The Tennessee Track and Field team heads to Blacksburg, Virginia, this weekend to compete in the Virginia Tech Elite Meet.
The meet starts at 5 p.m. on Friday and will feature four SEC schools. Joining Tennessee from the SEC will be Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky. This will be the team’s first of four meets in February, which will culminate with the SEC Indoor Championships at the end of this month in Lexington, Kentucky.
Going into the weekend, the men’s indoor track team is ranked No. 25 in the country and will look to improve upon that ranking. They were ranked No. 21 but fell four spots due to an idle week. This is the first time since 2009 that the Tennessee men have been ranked. While pleased with the ranking, first year head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan is taking it in stride.
“It’s an honor to be ranked because our sport is so competitive,” Sullivan said. “To stay in the top 25 with a weekend off, some other teams gain some ground on you because we didn’t compete, we are proud of the fact we held on to the top 25. We are very proud of the ranking itself. At the same time I am a big believer that a ranking is just a ranking, it’s actually a computerized program and we don’t compete that way.”
Sullivan hopes to use this weekend to continue moving the track program forward. Sullivan opined that the month of February is crucial and it’s important to not only compete against other SEC schools, but also compete against themselves. Eliminating mistakes and competing at a high level will also be key.
“This season is all about moving forward and growing the program forward,” Sullivan said. “We know it’s mostly about getting in there and learning to be great athletes and learning to execute when the pressure is on and the big performance is needed.”
Leading the team are captains and juniors Jake Blankenship and Cassie Wertman. Blankenship has had a strong 2015 thus far, coming in first place at the Hokie Invitational, also held at Virginia Tech, in pole vault and posting a career best vault of 18 feet, 8.25 meters. Wertman, likewise, placed first in the Hokie Invitational in shot put with a throw of 16.74 meters.
Both Blankenship and Wertman will be called upon again this weekend.
