For athletes, it can take a lifetime of hard work to become successful in their sport, but they can only have a handful of moments to prove themselves. Senior Jackie Areson had two of those moments this past weekend at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
In the 3,000 meter, Areson ran a blazing time of 9:10.49. That time was not only good enough for first— she outpaced the two nearest competitors, fellow UT runners senior Liz Costello and junior Brittany Sheffey, by six and 10 seconds, respectively — but her time shattered a 24-year-old SEC record by more than five seconds.
Areson, however, was not shocked by her performance; she saw her run as going the way she expected.
“It was sort of the plan (to win and break the record), so I wasn’t shocked or surprised or anything,” Areson said. “I was just happy I completed my task.”
From the very beginning of the race, Areson’s victory-driven mentality was easy to see. By the midway point of the 15-lap race, she had already begun to gain a sig distance from the rest of the pack.
While going into the race, Areson believed her performance seemed a foregone conclusion, UT Director of Track & Field J.J. Clark was still impressed with his runner’s race.
“It’s a great feeling for Jackie to break a 24-year-old record,” Clark said. “It shows you how good she was, because she broke it fairly easily, and she had just a good run today. There were really a lot of athletes in that race, probably too many, and there was a lot of bumping and pushing in the beginning. Jackie just took the lead and never looked back.”
The overcrowded track caused problems for Areson at first, but in the end, she said, it actually helped her push forward and go out at a faster pace.
“There were some people pushing at my back, and I saw people going down,” Areson said. “And I wasn’t supposed to lead at first, but then I just said, ‘I better get out of this mess.’ So I just ran and got away from it. There were so many girls on the line, it was crazy.”
While Areson was pleased with her own individual performance, the true accomplishment in the race came from the strong finish of her two teammates, which allowed UT to sweep the podium in the 3,000 meter.
“It’s awesome,” Areson said. “Yeah, that was our goal going in. We did it, but in a very different way than we thought. Our plan was to run together the whole way, but the crazy pushing in the beginning threw out our plan, so it was nice to turn around and see that they (Costello and Sheffey) got second and third. It was fun.”
Areson’s did not stop with just one SEC Championship and one record. On the day following, she was a member of the record-setting, first-place, distance medley relay with UT’s juniors Chanelle Price, Sheffey and Ashley Harris.
“We weren’t really worried about the (SEC meet) record,” Areson said. “We wanted to try to get as close to (an NCAA automatic mark) as possible, because we were kind of on the bubble. I just wanted to help the relay qualify for nationals, and I knew we had to run faster than the meet record to do that.”
That relay’s finishing time of 11:05.37 was 32 seconds faster than its nearest competitor and nine seconds faster than the previous record.
Clark was more than pleased with his runners’ performances in the relay.
“Running an auto mark at the end of the meet is absolutely fantastic,” Clark said. “It’s one of the top times in the country, and we’re happy we punched our ticket (to the NCAAs).”
Despite anyone’s surprise at her success this weekend, for Areson, her moments this weekend all went according to plan.
