Weather played a role in the proceedings of day two of the 49th Tennessee Relays powered by Sea Ray. Heavy rain and strong winds delayed the start of day two until 10:30 a.m. The day’s events were supposed to begin at 9 a.m. with the men’s decathlon and the women’s heptathlon.
Even though dark clouds and a stiff breeze persisted throughout the rest of the day, no other events were affected by the weather.
First year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said she wasn’t too worried about the weather when she got to the track. She stated that they took a little delay to make sure the weather wouldn’t be too bad but once they got rolling they didn’t stop.
Brown shines in 100 meters: Junior Felicia Brown ran in the first heat of the women’s 100 meter dash. She won her heat with a time of 11.26 seconds, a wind-aided time of 11.31 seconds.
Brown got out of the starting blocks quick and was never challenged as she pulled away from the field. She also was named the champion of the 100 meters with her time of 11.31.
“It feels good,” Brown said. “It was my first time running the 100 here at Sea Ray, so it was exciting.”
Her coach was excited, too.
“She is a kid who loves the 100 meters,” Sullivan said. “Easily her best run and just a great competitive environment for the 100. The 100 is always a draw. The crowds are big and the people are into it, but it’s just great to win at home. It was great to see her win at home and just get after, as they say.”
In light of setting a new personal record in the event, Brown said that she was excited to race in Knoxville in front of the home crowd, and for her, the biggest thing was staying focused and not letting the home environment break her concentration.
Shot Put Duo: Senior Tavis Bailey and red-shirt senior Matthew Hoty made it to the finals of the shot put competition for the Volunteers. Bailey placed fourth with a throw of 18.73 meters, 61 feet, 5.5 inches while Hoty placed eighth with a throw of 17.31 meters, 56 feet, 9.5 inches.
Afterwards, Bailey talked about how strong and competitive the shot put field was.
“I was just trying to compete with the guys that were top three,” Bailey said. “(I) have a whole lot of respect for them. There were some big fouls and some big throws. It was just an honor.”
Bailey said when he got to the finals his coach told him to just throw it to the grass.
Bailey hoped to use this performance going forward. He said he is looking to build off his momentum from the shot put and have a good showing in the discus.
Knoxville native sets personal record: Kyle Walter, from Knoxville, had the coaching staff running all over the track as he pushed for a new personal record in the 5,000 meters. He secured his new personal best with a time of 14:22:25. He beat his previous best by almost 29 seconds exactly.
“I’m excited,” Walter said. “I’ve never really trained for the 5,000 (meters). We knew with the training coming in that I was gonna be able to (personal record), it was just a question of how big I could PR.”
By the numbers:
10: Volunteers make their debut at the Tennessee Relays.
14: The number of seniors honored Saturday.
8: Tennessee had eight top-five finishers on day two
14: The Volunteers had 14 finishers in the top 10 of their events
Up Next: Tennessee will head to Auburn, Alabama, to participate in the War Eagle Invitational. The meet will take place April 17 and April 18.
