April 14, 2006

Results | Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee's Aries Merritt won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.38 seconds Friday afternoon at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium during the third day of the 40th annual Sea Ray Relays. Richard Wooten grabbed another win for the Vols by taking first in the open shot put section. As a team Tennessee added three regional-qualifying marks, bringing the team's total of athletes qualified for the Mideast Regional to 12.

"The 1,500 was an excellent race for us," head coach Bill Webb said. "We had three personal bests, led by Tyler DeVault who also qualified for the regional. Eric Pierce had a good mark in the triple jump to qualify for regionals as well. Richard Wooten's win in the shot put is encouraging. Having a freshman work his way into the invitational section of the shot put is promising. I think the wind and heat affected times all day, including Aries in his race. Everyone had difficulty dealing with the wind, but he still ran a very good time. I still think his fastest times are to come."

Unseasonably warm temperatures challenged the athletes Friday in Knoxville, with the high reaching into the mid-80s and the wind gusting between 10 and 20 mph.

Merritt's 13.38 winning time defended his 2005 Sea Rays title in the event. His time stands as the fastest Sea Rays winner in the event since former Vol Dawane Wallace set the meet record with a 13.22 clocking in 2002. Wooten won the open section of the shot put with a season-best and regional-qualifying measurement of 55-3 3/4. Wooten's win qualifies him to compete in the invitational section of the shot put Saturday afternoon at 12:15 p.m.

The 1,500 proved to be the Vols' best event overall as three runners posted personal-best times. DeVault finished sixth with a personal-best and regional-qualifying time of 3:46.87, while Jeff Day ran 3:49.06 and Zach Sabatino ran 3:50.35, also personal bests. Chris Platt and Brent Smith finished 19th and 30th, respectively.

In addition to Merritt, Drew Brunson finished 12th in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.02 and Damond

Campbell ran a wind-aided, regional-qualifying time of 14.04w to finish 13th. Campbell ran the 400 hurdles as well, finishing 27th with a time of 54.20. Jacob Dennis ran the 400 in 48.03 to finish 20th. Freshman Steve Tobin ran the open section of the 5,000 and finished 19th in 16:16.48.

Tennessee's 4x1,500 relay team of Ed Davis, Matt Piccarello, Ben Lukowski and Matthew Lapp finished second after Lapp came from behind to pass Penn State's fourth runner on the final backstretch and finish in 16:28.05.

Eric Pierce finished fourth in the triple jump with a wind-aided, regional-qualifying measurement of 51-7 3/4w. Akeem Hardnett placed 14th with a wind-aided jump of 49-2 1/4w, while Carjay Lyles placed 16th with a 48-8 measurement. Brunson had a season-best height in the high jump, clearing 6-8 3/4 to place sixth. Freshman Nick Panezich finished 16th in the discus with a mark of 155-0.

In addition to the 12 regional-qualifying marks, the Vols also boast Chris Helwick's NCAA automatic score of 7,707 in the decathlon and Zach Sabatino's NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 29:05.59 in the 10,000.

The Sea Ray Relays conclude on Saturday with a full day of mostly relays and field events, plus invitational sections in sprints and 5,000. The men's open hammer throw begins the day at 9:15 a.m. The first event on the track for the men will be the shuttle hurdle relay, starting at 1 p.m., and the final event of the day will be the men's 4x400 relay, scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m.

Admission to the Sea Ray Relays is free.

TENNESSEE RESULTS
Sea Ray Relays, Knoxville, Tenn.
Friday, April 14, 2006

*-NCAA regional qualifying mark; PR-personal best mark; SB-season best mark;

w-wind aided mark.