University of Tennessee Athletics
Collins Named SEC Runner of the Week
January 10, 2017 | Track & Field
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Tennessee junior Shania Collins was named SEC Women’s Track Athlete of the week the league announced Tuesday.
Shania Collins swept the 60m and 200m competitions at the Indiana-Tennessee Dual this past weekend in Bloomington, Ind. Collins set a PR in the 60m with a time of 7.41 seconds, the 12th fastest time in the country so far in 2017. Collins’ mark tied the Indiana-Tennessee meet record with former UT student-athlete Sue Walton who set the record in 1995 with a converted 55m time of 6.87. This was the 13th meeting between the Tennessee and Indiana women’s teams.
Collins came back in the 200m race and ran the third fastest time in the nation with another PR of 23.63. She finished out the competition by running the second leg for the UT 4x400m relay team. Tennessee finished in 3:44.95 to earn the victory, holding off Indiana on the final leg who finished in 3:44.99. Tennessee’s mark ranks as the ninth fastest relay so far in 2017.
Collins, a native of Huntingtown, Md., is in her first year competing with Tennessee after transferring to the university from Texas. In her first two meets with the Vols she has set personal bests in the 60m, 200m and 300m races.
This is the first week that the SEC is handing out awards for the 2017 season. The Vols earned eight weekly awards last season, including three Women’s Runner of the Week Awards. Felicia Brown earned all three awards last season.
The Tennessee men's and women's squads are both ranked in the top 15 in the preseason USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Team Computer Rankings. The UT men are No. 13 and the women are ranked No. 15.
The Vols will return to action on Friday as they head to the mid-state for the Commodore Invitational. Events will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday in Nashville at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility.
