FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Tennessee men’s distance medley relay quartet of Yordanos Zelinski, Rasheeme Griffith, Joe Hoots and Dylan Jacobs struck gold on Friday night at the SEC Indoor Championships, finishing first overall in 9:32.75 to claim the program’s first men’s DMR conference championship since 2007.
Zelinski, a true freshman who owns the Tennessee rookie record in the mile, completed the 1,200-meter leg in 3:00.01 before passing the baton to Griffith who clocked a 400-meter split of 46.42 seconds. Fifth-year senior and 2021 DMR bronze medalist Joe Hoots gained the lead during the 800-meter leg with a split of 1:49.88 and handed off to Jacobs, who went 3:56.46 on the 1,600-meter anchor leg to secure the victory for the Big Orange.
Tennessee’s time of 9:32.75 was the second-fastest in school history and earned UT its first distance medley relay title on the men’s side in 16 years. Jeff Day, Samdi Fraser, Andrew Dawson and Tyler DeVault claimed Tennessee’s last DMR gold with a time of 9:43.78 at the 2007 SEC indoor meet.
UT also collected a pair of silver medals in both 5,000-meter championships to round out Friday’s podium finishes. On the men’s side, Yaseen Abdalla ran his first 5k as a Vol and finished strong for second place with a time of 14:10.19. Kayla Gholar represented the Lady Vols in the 25-lapper and ran across the finish line second in a personal-best 16:05.79 to score eight points for UT.
After the first day of conference competition, the Vols sit fourth in the men’s standings with 20 points. Graduate student Nate Kawalec added to UT’s tally with a seventh-place finish in the 5k, turning in a time of 14:20.43 in his SEC Championship debut.
The Lady Vols are slotted fifth after compiling 23.33 points on Friday. In addition to Gholar’s silver medal in the 5,000m, Tennessee had five more scoring performances from Chandler Hayden, Charisma Taylor, Mikele Vickers, Rachel Sutliff and Ellison Colarossi.
Fresh off a new PR in the same throwing sector a week ago, Hayden competed in her fourth SEC weight throw competition and scored for the first time in her career with a fourth-place finish. The Pittsfield, Illinois, native heaved the 20-pound weight 22.20m (72-10) in the third round to collect five points for Tennessee.
Taylor and Vickers each scored in the women’s long jump final, posting marks of 6.36m (20-10.5) and 6.10m (20-0.25) for fourth and seventh place in the event, respectively. Friday’s…
Zelinski, a true freshman who owns the Tennessee rookie record in the mile, completed the 1,200-meter leg in 3:00.01 before passing the baton to Griffith who clocked a 400-meter split of 46.42 seconds. Fifth-year senior and 2021 DMR bronze medalist Joe Hoots gained the lead during the 800-meter leg with a split of 1:49.88 and handed off to Jacobs, who went 3:56.46 on the 1,600-meter anchor leg to secure the victory for the Big Orange.
Tennessee’s time of 9:32.75 was the second-fastest in school history and earned UT its first distance medley relay title on the men’s side in 16 years. Jeff Day, Samdi Fraser, Andrew Dawson and Tyler DeVault claimed Tennessee’s last DMR gold with a time of 9:43.78 at the 2007 SEC indoor meet.
UT also collected a pair of silver medals in both 5,000-meter championships to round out Friday’s podium finishes. On the men’s side, Yaseen Abdalla ran his first 5k as a Vol and finished strong for second place with a time of 14:10.19. Kayla Gholar represented the Lady Vols in the 25-lapper and ran across the finish line second in a personal-best 16:05.79 to score eight points for UT.
After the first day of conference competition, the Vols sit fourth in the men’s standings with 20 points. Graduate student Nate Kawalec added to UT’s tally with a seventh-place finish in the 5k, turning in a time of 14:20.43 in his SEC Championship debut.
The Lady Vols are slotted fifth after compiling 23.33 points on Friday. In addition to Gholar’s silver medal in the 5,000m, Tennessee had five more scoring performances from Chandler Hayden, Charisma Taylor, Mikele Vickers, Rachel Sutliff and Ellison Colarossi.
Fresh off a new PR in the same throwing sector a week ago, Hayden competed in her fourth SEC weight throw competition and scored for the first time in her career with a fourth-place finish. The Pittsfield, Illinois, native heaved the 20-pound weight 22.20m (72-10) in the third round to collect five points for Tennessee.
Taylor and Vickers each scored in the women’s long jump final, posting marks of 6.36m (20-10.5) and 6.10m (20-0.25) for fourth and seventh place in the event, respectively. Friday’s…
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