"Facing The Challenge Together"

The 2001 season could go down in Lady Vol track and field annals as one to erase from memory. However, head coach and former UT heptathlon standout Myrtle Ferguson doesn't want to forget the struggles the team faced en route to a year of negative firsts. Instead, she would like the shortcomings to serve as motivation for not only herself but for a youthful squad that will return all but one of its contributing members in 2002.

Ferguson and company knew they would be "Facing The Challenge Together", but no one dreamed things would become so difficult. Low water marks were established at both the indoor and outdoor Southeastern Conference Championships. The Big Orange notched the lowest point total (16) and worst finish (10th) in program history at the indoor gathering in Lexington, Ky. On a positive note, the squad nearly doubled its sum to 31 outdoors at Columbia, S.C., and improved one spot to ninth. Still, the point total outside was the fewest ever produced by a UT squad in the 21 years distaff league meets have been held, and the finish matched Tennessee's lowest ever ninth-place effort of 1996.

"It was a year that started with a lot of hope, but as we went along it just went downhill in a hurry," Ferguson said. "The fact we had no relays at NCAAs this year, no 4x100m, 100m or 200m at outdoor SECs, and were not competitive with our 4x400m at either conference meet will motivate me to make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't want to go back there."

Part of ensuring that there is no return trip to that kind of level is understanding how the historically strong program got in this position in the first place. Ferguson allows that there were several factors at work to place her team in such a predicament.

First, and foremost, the squad suffered more than its share of injuries and illness. From cross country season until year's end, 11 different Lady Volunteers found themselves on the sidelines, including six who could possibly qualify for redshirt status. That group of Erin Anderson, Christy Baird, Lindsay Eck, Aoife Hearne, Amy Ranker and Janine Tessarzik was a collection of athletes who were expected to contribute significantly to the Big Orange's fortunes.

Second, three returnees who figured to shoulder much of the leadership load in the sprint area were unable to carry out their responsibilities. Sophomore Tyangela Sanders left the team prior to the season due to personal reasons, while senior Rashida Dodson and sophomore Deidre Reynolds ended their Lady Vol careers after failing to meet team requirements set forth by the coaching staff.

Finally, Ferguson stated a need to more carefully scrutinize the character of athletes she recruits and identify talented individuals whose athletic and academic aspirations and intensity levels match those standards required to be successful within the SEC and on the national scene.

"We had too many injuries," Ferguson said. "We also addressed some issues by cleansing our roster, and that really hurt us from a depth standpoint. Our goal is to get to the point where these things don't devastate us the way they did this year. Some of these issues you can control and some you can't. We just need to be resourceful as coaches in building a deep enough team and getting the athletes to the starting line."

For the fourth-year UT head coach and her aides, field events coach Scott Bennett and distance coach Rodney Rothoff, their expertise and knowledge in producing quality competitors from able and willing individuals was displayed again in 2001 as it has been during the Ferguson era. Four Lady Vols made NCAA appearances during the year, with three members of that quartet joining the program's All-America club and one of them becoming an SEC champion.

The journey began on Dec. 7, as the Lady Vols joined the Vols in playing host to the Tennessee All-Comers Meet at Stokely Athletics Center. In a very low key event, the home team collected firsts from junior Diane Slinden in the shot and weight throws, sophomore Christie Elwin in the pole vault and freshman Christina Clark in the long jump. Clark also managed a runner-up effort in the 55m hurdles.

After picking up victories from Slinden (shot), Elwin (vault) and the distance medley relay combo of Clark, Erin Anderson, Kameisha Bennett and Sharon Dickie at the Virginia Tech New Year's Invitational, Tennessee faced its initial measuring stick of the campaign at the SEC Quad Meet in Starkville, Miss. The news wasn't good, however, as the Lady Vols tallied only 68 points and finished a distant fourth behind South Carolina (165), Georgia (135) and Kentucky (127). Runner-up finishes by Dickie (mile) and Elwin (vault) were the top efforts for the orange team.

The next two weekends saw Ferguson's squad compete in a pair of large competitions -- the Pepsi/Walker Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn., and the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. The most noteworthy accomplishments came from the first meet, as Bennett charted an indoor personal best of 2:12.29 in the 800m prelims before going on to place fifth in the finals at 2:18.22. Additionally, UT produced its top indoor 4x400m relay time of the year when the order of junior Samantha Coulson, Bennett, Clark and Hearne circled the oval in 3:51.50 in the prelims, and Dickie legged out a solid 9:43.31 to finish third in her first 3000m race since 1999.

