Tennessee Welcomes Fresh Faces to Rocky Top

Over the summer, the Tennessee cross country program welcomed several new faces to Rocky Top who are eager and ready to leave their mark.
 
Among the newcomers are two national champions, Dylan Jacobs and Yaseen Abdalla. Jacobs won the 2022 10K national title in June with Notre Dame. The Orland Park, Illinois, native is also a two-time ACC conference champion – winning the Outdoor 5000-meter this past season and capturing the Indoor 3000m title in 2021.
 
Jacobs placed 10th at the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships and is a three-time cross country All-American.
 
Abdalla was a member of the Texas distance medley relay group that won the national title at Indoor NCAAs in March. He also took home the Indoor 5000m Big 12 conference championship last season and placed 32nd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2021 – garnering All-America honors.
 
Two-time WAC champion in the 1500m – Jacob Lewis – joins the distance program after four seasons at Grand Canyon. During the 2022 indoor season, he won the WAC championship in the mile. The Anthem, Arizona, native is a two-time West Regional qualifier outdoors.
 
The Vols also added Nate Kawalec from NC State and Craig Becker from Northern Iowa. Kawalec placed fourth at the 2022 ACC Outdoor Championships in the 5000m and was 19th at the NCAA Southeast Region Cross Country Championship in 2021.
 
Becker will be a sophomore this season and holds personal bests of 4:12.04 in the mile and 1:52.68 in the 800m.
 
In addition to the transfers, UT added four freshmen to the team: Yordanos Zelinski, Michael Rodriguez-King, Isaac Thiessen and Connor Henson. Zelinski comes to Knoxville from Oregon, Wisconsin, and Oregon High School. He was the 2022 state champion in the 800m and set personal bests of 1:51.09 (800m) and 4:14.65 (1600m).
 
Rodriguez-King arrives from Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island, New York, where he placed fourth in the 800m at the Nike Indoor Nationals in 2022. His 800m personal best is 1:51.69.
 
Thiessen is a legacy Vol and the younger brother of current team member Karl Thiessen. He won the Virginia Class 3 State Cross Country Championship last fall and placed fourth in the 3200m at the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals. His PR in the 3200 is 9:12.61.
 
Henson is a Tennessee native from Columbia and is a two-time cross-country state champion. He also claimed state titles in the 800, 1600 and 3200 during his high school career. He has personal bests…