Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium played host to the final home meet this year as Tennessee track and field closed out the regular season.
During the Big Orange Invite, the Vols honored 21 seniors as they capped off their final regular season. As the meet concluded, Tennessee ran away with 12 event titles to close the year on a high note.
Tennessee added five marks that rank top 25 on the NCAA Division I list for the 2025 outdoor season on Friday. They also helped to push six outdoor, wind-legal personal records on Saturday at the Big Orange Invite.
It served as one final chance to clean up the flaws and get prepared for the postseason.
“Just reminding our athletes to have fun like they did today,” head coach Duane Ross told The Daily Beacon. “I think we’re in a good spot, because the training has been done at this point. I think when we remember to have fun doing this and remember why we do it — I think things fall into place.”
Myreanna Bebe led all performers over the weekend in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. The senior hurdler put forth a lifetime-best 12.81-second time. That was enough to put Bebe as the top performer in the NCAA this outdoor season, also running the third-fastest time in the event in Lady Vols history.
Sarah Schmitt also topped her own school record in the pole vault, clearing a 4.45m mark, which ranks No. 10 in the NCAA.
Overall, it was an outing that Ross was pleased with.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time this week here, focusing on making sure everyone’s healthy, making sure everyone’s happy,” Ross said. “I have a saying — happy and healthy. We focus on those two things, I think we’ll be alright.”
Tennessee’s next step in the process is the 2025 SEC Outdoor Championships in Lexington, Kentucky. The Vols have two weeks off before the postseason begins on May 15.
With the regular season over, it’s one step closer to achieving Ross’s preseason benchmark.
“The goal is to win a national championship on both sides, men and women, and to continue doing it,” Ross said. “That’s never going to change. The goal would be the best in the world. So I’ll say we’re getting one step closer. Not there yet. But every competition we have, every practice, I think we get one step closer.”
Senior Day festivities
Friday and Saturday were two emotional days on the track.
“I spent the last three years really getting to know a lot of these student athletes and watching them progress and on the track and in the classroom, and build those relationships,” Ross said. “So as a coach, I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s always a touching moment to see them move on.”
The largest contingent of graduating seniors included the distance runners Msgana Araya, Will Cahill, Yonas Haile, Zach Jaeger, Aaron Jones, Rachel Sutliff and Callie Tucker.
Sprinters make up the next-largest total with Canaan Anderson, Aaron Bell, Deron Dudley, Milan Fields, Jonah Ross and Brianna White.
The rest of the senior class includes hurdlers Layla Anderson, Bebe and Kiara Smith. Ellison Colarossi and Schmitt make up the departing pole vaulters, alongside jumper Patrick Fehm and mid-distance runner Calvin Wetzel. Jevon Williams rounds out the entire group as a sprinter and hurdler.
“As coaches, that’s our responsibility to help them move on and move forward,” Ross said. “So excited to see them move on to the next level of things, whether it’s still running or going out in corporate America — whatever it is, just extremely proud of them and what they’ve built here. The foundation that was in place when I got here.”
For Ross, it was a particularly special day. His daughter, Jonah, took part in Senior Day festivities, capping her career in the place that her father guides.
“That’s my rock,” Ross said. “We’re really, really tight. It’s always emotional seeing her grow up and move on, but excited for her future as well.”
In an evolving landscape of college athletics, it’s a scene that Ross does not try to focus on. A vast majority of Tennessee’s seniors did not spend their entire career with the Vols.
Canaan Anderson, Araya, Colarossi, Schmitt, Sutliff and Tucker are the only six who have been with Tennessee throughout their collegiate time.
“We try to stay grounded and just focus on the main thing, and that’s them getting here and being educated, and then having fun on the track and winning some championships,” Ross said. “Because of that, that’s why we have something so important here. It’s bigger than performances, bigger than wins. As a coach, man, when you get to touch lives like I do, get to see them grow — that’s really a sweet spot.”
At the end of the day, it’s what makes Ross’s job so rewarding.
“I think coaches in every sport sometimes don’t get the credit that they deserve, because it’s not just about wins,” Ross said. “It is about moving them forward. It is about getting them ready for real life and being mindful that when you’re on the track, they’re still student athletes and are still sponges. They’re picking up everything you say.
“I take that responsibility very seriously, and guiding them and moving them forward in life so extremely important. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve had kids going into corporate America, and had a lot of success — become doctors, lawyers, mechanics — whatever they want to pursue in life, and that’s just as important as them going on and continuing in the sport.”
