On March 13 and 14, six members of the Tennessee track and field team will be competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Representing the Tennessee men will be captain Jake Blankenship, junior Cameron Brown, redshirt junior Tavis Bailey, and freshman Christian Coleman. Brown and Bailey will both compete in the weight throw making Tennessee the only D-1 school to have two representatives in the event. Blankenship will compete in the pole vault while Coleman will run in the 60 meter dash.
Brown is the recently crowned SEC champion in the weight throw and is ranked fourth in the nation. Blankenship is making his second trip to the indoor championships and was the SEC runner-up and is No. 3 in the nation in pole vault. SEC Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year, Coleman, has the sixth fastest time in the nation at 6.58 in the 60 meters and is the Vols first qualifier since 2008. Bailey is making his first trip to the Indoor Championships but has competed at the Outdoor Championships. He earned a Silver medal at the SEC championships and is ranked No. 11 in the nation.
“First off, I was preparing to throw a different event,” Bailey said. “I went outdoors last year for the discus throw, I’ve been to that twice, but I’ve never been indoors and I’ve never thrown weight at the national meet. That’s a big challenge, adjusting routines to throw another event at such a high level.”
Captain Cassie Wertman and junior Chelsea Blaase will represent the Vols on the women’s side.
Wertman will compete in the shot put, an event she placed third in at the SEC championships and is ranked eighth nationally. Blaase is making her second straight trip to the Indoor Championships and for the second year in a row will run the 5000 meter. She has the seventh best time in the country.
First year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan opined that having four of the six Vols going to the championships already having experience in a national championship will be a big boost. Blankenship, Brown, Bailey, and Blaase have all competed at a national championship event before. Wertman and Coleman are making the debut at the national championships.
“The four guys on the men’s team have upheld the top-15 ranking all season or most of the season so their goals will be focused on trying to produce a team result as well as an individual result,” Alford-Sullivan said. “We are looking to do a couple of things, one is that we want to go in and embrace the environment. It is a heightened environment, it is a very intense environment. We think we will do our best to uphold that top-15 ranking and it will end up being a point or two that will separate us from top 15, top 25.
“If we do well and do what we are capable that should hold us into a pretty good position. A little slip here or there and it will certainly be a different end result. We feel confident in the kids that are going, we are excited about it, and they represent us and hope to bring back some great results.”
The start time for both days is 11 a.m. ESPN 3 will have a live broadcast of both days with Friday’s broadcast starting at 6:50 pm ET and 5:50 pm ET on Saturday.
