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Phoebe Wright
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June 13, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A trio of top-five individual showings on the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships enabled the Tennessee women to walk out of John McDonnell Field Saturday afternoon with a 10th-place finish in the team standings.
The Lady Vols carded their best outdoor national result since taking fourth in 2005. Since J.J. Clark took the reins of the program in 2003, UT has posted a combined eight top-10 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor finishes. Texas A&M claimed its first women's team title by tallying 50 points. Rounding out the top 10 were Oregon (43), Arizona State (41), Florida State (40), Texas (36), LSU (29.50), Michigan (28), Southern Cal (24), Florida (23), and Tennessee and Baylor (21).
"It was a tough meet," Clark said. "We didn't get the performances we needed. We kind of nipped and tucked some points out.
"It's been a great season and a long haul, and I have to focus on that. Very few programs are able to maintain a level of performance we did throughout the year. If we'd had some breaks here or there, we could have easily been in the top five, but it just didn't work out."
Senior Sarah Bowman's bid to follow up her indoor mile title with an NCAA Outdoor crown in the 1500 meters came up short. The third-place finisher at this meet a year ago, the Lady Vol standout closed out her stellar UT stay by taking fourth this time around in four minutes, 14.27 seconds. Susan Kuijken of Florida State, whom Bowman battled with for the lead for much of the race, ended up winning in 4:13.05.
After running with Kuijken and UC Riverside's Brenda Martinez over the first 400 meters, Bowman took the lead as lap two began. It was a role she would retain for two trips around the oval until Kuijken moved past her at the sound of the bell. Bowman gave chase, but there was too much ground to make up, and it appeared she was destined for second. Martinez (4:13.97) and Stanford's Lauren Centrowitz (4:14.22), though, nipped her at the finish.
"Sarah had a great career here," Clark said. "It didn't end up exactly the way we wanted it here, but it does not erase the history of what she has done and what she has meant to our program."
In the 800 meters, national-leader Phoebe Wright produced a fifth-place showing to collect four points. The 2009 NCAA Indoor runner-up and last year's sixth-place outdoor finisher covered the distance in 2:03.57 to chart her second top-five national finish this season. The NCAA Outdoor 800m result was the best by a Tennessee woman since Kameisha Bennett was the runner-up in 2004. Michigan's Geena Gall claimed victory in 2:00.80.
Wright ran in the middle of the pack for the first 500 meters, trailing Gall and three other runners after a first-lap split of 59.38. With 300 to go, Wright began to move up, climbing to fourth and looking to position herself for a charge down the home stretch. On this day, though, she did not have enough gas remaining to employ her usually potent finishing kick.
"It was just one of those things," Clark said. "Phoebe had a bad race, and she just hasn't had many of those. She'll be back; it's not an end of the world type thing. It's just something where you look forward to getting back on the track and doing better in the years to come."
Entering the final as the No. 9 seed, senior Celriece Law managed to snare a fifth-place outcome in the 100-meter hurdles. The NCAA Indoor runner-up in the 60m hurdles, and last year's seventh-placer in the 100 hurdles, navigated the barriers in 13.21 to close out her Lady Vol career. Her finish in the event, won by Michigan's Tiffany Ofili in 12.96, was the best by a Big Orange woman since LaVonna Martin took second in 1988.
"Celriece Law came through," Clark said. "She wasn't ranked in the top eight coming here, but she scores four points for us. A couple of ticks, and she could have been second or third. It was just one of those meets.
"I'm very proud of the group overall and proud that we were still top 10. It wasn't what we wanted, but a top-10 finish is still top 10. We'll just go back home, relax for a bit and then buckle up again for next season."
