Members from both of Tennessee’s track and field teams will try improve their national rankings this weekend to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Jonathan Wade, Karl Jennings and Frank Francois will be traveling to an NCAA qualifying meet in Aimes, Iowa, on Saturday.
Wade will be running in the 60-meter and 200m dashes, while Jennings will run the 60m hurdles. Francois will try to increase his time in the 800m.
Men’s track and field coach Bill Webb said the meets, usually refereed to as “last chance” invitationals, allow athletes a final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Indoors.
He said his three runners would have a good opportunity to move on.
“Karl and Wade are just a few tenths or hundreds away from being able to compete at nationals,” Webb said. “You snap your finger and you’ve got more time than that, so we think they have a great shot at making it.
“Frank has also been very competitive and just needs half a second faster to get in.”
Francois said he looked forward to the meet but does feel more pressure because of its nature.
“There is a little more anxiety because this is my last chance to qualify,” Francois said. “I mean I’m excited about the opportunity. I’ve never been to nationals, but I still have to give it my best shot.”
Webb said Francois currently ranks 25th in the nation in the 800 meters and needs to raise his mark closer to 19th before qualifying.
“We hope they’ll make it,” he said. “Two hundredths of a second isn’t all that much, and that’s all some of these guys have to improve on.”
For the Lady Vols, Dee Dee Trotter and Toyin Olupona will compete Saturday in the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
The meet also serves as a qualifier for the NCAAs.
Women’s track and field coach J.J. Clark said he needs just a little more effort from his runners to get them into nationals.
“(Trotter and Olupona) aren’t that far out of the mix, but someone could come out with a better mark this weekend and knock them out of contention,” he said. “I want them to put in a qualifying mark, at least just enough to assure them a place at the nationals.
“They should perform well.”
Trotter will be running in the 200m, where she ranks 20th nationally. Olupona also stands at 20th nationally in the 60m and will seek an automatic bid to the NCAA Indoors, which begin later this month in Fayetteville, Ark.
