Tennessee track and field had a historic weekend as they split up between four different invitationals and challenges, bringing home a haul of personal records and first-place finishes.
Jim Green Invitational — Lexington, Kentucky
Igor Olaru provided the most worthwhile weekend performance, shattering the Tennessee school record with a 73.05-meter hammer throw, which places him seventh in the NCAA overall in the 2026 outdoor season.
In the same event, Aidan Ifkovits placed fourth with a 65.07-meter throw. JL Van RensBurg placed first at 19.63 meters while John Bruner placed fifth at 18.17 meters in the men’s shot put. Aron Alvarez Aranda continued the first-place streak in discus throw at 59.43 meters, while Wesley Badenhorst secured a new personal record in the event with a 58.22-meter throw. The men’s hammer throw continued to be a strong point with Igor Olaru in second with a 73.05, a new personal record. In the men’s javelin throw final, Roddy Schenk finished strong in first with a final 62.38-meter throw.
On the women’s side, the freshmen took charge at the invitational.
Redshirt freshman Avia Jones placed second in the women’s 100m, a new personal record and time of 11.27 seconds. In the women’s triple jump, freshman Endia Smith placed third with a final jump of 12.15 meters, while Cedrick Williams continued to dominate the discus throw with a final throw of 60.76 meters. In women’s javelin throw, freshman Brett Jones secured second place with a 50.05-meter throw.
East Coast Relays — Jacksonville, Florida
The men’s 400-meter hurdles secured a 1-2 finish with Marc Anthony Ibrahim in first at 49.85 seconds, followed by Calvin Wetzel in second with a season-best time at 50.27 seconds, ranking No. 19 nationally this season. Finishing in fifth, Harry Barton finalized the top-five finish with a 51.17-second time.
Truanard Folson dominated the men’s 100-meter, setting a new personal record at 9.93 seconds, and ranking him fourth in the NCAA for this outdoor season. In the men’s 400-meter, Andre Jackson II placed fourth with a 45.94-second time. Both the men’s 4×400 meter relay and 4×100 meter relay placed third in North Florida, with the 4×400 meter run by Calvin Wetzel, Harry Barton, Andre Jackson II and Marc Anthony Ibrahim, timing in at 3:05.44 seconds and Truanard Folson, Kaleb Branch, Davonte Howell, and T’Mars McCallum, timing in with a final time of 39.10 in the 4×100 meter relay.
In the women’s 400-meter, Cyndey Wright secured first place with a new personal record of 51.43 seconds, while Esther Joseph had a time of 52.45 seconds in the same event, finishing in third place.
Duke Twilight Invitational — Durham, North Carolina
At the Duke Twilight invitational, Amelia Wills broke the Vol record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:52.51 seconds. The previous record was set in 2022 at 10:04.15 seconds, making Wills beat that time by over 10 seconds. She is currently ranked sixth in the nation.
Music City Challenge — Nashville, Tennessee
Freshman Oliver MacDonald competed unattached and took second place with a time of 3:41.66 seconds, while Gavin Genisio finished 19th in 3:49.44 seconds. If MacDonald had competed attached, he would have set the new UT freshman record.
Faith Chepchumba took the win in the 5,000-meter with a final time of 16:03.73 seconds, Jaci Sievers finished seventh with a best-overall time of 16:23.24 seconds, and Kaitlyn Vanderkolk took 12th place at 16:53.24 seconds.
The Vols will continue their run at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Auburn, Alabama, from Thursday through Saturday, May 14-16.
