After a hectic weekend, the Volunteers look to rest and recover before the War Eagle Invitational Friday and Saturday at Auburn.
First year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan spoke on the importance of training hard and competing well but also getting rest.
“We need to not let our foot off the gas,” Sullivan said. “Go into Auburn and use it as an opportunity to compete well, execute things well and work on things we are trying to get done. It’s a good weekend to continue to just kind of grind through things.”
Junior sprinter Felicia Brown said she is looking forward to the meet at Auburn. She specifically mentioned the 200-meter dash, hoping to run it in under 23 seconds and set a new personal record.
No. 2 ranked 10,000 meter runner Chelsea Blaase will take a break weekend. After setting the school record in the 10,000 two weeks ago at Stanford, she will return to action next week at the Penn Relays.
The 49th Tennessee Relays wrapped up last Saturday after three days of competition. Several Vols had strong performances.
Tavis Bailey placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 61 feet 5.5 inches. The senior also threw discus, winning the event with a distance of 193 feet.
“He won the discus and did well in the shot put too,” Sullivan said. “He is still working on a few things and certainly is coming together really well with the potential to hit well over 200 feet in the discus as the season progresses.”
Sullivan said Bailey’s performance in the shot put helped propel him into Saturday’s discus throw but acknowledged that the discus is his main event and would have shown well regardless.
Captain Jake Blankenship was another winner for the Vols last week. He competed in the pole vault and won with a height of 18 feet 1 inch. Freshman Christian Coleman set a new personal record in the 200-meter dash Saturday. His time of 20.73 gave him his new personal best and a second place finish.
“He had a great weekend,” Sullivan said. “He ran his first true open 200 in the outdoor season. He had a great PR on that, he went 20.73.”
Coleman’s time of 20.73 moves him into a three-way tie for the No. 11 spot in the country.
On the women’s side, the 4×100 meter relay team led by Felicia Brown, Felecia Majors, Cidae’a Woods, and London Freeland took first with a winning time of 45.23. Brown also won the 100-meter dash on Friday and was named the Tony Wilson award winner for most outstanding athlete in the women’s track events.
Brown only needed two words to describe how she felt winning the award.
“Felt great,” Brown said.
All total, Tennessee had 14 top 10 finishes on Friday and had nine top five finishes on Saturday. The Vols also walked away with five event wins over the three days of competition.
