University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Hokie Invitational
Five Vol Wins Cap Strong Showing at VT
January 24, 2015 | Track & Field
Jan. 24, 2015
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Tennessee track and field took five wins and six personal bests from its 11 events on Saturday -- the final day of the Hokie Invitational.
"We've had three weeks in a row now of the team really getting after it and we're in the work phase right now," said director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "We've been working hard and training hard but the results have been somewhat inconsistent. Still, we're happy with what we accomplished here at VT and we're looking forward to pulling it together as we enter February and championship season."
The tone was set early when junior Tavis Bailey picked up his third career victory in the shot put behind a personal-best effort of 62 feet, 8.5 inches (19.11) on his fifth throw of the competition. That mark slides Bailey into the sixth-place spot nationwide.
Senior Matthew Hoty, who had earned victories in each of his last two meets, came in just behind Bailey in second place. Hoty recorded his top throw of the afternoon on his second attempt -- a mark of 59 feet, 3.5 inches (18.07).
The success in the shot put was not limited to the men's side, though, as Cassie Wertman returned to her winning ways. The junior, who opened up the season with two straight wins in the event, pushed her career win total to six with a throw of a 54 feet, 11.25 inches (16.74). She now has three wins over UT's first four meets of the season.
More winning trends began to emerge for the Volunteers as both Jake Blankenship and Felicia Brown saw their names atop the result sheet for the second straight meet. Blankenship turned in a new lifetime best of 18 feet, 8.25 inches (5.70) -- a vault that should solidify his position at No. 2 in the country.
"Jake was outstanding today," said Sullivan. "It was a great competition between himself and young man from Virginia Tech and when he won it outright we were able to pop it up to that 18-foot-8 mark and he looked really smooth in clearing it. The meet was over at this point so he had all his teammates around cheering him on -- really just a great environment."
"It's a great achievement," explained Blakenship of his new career-best. "I've been jumping at that bar for a while now so it's nice to have that hard work pay off. But we still have a lot of meets coming up and my personal goal is aimed more towards winning each meet as we go. Of course, I'd like to jump over 19 feet, but at the right time and right place -- which would be Arkansas [site of the SEC Championships]."
Meanwhile, Brown outpaced the field in the women's 200 meters with a time of 23.81 for her second win in the event in as many weeks.
UT would go 1-2 in the 200 women's 200 meters with Felecia Majors (24.31) grabbing the second-place position.
The women's 4x400 meter relay team brought home the fifth win of the day for Tennessee. The quartet of Brown, Majors, London Freeland, and Megan Linder combined for a time of 3:45.96.
On the men's side, a 4x400 team of Nathan Strother, Christian Coleman, Antonio Carter, and Malik Elion placed third in the event at 3:15.96.
The relay capped a busy day for the freshman Coleman, who also placed fifth (21.62) in the 200 meters and third (23-10.25/7.27) in his first collegiate foray into the long jump.
The women's long jump saw a couple more strong performances for Tennessee as Majors snared the third top-five finish of her career in the event, placing third (19-1.25/5.82). Freshman Cidae'a Woods (19-3.75/5.81) tacked on a PR to finish in fourth.
Rounding out UT's top five performers on the day was senior Erin Champion (13-5.25/4.10), who came in third place in the women's pole vault.
Idle next weekend, Tennessee now turns its attention to Feb. 6-7 when it will split duty between the VT Elite Meet back in Blacksburg, Virgina, and the Meyo Invitational in Notre Dame, Indiana.
SATURDAY WOMEN'S RESULTS AT HOKIE INVITATIONAL
400m: 10. London Freeland, 57.04!; 22. Megan Linder, 59.35!; Julia Petree - dns
Pole Vault: 3. Erin Champion, 4.10 (13-5.25); 10. Morgan Allen, 3.50 (11-5.75)
200m: 1. Felicia Brown, 23.81; 2. Felecia Majors, 24.31
Long Jump: 3. Felecia Majors, 5.82 (19-1.25); 4. Cidae'a Woods, 5.81 (19-3.75)!; 16. Brielyn Rogers, 5.29 (17-4.25)
DMR: Tennessee `A' - dns
4x400m Relay: 1. Tennessee `A' (Brown, Majors, Freeland, Linder), 3:45.96
Shot Put: 1. Cassie Wertman, 16.74 (54-11.25)
SATURDAY MEN'S RESULTS AT HOKIE INVITATIONAL
Shot Put: 1. Tavis Bailey, 19.11 (62-8.5)!; 2. Matthew Hoty, 18.07 (59-3.5)
200m: 5. Christian Coleman, 21.62; 9. Nathan Strother, 21.99; 13. Jerimy Strainge, 22.26
Long Jump: 3. Christian Coleman, 7.27 (23-10.25)!
DMR: Tennessee `A' - dns
4x400m Relay: 3. Tennessee `A' (Strother, Coleman, Carter, Elion), 3:15.70
Pole VaultL 1. Jake Blankenship, 5.70 (18-8.25)!; Michael Maira - dns
! - Personal Best, $ - SEC Record, a - American Record, b - Banked Track, c - Collegiate Record, adv. - Advanced, dna - Did Not Advance, dnf - Did Not Finish, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Score, dq - Disqualified, F - Foul, f - Facility Record, fr - Freshman Record, fr* - Tied Freshman Record, fs - False Start, H - Heptathlon, h - Hand-Timed, mr - Meet Record, nh - No Height, nm - No Mark, P - Pentathlon, sr - School Record, u - Undersized Track, w - wind-aided, wr - World Record
