May 27, 2006

Results

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Patricia Hall won her second-straight meet title in the 400-meter dash, headlining a cast of nine Lady Volunteers who qualified for the national championship meet in 10 different events Saturday at the NCAA Mideast Regional Track & Field Championships at UT's Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.

The Tennessee women, who won the meet a year ago, tallied 64 points to take third in the team scoring, while LSU captured the trophy with 95 1/2 and Auburn was second at 77. The Big Orange will have competitors competing in the 100-, 200- and 400- meter dashes, the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays, the 800- and 1500-meter runs, the 100-meter hurdles as well as the discus and pole vault when they show up for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif., on June 7-10.

"We've had a very good day," UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. "Our momentum is getting better and better, and we are peaking at the right time.

"You look at the SEC meet, and it was a very good meet. We came back here with another good performance. I am very happy our team is pulling together at the right time."

Hall, a senior from St. Ann, Jamaica, circled her home oval in the open 400 meters for the final time in her career, doing so in a career-best time of 51.52 seconds. In addition to winning back-to-back crowns at this meet, she extended Tennessee's dominance in that event in the Mideast Region to four years in a row. Dee Dee Trotter triumphed in 2003 and 2004.

The senior's mark places her second in the NCAA this season behind the 51.51 clocking of USC's Carol Rodriguez, and Hall climbed to number two on the UT all-time performers list behind Dee Dee Trotter. The five-time All-American and 2006 SEC Indoor and Outdoor champion will head to the national championship meet for the second straight season. UT sophomore LaTonya Loche (Bastrop, La.), meanwhile, missed out on an automatic berth, placing seventh in 53.84.

Another senior, Knoxville native Jessica Reust, also made her final showing at home one worth remembering. A graduate of Farragut High School, Reust passed on the opening two heights of the pole vault, cleared 12 feet, 11 3/4 inches on her first attempt and had a near miss on her third attempt at 13-3 3/4 that knocked her out of the competition. Still, her initial clearance was good enough to tie for second place and earn the school record-holder her second NCAA Championships appearance. After missing the national meet last season by one spot, Reust will be taking her initial trip since finishing 19th in Austin, Texas, in 2004.

After clicking off a school-record time of 11.10 in the 100-meter dash Friday night, sophomore Cleo Tyson (Huntsville, Texas) and the rest of the field ran at a much slower speed on day two. Tyson's 11.37 effort, which she gave while working into a -1.1 meters per second head wind, stood up for fourth place and most importantly stamped her travel voucher to the NCAA Championships.

Tyson hit the track again an hour later and managed a third-place showing in the 200 meters, covering the distance in 23.06 in a race she won a year ago at this meet. Nonetheless, the eight-time All-American will head west in two weeks to compete in the NCAA 100-and 200-meter dashes for the second year in a row.

The sophomore speed merchant also had a hand in a relay that merited an automatic NCAA invitation. She handled the baton on the second leg of the 4x100m relay, which grabbed third in a season-best time of 43.77 seconds. The quartet of sophomore Courtney Champion (Lawrenceville, Ga.), Tyson, Loche and Hall will give the Big Orange an NCAA 4x1 for the second year in a row.

Tyson would have had a fourth event to run, but she deservedly rested while the quartet of Loche, Champion, junior Leslie Treherne (Chesapeake, Va.) and Hall rustled up a second-place result in the 4x400m relay in a season-best time of 3:29.75. That performance is the seventh-fastest ever run by a Lady Vol tandem.

Freshman Sarah Bowman (Warrenton, Va.) came through in the clutch, turning in a 2006-best time of 4:19.19 to take third in the 1500-meter run to book her trip to the West Coast. That mark elevated her to sixth on the UT performers list. Senior Brooke Novak (Kaukauna, Wis.) was not as fortunate, struggling to 10th place in 4:29.72.

Individually, Treherne matched Bowman's third-place finish with one of her own in the 800 meters, charging hard down the home stretch to earn the second trip of her career to the NCAA Outdoor meet. Her time of 2:06.04 was the third fastest of her career and second best this season behind her 2:04.66 readout at the SEC Outdoor Championships.

Sophomore Shanna Dickenson (Cincinnati, Ohio) collected a ticket to Sacramento as well. Dickenson captured her first NCAA bid, landing a best throw of 165 feet to place fifth in the discus. She will be Tennessee's first qualifier in that event since Diane Slinden in 2002.

Redshirt freshman Celriece Law (Denver, Colo.) fought her way to her first NCAA berth, logging a wind-legal personal best of 13.50 seconds to cross the line fifth in the 100-meter hurdles. She came back later in the day to compete in the triple jump, missing the NCAA cut by finishing 15th with a leap of 39 feet, eight inches.

In the first event of the day, Tennessee senior Ariel Brooks (Miami, Fla.) Dickenson (Cincinnati, Ohio) competed in the hammer throw but could not stretch the tape far enough to earn bids to the NCAA meet. Brooks produced a season-best fling of 181 feet, 10 inches to place 12th, while Dickenson took 15th at 173-11.

"You can tell by the times that this is a very deep and very tough region," Clark said. "We have to rest now and make sure that we come out firing again for the NCAA meet."