As Tennessee split up its track and field team, much of the attention was steered towards the group traveling up to the historic 126th Pennsylvania Relays. However, it was at the LSU Invite that Favour Ashe sent shockwaves around the track and field world.
Ashe dug into the track and put forth the fifth-fastest all-condition time in the men’s 100m with 9.79. Now the fastest time in the nation, Ashe stands as the top qualifier for the NCAA East Region with just a month until the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
One day at LSU
Ashe was not the only Volunteer to shine at the one-day event in Baton Rouge.
Charisma Taylor set a new personal record in the women’s triple jump, finishing second with 13.51m. Her personal record improvement also broke the tie she shared with Alonie Sutton for second all-time in Lady Vol history. Since arriving at Tennessee, Taylor has continued to sketch her name into the school’s record book, and now, only LaChyna Roe (13.61m) stands ahead of her in the top sport for outdoor triple jump.
Teammates Wayne Pinnock and Carey McLeod continued their success together, finishing second and third in the men’s long jump. Putting in great leaps of 8.02m and 7.99m, both men now rank within the top-10 of the NCAA. Pinnock and Mcleod also joined Ashe and Emmanuel Bynum to compete in the 4x100m relay. The group only managed to place third but put forth the tenth fastest time in the country while doing so.
Weekend in Penn
Sydney Seymour opened for the Lady Vols in Pennsylvania with a school record in the women’s 5,000m. Clocking in at 15:36.00, the senior overthrew a 40-year-old record set by Kathy Bryant in 1982 (15:37.73).
On day two, the quartet of Brooke Dixon, Uchechi Nwogwugwu, Allison Rand and Olivia Janke took first in the College Women’s Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at 11:20.78. The group finished 12 seconds faster than the second place Navy team.
Last year at Penn., it was the men’s team who took first place in the collegiate DMR. That was not the case in 2022, as the group moved up to the Championship division. Made up of Canaan Anderson, Ethan Robinson, Will Mazur and Tim Thacker, the men’s DMR team finished in eleventh place with 9:49.94. With just month until the conference championships, this squad will have a few more opportunities to improve their time.
Tennessee did capture a win in the ring by way of Skylar Coffey. The freshman opened the collegiate men’s discus throw with a personal best at 54.13m. This PB was only fourth best in the competition going into the final round, though. Coffey put some back into his last heave and claimed the event title going at 56.51m.
Field events continued the last day of the Pennsylvania Relays with the championship division of events. The experienced pair of Latavia Maines and Jordan West earned second-place finishes in the women’s and men’s shot put. West threw for 19.64m on the men’s side while Maines went 17.51 on the women’s. Natalie Lark also soured her way to third all-time in Lady Vol history, reaching new heights of 4.16m in the pole vault.
Up next
Tennessee will come back home on Saturday, May 7 to host the single day meet Tennessee Challenge. The full day of competition starts at 11 a.m. EST.