Though the collegiate season is now complete, several Lady Vols will continue training in advance of the upcoming USA Outdoor Championships. Slated to compete in the event in Eugene, Ore., June 25-28, will be Bowman, Law, Wright and Lynne Layne in the senior division, and Ramzee Fondren, Laquoya Kelly, Chanelle Price and Ellen Wortham in the junior portion of the meet.
| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 | ||
| EVENT (NCAA DIV. I QUALIFYING MARKS) | ||
| Shot Put Qualifying (Regional: 46-11/14.30m) 4:15 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Annie Alexander | 55-0/16.76p (3rd) |
| 4x100m Relay Prelim (Regional: 45.70) 5:00 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Celriece Law/Ashley Harris | 44.29p/2nd, ht. 2 (8th) |
| Ellen Wortham/Lynne Layne | ||
| 800m First Round (Regional: 2:09.80) 5:30 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Phoebe Wright | 2:04.86p/1st, ht. 2 (1st) |
| Adv. | Chanelle Price | 2:05.27p/2nd, ht. 2 (5th) |
| 100m First Round (Regional: 11.75) 6:00 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Lynne Layne | 11.48p (w: 0.7)/5th, ht. 2/17th |
| 100m Semifinal (Regional: 11.75) 7:30 p.m. | ||
| 16th | Lynne Layne | 11.78p (w: -1.0)/9th, ht. 2 |
| 5000m Semifinal (Regional: 16:52.00) 8:40 p.m. | ||
| 26th | Jackie Areson | 17:16.87p/13th, ht. 1 |
| THURSDAY, JUNE 11 | ||
| EVENT (NCAA DIV. I QUALIFYING MARKS) | ||
| Discus Qualifying (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) 10:30 a.m. | ||
| 13th | Annie Alexander | 164-10/50.25mp |
| Shot Put Final (Regional: 46-11/14.30m) 4:45 p.m. | ||
| 3rd (6 pts.) | Annie Alexander | 54-6.50/16.62m |
| 100mH First Round (Regional: 13.92) 5:30 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Celriece Law | 13.63p (w: -1.6)/4th, ht. 1 (17th) |
| 200m First Round (Regional: 23.96) 6:10 p.m. | ||
| 19th | Lynne Layne | 23.97p (w: -0.3)/4th, ht. 1 |
| 800m Semifinal (Regional: 2:09.80) 7:15 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Phoebe Wright | 2:02.56p/1st, ht. 2 (2nd) |
| 11th | Chanelle Price | 2:04.30p/6th, ht. 2 |
| 1500m Semifinal (Regional: 4:27.80) 7:55 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Sarah Bowman | 4:17.60p/2nd, ht. 3 (9th) |
| FRIDAY, JUNE 12 | ||
| EVENT (NCAA DIV. I QUALIFYING MARKS) | ||
| 4x100m Relay Final (Regional: 45.70) 6:05 p.m. | ||
| 7th (2 pts.) | Celriece Law/Ashley Harris/Ellen Wortham/Lynne Layne | 44.05 |
| 100mH Semfinal (Regional: 13.92) 6:55 p.m. | ||
| Adv. | Celriece Law | 13.33p (w: -0.3)/5th, ht. 2 (9th) |
| SATURDAY, JUNE 13 | ||
| EVENT (NCAA DIV. I QUALIFYING MARKS) | ||
| 800m Final (Regional: 2:09.80) 12:19 p.m. | ||
| 5th (4 pts.) | Phoebe Wright | 2:03.57 |
| 100mH Final (Regional: 13.92) 12:52 p.m. | ||
| 5th (4 pts.) | Celriece Law | 13.21 (w: -0.7) |
| 1500m Final (Regional: 4:27.80) 1:09 p.m. | ||
| 4th (5 pts.) | Sarah Bowman | 4:14.27 |
| All Times Central | ||
| KEY - # - NCAA Regional Qualifier, * - NCAA Automatic Qualifier, + - NCAA Provisional Qualifier, ! - Personal Record (Outdoors), dnf - Did Not Finish, dnq - Did Not Qualify, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Start, dq - Disqualified, f - Facility Record, fs - False Start, h - Hand Times, nm - No Mark, p - Prelims, s - School Record (Outdoors). | ||
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