Tennessee got off to a strong start at the Penn Relays.
The Volunteers, who finished second in the women's distance medley, the 3,200 meters and 6,000 a year ago, began this year's event by beating Georgetown to win the distance medley at University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field on Thursday.
"Last year was a success in our mind," Tennessee women's track coach J.J. Clark said. "Not many teams come here and run a triple, like Villanova did years ago. We come here to run and we did. We were successful because we ran fast and we put it all on the line."
The Vols team made up of junior Phoebe Wright (1,200), senior Kimarra McDonald (400), freshman Chanelle Price (800), and senior Sarah Bowman (1,600) held off a late charge by the Hoyas (Emily Infield, Abigail Johnson, Renee Tomlin, and Maggie Infield) who finished in 11:02.58.
"You have to focus on the race you are in that moment," said Bowman, who anchored the three second-place finishes a year ago. "If you start thinking ahead you'll never get through all three of them. I bounce back quickly and usually feel good on day two and day three because we do that kind of thing at nationals and I think we're all prepared and excited to see how we go."
Tennessee trailed Duke after the first leg and found itself in a dead heat with Georgetown, an order which stayed intact through the second leg. In the third leg, Price took the lead back for the Volunteers with a 2:04.5 split in the 800 to set the table for Bowman, who despite the late charge, never really looked threatened.
"It's always nice to have the lead," Bowman said, "but again, I think I became a little too complacent in the middle of the race but we held on to it and that's what counts. A victory is a victory."
Tennessee entered this event the clear favorite after it set a world record during the indoor season but that added pressure has seemingly only strengthened their resolve.
"This year, winning is exciting," Clark said. "I take my hat off to this team because indoors, there are high expectations. Outdoors, there are high expectations. To win, time after time is very impressive and they just stand up to the test and as a coach it's a good feeling to see them do that."
While the windy conditions hurt any shot at an event record for the Volunteers, it helped Louisiana State freshman Rachel Laurent in the women's pole vault, which took place just across the field from the starting line. Laurent finished off her title with an event record vault of 13 feet, 10 1/2 inches, which surpassed the previous mark of 13-10 set by Amy Linnen of Kansas in 2005.
"(The conditions) were actually pretty good," said Laurent, who beat out William & Mary's Nicole Kazuba and South Carolina's Sallie Gurganus, both of whom cleared 12-11 1/2. "The wind was actually working pretty well for us. I just went out there and did my best. It came out as a meet record.
"It's a feeling of accomplishment. I wanted a little more but there's always another day."
Copyright 2009 AP News
