Tennessee’s track and field team will split up this weekend to compete in separate events.
First year director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan will take long distance runners Chelsea Blaase, Austin Whitelaw and Kyle Walter to Seattle, Washington, for the Husky Classic. Meanwhile, 18 other Volunteers will compete at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Blaase and Whitelaw will race in the 5,000 meters while Walter will run the 3,000 meters. Both 5,000 meter races are on Friday night with the women starting at 8:30 p.m. EST, and the men’s race following. The 3,000 meter race is Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Tyson Invitational starts Friday at 2 p.m. EST and Saturday at 1 p.m. EST. SEC Network + will be broadcasting Saturday’s events from the Tyson Invitational.
The Husky Classic is a major event for the distance runners and can secure them a place at the Indoor Championships. Blaase, Whitelaw and Walter will be competing against other distance runners from across the county.
“The Husky Classic over at Washington is notoriously a great place to run,” Sullivan said. “We are going to take the 3k and 5k kids out there to try and run at a very high level and garner some great SEC and NCAA level marks.”
At the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas, Tennessee will face all 14 SEC schools. This includes the top-ranked Georgia women along with Florida, Texas A&M and host Arkansas, all of which have top-5 ranked men’s and women’s teams.
“We are going to focus on utilizing the last chance in the regular season to sharpen our skills,” Sullivan said. “We need to utilize the competition, both venues are going to have great competition in our events. We want to rise to the occasion and use the competition, you only get better from competition. I’m a big believer in that. I want athletes that embrace competition and get excited by competition and they’re going to get that this weekend.”
Tennessee hopes to capitalize on a strong showing last weekend, which saw the men’s track team jump 12 spots in the rankings to No. 13, the team’s highest ranking since 2008.
While the jump in the rankings pleased Sullivan, she continues to stress hard work and controlling what they can. Sullivan also put an emphasis on the team’s leadership as a reason for the success.
Leading the Vols are juniors and captains Jake Blankenship and Cassie Wertman. Blankenship won his fifth straight match in pole vault while Wertman secured her fourth win this season in shot put.
Also stepping up for UT is junior Cameron Brown and freshman Christian Coleman. Brown’s weight throw of 76 feet, 8.5 inches set a new UT school record and secured his fourth win in a row. Coleman earned SEC Men’s Runner and Freshman of the Week honors for his performance last weekend.
The Husky Classic and the Tyson Invitational will be the final meets for Tennessee before the SEC Indoor Championships.