Up next, a split squad schedule that included the Pepsi Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., and the Cannon IV Classic in Indianapolis. While Elwin led the Virginia contingent with a then-season best 12-5.50 clearance to place third, it was an orange-clad duo in Hoosierland that stole the show. Dickie, running in her first 5000m race ever, won the event in a time of 16:28.67 and posted a strong provisional qualifying mark that would wind up being good enough to elicit an invitation to the NCAA Championships. Bennett also showed well, placing eighth with a PR of 2:12.28 against a national caliber 800m field.

After tuning up at home with the Tennessee Indoor Classic, the Lady Volunteers focused their attention on the SEC Championships. With a very limited lineup, UT managed only 16 points and wound up 10th. Bright spots included season-best postings by Dickie in the 3000m (9:43.24, 4th), Anderson in the mile (4:56.16, 6th), Elwin in the pole vault (12-6.25, 7th) and the DMR combo of Anderson, Ranker, Bennett and Dickie (11:53.68, 3rd).

Bennett also ran well in the 800m prelims, clocking a career best 2:09.31 to advance to the finals as the fastest qualifier. The championship race was not as memorable, however, as the sophomore failed to finish after experiencing cramps. She would get a chance to atone the following weekend, though.

Running at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind., Bennett had one shot to qualify for the national championship meet. She took full advantage, covering the distance in 2:07.09 to claim victory and post the seventh fastest time in the nation. Her clocking also made her the fourth quickest indoor 800m runner ever at UT.

Bennett's stellar performance earned her a ticket alongside Dickie to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The competition would turn out to provide a mixed bag for the Tennessee travel party, as one athlete would fare well and the other would not.

Dickie was the Lady Vol who came up big in the Ozark Mountains, as she gutted out another improvement in only her second race at 5000 meters. The Grand Blanc, Mich., native parlayed a 16:28.19 pace into a seventh-place finish and picked up the initial track and field All-America citation of her career. Bennett, meanwhile, suffered another setback as she took seventh in her section and wound up 21st overall with a 2:20.49 reading in failing to advance to the finals.

With the indoor portion of the schedule compete, Ferguson and her troops readied for the outdoor agenda. They would embark on this leg of the journey with reinforcements in the form of freshman javelin specialist Denita Miller and distance standout and Clemson transfer Erika van Reenen. Slinden's prowess in the discus throw also provided point potential for the Big Orange.

That trio would make its impact known in the first meet outdoors, as van Reenen claimed victories in the 1500 and 3000 meters, Miller won the javelin with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 154-1 and Slinden also triumphed en route to a provisional in the discus with a heave of 167-11 at the SEC Quad in Starkville, Miss. A victory by sophomore Mandy Bergey in the pole vault added to the point total, but the 111-point accumulation was good enough to finish only fourth behind Mississippi State (179.50), Vanderbilt (157) and Alabama (155.50). It should be noted that Dickie and Bennett, who would have greatly contributed to the Tennessee cause, were given the weekend off after a long indoor campaign.

Up next, Slinden headed west to the UC San Diego Spring Break Invitational, while the rest of the crew showed up in Raleigh, N.C., for the adidas Raleigh Relays. Slinden proved the westward excursion was worthwhile, as she launched a career-topping throw of 182-3 to place sixth and chart a mark that would lead the SEC all season long as well as automatically qualify her for nationals. In North Carolina, meanwhile, van Reenen was the headliner, as the senior posted the fourth-best 10,000m time in UT history to meet the provisional standard on the way to fifth-place honors. Her reading of 35:10.04 was the best by a Tennessee runner since Susan Baxter's 34:50.6 display in 1982.

There would be no time for Slinden to savor the PR in California. She was expected in Austin, Texas, to throw at the Texas Relays. As if to prove the fling at UCSD had been no fluke, Slinden uncorked a toss of 181-2 to place second behind victor Katja Schrieber. The Idaho athlete charted a national leading mark of 192-6 to emerge victorious and would later go on to win the NCAA title.

Also in Austin were four other Lady Vols, including Miller. Despite being a rookie in a pressure setting, she did not shy away from the competition, recording a season best of 154-5 to place fourth, notch a provisional mark and improve her SEC leading distance. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Bennett was the highlight performer of a UT group competing in the Yellow Jacket Invitational at Georgia Tech. After opening her rookie outdoor campaign with a 2:18.94 clocking, the second-year standout popped the top on the 2001 slate with a 2:09.83 reading to claim blue ribbon honors.

The annual Sea Ray Relays appeared next on the itinerary, and the huge home meet at Tom Black Track signaled the halfway point of the season. Some of the most memorable accomplishments for the Lady Volunteers came when Miller logged a season topper in the javelin at 159-3 to place fifth and earn what turned out to be a qualifying mark for nationals, Dickie had a PR to place fourth in the 3000m at 9:48.49 and Clark completed her first collegiate heptathlon by finishing ninth with a total of 4,199 points. The highlight for the program, however, had to come from volunteer assistant coach Aretha Hill, who toppled the meet record in the discus with a winning throw of 201-0 and was named the women's field events recipient of the Tony Wilson Memorial Award.

