With the outdoor season officially underway, the Vols set the tone for this spring season at the 2026 Tennessee Invite with over 35 top-five finishes this weekend, hosted by Tennessee at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.
Despite the hardware, head coach Duane Ross is focused on a different kind of progress.
“We haven’t won a national title yet, so clearly there’s some things we need to do a little better,” Ross said. “When we put this team on paper, it’s one of the best teams in the country — but that’s on paper. You know, as good as they are, we need work on believing that we are that good. And we are.”
Across the two-day home meet, Tennessee track and field put together multiple standout performances.
Field events
In the discus, Cedricka Williams delivered a career-defining performance. Her first-place 60.56-meter throw broke the school record and moved her into the No. 2 spot nationally in the NCAA outdoor rankings.
“It’s a trust the process thing,” Williams said. “I’m setting a trend unintentionally because I did this at my previous schools.”
The men’s pole vault team, which is currently the No. 1 team in the nation, was led by Cade Gray, whose outdoor personal best clearance of 5.66 meters placed him first in the meet and No. 3 nationally. Blake Sifferlin placed third with a jump of 5.51 meters, tying him for the No. 12 spot nationally with Ismaila Sawaneh and Clarke Byram, both of whom also jumped 5.51 meters and placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
The women’s pole vault team also secured a notable placing, with Hannah Grace taking first place with a personal best of 4.52 meters, which takes her to No. 3 in the NCAA for outdoor rankings. Right behind her came Skye Tolbert, jumping 4.42 meters for another personal best and placing her No. 7 in the NCAA. Kendall Ford wrapped it up with a fourth-place 4.12-meter clearance.
Grant Campbell and Gray took home event titles in the high jump and long jump events, respectively. Campbell moved into the No. 9 spot for high jump at 2.17 meters, while Gray moved to No. 8 for long jump with 7.82 meters.
“I’m excited because what I’ve seen so far, this weekend, is a lot of grit,” Ross said, “which is something I thought was missing indoors.”
Both the men’s hammer throw and men’s shot put produced three Vols in the top five. Igor Olaru took first for hammer throw with a 69.66-meter throw, and JL Van Rensburg placed first in the shot put at 19.57 meters. Aron Alvarez Aranda, a discus-throwing machine, took first place with 60.51 meters.
Freshman triple jumper Endia Smith added a first-place finish with a 12.57-meter jump, while fellow freshman Brett Jones put forth a first-place personal best of 50.75 meters in the women’s javelin.
Track events
Tennessee exemplified its speed across the track events.
The men’s 400-meter hurdles dominated the podium. Nikola Kostic placed second at 50.25 seconds, milliseconds away from his personal best. West Point graduate student Calvin Wetzel placed third at 51.69 seconds, and Harry Barton finished the dominance in fifth place with 52.05 seconds on the board.
Traunard Folson, Davonte Howell, T’Mars McCallum and Serges Taha guided the men’s 4×100-meter team to victory with a time of 38.97 seconds, currently the seventh-fastest time in the outdoor season.
The men’s 110-meter hurdles also had three top-five finishes, with Kalib Branch taking first at 13.62 seconds, his second all-time best time. Taha and Yourie Lawrence-Clarke followed with second and fourth-place finishes.
On the women’s side, the 4×400 meter team also secured a first-place finish, crossing the line in 3:36.77 seconds. Lauren Jarrett placed second with a personal best of 23.39 seconds in the 200-meter, with Jaci Sievers placing third in the 1500-meter with a time of 4:28.95 seconds.
“Win or loss at the NCAA Championships or the SEC Championships, I want to see this team getting there and performing at their best and performing to the team I know they can be,” Ross said.
The Vols will continue their season April 16-18 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.
