University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Regional Championships
Blaase, Whitelaw Qualify for NCAAs
November 14, 2014 | Track & Field
Nov. 14, 2014
Men's Results | Women's Results
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Junior Chelsea Blaase and senior Austin Whitelaw extended their respective seasons Friday, punching their tickets to their first-ever NCAA Championships at the NCAA South Region Championships at the Appalachee Running Course. Blaase secured her spot with a runner-up finish in the women's 6K while Whitelaw booked his trip after coming in seventh-place in the men's 10K. Both runners also earned All-Region honors for the second straight year for their efforts.
The NCAA Championships take place next Saturday, Nov. 22, in Terre Haute, Indiana. It will be the first time since 2005 that Tennessee cross country has sent both a male and female representative to the national meet.
"Chelsea showed up again today and displayed a championship style of racing that she was been showing all season," said director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "It was a beautiful day in North Florida -- nice and cool and the sun was shining with very little wind -- and Chelsea put herself in the mix once again and put together another great race. She gets stronger each week and I'm very proud of her performance.
Blaase and Whitelaw each turned in career-best times at their respective race distances. Blaase finished the 6K in 19:26.20, coming in just nine seconds behind the individual champion and besting her previous career mark of 19:32.37 by more than six seconds. Meanwhile, Whitelaw's seventh-place finish came in a time of 30:24.30, beating his previous best 10K time of 30:39.49.
"Austin had a goal to come in today and qualify for the national meet and he did it with seemingly no hard effort at all," Sullivan said. "He looked in control and confident the whole way and we are extremely excited to see him accomplish his goal."
Junior Kyle Walter narrowly missed achieving All-Region honors, finishing in 27th with a career-best time of 31:11.50 and fellow junior Jack Little rounded out the UT top three in 53rd at 31:44.80 -- another personal best at the 10K distance. As a team, the Tennessee men finished in 10th place on Friday.
"The men ran tremendously and they've improved so much since last year," added Sullivan. "Kyle put in a great effort and just missed making All-Region, but as a whole this men's team has made myself and Coach Stoker very, very proud with the consistent effort they have shown all season long."
On the women's side, sophomore Emily Williams was the second Tennessee finisher, coming in 81st and finishing in a time of 21:19.00 to beat her time at last year's Regional by more than eight seconds. Senior Amirah Johnson (125th, 22:00.40), competing in the final NCAA Regional of her career, rounded out the top three for the UT women, who finished the Regional in 19th in the team standings.
On the team side, the SEC reigned at the NCAA South Regional. Ole Miss took the top spot on the men's side with 52 total points while Vanderbilt prevailed in the women's event, also posting 52 points. The men's and women's programs from host Florida State finished in second in each race, earning the South Region's second automatic qualification to next weekend's Championships.
NCAA South Regional Championships
Tennessee Results
Women's 6K
2. Chelsea Blaase, 19:26.20
81. Emily Williams, 21:19.00
125. Amirah Johnson, 22:00.40
152. Caroline Duer, 22:34.50
157. Lizzie Cornell, 22:41.00
Men's 10K
7. Austin Whitelaw, 30:24.30
27. Kyle Walter, 31:11.50
53. Jack Little, 31:44.80
80. J.R. Creekmore, 32:14.00
114. Jeremy Dickie, 32:55.70
128. Nick Kaiser, 33:41.60