The next two weekends would continue the trend of large-scale competitions, as Tennessee sent a platoon to Walnut, Calif., for the Mt. SAC Relays and then followed that with a jaunt to Philadelphia for the famed Penn Relays. Within the small California travel party, Elwin reported back with the biggest news - a 12-6 clearance in the vault to tie for ninth place and signal that she had returned to her SEC championship winning form of 2000. As for the excursion to Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus, leading the charge were van Reenen, who was seventh in the 3000m in a career best 9:40.93, and Slinden, who was third in the discus with an average throw of 173-8.

After hosting the small-in-numbers Knoxville Invitational on the Sunday right after Penn Relays, Ferguson and her squad turned their eyes toward the SEC Outdoor Championships, which were being hosted in Columbia by the University of South Carolina. Tennessee headed into the meet with a pair of SEC event leaders in Miller (javelin) and Slinden (discus) and hoped to demonstrate improvement from the indoor gathering.

The Lady Vols did fare better outside, tallying 31 points and rising one spot to ninth. Miller's 10-point contribution in the javelin was a big reason for that jump. The rookie claimed her first SEC title and became Tennessee's first javelin champion in conference action since Pam Passera in 1982 when she stretched the tape to 153-7.

The team scoring may have been higher for the Big Orange if not for an off day suffered by Slinden, the SEC's leader in the discus coming into the competition. The junior managed only a throw of 158-8 and had to settle for fifth. She would bounce back from her disappointment, however, and claim a surprise fifth-place finish in the shot put with a PR heave of 46-10.

In the pole vault, Elwin was unable to duplicate her league record-tying title of 2000, but the second-year standout did record a respectable 12-5.50 clearance to place fourth. As for the distance corps, the longer race duo of Dickie and van Reenen was unable to overcome limited training time due to injury and registered finishes of seventh in the 5000m and sixth in the 10,000m, respectively. At the shorter distances, Bennett cranked out back-to-back outdoor career bests and circled the track in the 800-meter finals in a PR 2:08.54 to wind up sixth. Still, the indoor national qualifier had yet to make the outdoor list.

So, for Bennett and Elwin, the Georgia Tech Invitational would offer one last chance to join Miller and Slinden in earning a trip to NCAAs in Eugene, Ore. Unfortunately, neither was able to take advantage of that opportunity. Elwin, however, did make the highest clearance of her UT career, sailing over 12-9.50 to finish second and improve on her previous Lady Vol record.

The inability of the last chance meet to produce any additional qualifiers left Tennessee with only two slated to travel to the Pacific Northwest for the national meet. That duo, however, would end up capitalizing, as both Slinden and Miller added their names to the long list of UT All-Americans. Slinden did so by taking seventh in the discus with a throw of 170-8, while Miller merited the distinction by placing 12th and being among the top eight U.S. athletes with a hurl of 148-3.

Finally, after her teammates had long since gone home for the summer, Slinden headed back to Eugene for the GMC Envoy USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships. The second trip to Oregon didn't reveal the same success as the first, as she settled for a 13th-place finish with a throw of 155-6.

"When I look at the bright spots of the season, I have to include Denita's SEC title, and Diane and Denita receiving NCAA bids and making the most of it," Ferguson said. "Along with our indoor qualifiers, Sharon and Kameisha, they kept the light shining for Tennessee."

Also reflecting positively for the team was the inclusion of 13 members on the SEC Academic Honor Roll. The conference squad, which honored athletes for their classroom work during the 1999-2000 school year, included Amber Ayub, Christy Baird, Mandy Bergey, Slinden and Janine Tessarzik from the 2001 squad.

In house, the Lady Vol Honor Roll also included a group of 13 from the track and field team. Those gaining recognition were Ayub, Baird, Sonya Bell, Bergey, Clark, Elwin, Aoife Hearne, Natalie Johnson, Miller, Amy Ranker, Slinden, Jessica Southers and Tessarzik.

As Ferguson closes the book on the 2001 season, she understands the challenge before her. She maintains, however, that achieving the goals of being a top three SEC finisher and a top 10 national finisher are attainable within the next two years.

"We have a solid core group of athletes coming back next year, and their attitudes need to be in line with what we expect as coaches," Ferguson said. "We will continue to bring in national caliber athletes, but we want to be absolutely sure that they have the attitude and work ethic we are seeking. Finally, we are going to streamline things and pull together as one. With that kind of synergy, we can get our program where we want it to be."