University of Tennessee Athletics
Cogdell Named SEC Freshman of the Week
January 19, 2016 | Track & Field
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Tennessee's Ari Cogdell has been named SEC Men's Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday.
Cogdell is Tennessee's first SEC Freshman of the Week for the indoor track and field season since Christian Coleman earned the honors on Feb. 10, 2015. He is the third Vol to earn SEC weekly honors this season. On Jan. 12, Coleman was named the SEC Men's Runner of the Week and Felicia Brown garnered SEC Women's Runner of the Week honors.
Cogdell posted strong performances at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., on Jan. 15-16. He won the men's 500 meters with a PR time of 1:02.97. That time ranks third in Tennessee history and is the fastest by a Vol in 30 years, dating back to Sam Hill setting the school record at 1:01.65 in 1986. Cogdell also ran the first leg of UT's 4x400 relay that took first place with a time of 3:11.44, which stands as the 12th-fastest mark in the nation this year.
Tennessee totaled nine first-place finishes at the Virginia Tech Invitational and the Commodore Invitational this past week.
The Vols and Auburn will serve as co-hosts for this week's Conference Clash Power Five Invitational at Birmingham CrossPlex. This unique meet features 15 schools from Power Five conferences and pits the SEC against the other four Power Five conferences combined. The eight SEC teams (Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt) will combine for one score and the other seven Power Five schools (Arizona, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Purdue, USC, Texas) will combine for the other score.
