.m. - Women's 4x400m Relay -- Tennessee A
9:00 p.m. - Men's 4x400m Relay -- Tennessee A
FIELD
3:45 p.m. - Women's 20lb Weight -- Candice Butler, Savannah Marlow, Stamatia Scarvelis
~4:15 p.m. - Men's 35lb Weight - Seth Whitener, Matthew Zajac
~4:45 p.m. - Women's Shot Put - Stamatia Scarvelis
~5:15 p.m. - Men's Shot Put -- Cole Patterson, Seth Whitener, Matthew Zajac
~5:30 p.m. - Women's Long Jump -- Maya Neal, Brielyn Rogers, Cidae'a Woods
~6:30 p.m. - Women's Triple Jump -- Brielyn Rogers
7:30 p.m. - Men's High Jump -- Darryl Sullivan
