July 7, 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- University of Tennessee rising senior Phoebe Wright is headed abroad to participate in a track meet this week. The Lady Vol and U.S. middle distance standout will travel to Belgium to try and run a time that will qualify her for the IAAF World Championships later this summer.

Wright finished third in the 800 meters at the USA Outdoor Championships on June 28 in Eugene, Ore., putting herself into position to represent America at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 15-23. Before she can do that, however, Wright must hit the IAAF's "A" qualifying standard of two minutes even (2:00.00).

The Big Orange All-American will depart Wednesday and head to Kortrijk, Belgium, for the July 11 Kortrijk Guldensporenmeeting, which is part of the 2009 Flander's Cub Series. Wright enters with the fastest time in the field at 2:01.12 and will rely on American Alysia Johnson (2:01.58) and Neisha Bernard-Thomas of Grenada (2:02.02) to help propel her to the qualifying time. Wright's teammate at UT, Sarah Bowman, will be in Kortrijk as well, competing post-collegiately in the 1500m for the first time.

"We're going over there to get good competition and a time that will qualify her (Wright) for the World Championships," said UT Director of Track & Field J.J. Clark, who will accompany Wright on the trip. "The meet is supposed to have good competition, and we're looking forward to going over there and competing.

"We searched high and low for a similar competitive situation here in the United States, and we just couldn't find any meets that were worth the trip. We may have to get her in a couple of races in Europe, but for right now, we're going to Belgium, taking it one meet at a time, and we'll see how it turns out."