The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s outdoor track and field team will head to Atlanta this weekend for the Emory Classic to run Friday and Saturday. The focus for the Mocs will be participation in specialized events.
“We have begun our outdoor prep and are moving kids into the events we are asking them to specialize and participate in at the SoCon meet in May,” Chattanooga head coach Andy Meyer said. “It will be the first time some of them have run these events this year or in their career.
Most will be doubling up events to mimic the quick turnaround of multiple racing in a weekend which occurs at the conference meet.”
The Mocs will start the meet off with field events. Taylor Grayson will look to improve on her hammer throw distance of 39.72 meters, fourth best in the Southern Conference standings. Rebekah Hampton and Rebekah Bryant will compete in the long jump. Hampton’s jump of 4.87 meters is fifth in the league while Bryant’s 4.84m currently ranks sixth.
The women’s 4x800 meter relay team will start the track events. Haley Morris will run her first 3000 meter Steeplechase of the season while Emily Poole and Rebekah Wich will close out Friday’s portion of the meet in the 10,000 meter run.
Saturday’s field events will kick off for the Mocs with Grayson in the Shot Put. In the afternoon, Rebekah Hampton will compete in the triple jump. Her distance of 10.60m at the JSU Quad Invitational is her high mark and ranks fifth in the SoCon. Hampton will run the 100 meter hurdles Saturday afternoon as well. Rebekah Bryant will try to become the Mocs’ first pole vaulter since 1999.
On the track, Katie Coker and Taylor Sawyer will run the 400 meter dash. That will be followed by a trio in the 800 meter run. Abby Bateman ranks third in the league with a time of 2:18.26 at the JSU Quad Invite with Nicole Buehrle right behind her in the standings at fifth with a time of 2:19.44. Ashlynd Broling, ranked eighth in the SoCon standings, will look to improve her season-best time of 2:23.51.
Morris, along with Hannah Caldwell and Julia Henderson will run the 1500 meter. The women’s 5000 meter will feature Poole, Wich, Sophia Neglia and Brianna Nelson. Poole’s top time of 17:28.80 is best in the conference standings while Wich’s 18:29.96 is fourth overall.
More than 1000 runners are entered into the event this weekend and sections are still being compiled for these two events.
Members of the men’s cross country team will run unattached this weekend. Mark Britt, Brennan Huber, John Payne and Nathan Watson will run the men’s 1500 meter and Gavin Hasty is set to run the men’s 800 meter race. Ryan Gebelein is entered in the men’s 5000 meter distance.
“This will be an interesting weekend,” Meyer said. “Many will use the marks set this weekend to springboard and measure improvement for the rest of the year. We are looking forward to competing well at this meet.”
Live scoring is available through a link on the Track and Field schedule page of GoMocs.com. A complete wrap up and stats will be available after the meet each night.
Schedule of events
Friday - Track
3:55 p.m. Women’s 4x800m Relay A: (Coker, Henderson, Broling, Bateman)
4:20 p.m. Women’s 3K Steeplechase Haley Morris
5:35 p.m. Women’s Distance Medley Relay A: (Neglia, Buehrle, Caldwell, Nelson)
6:30 p.m. Women’s 10K Emily Poole
Rebekah Wich
Friday - Field
2:00 p.m. Women’s Hammer Throw Taylor Grayson
Women’s Long Jump Rebekah Bryant
Rebekah Hampton
Saturday – Track
8:50 a.m. Men’s 5K (Section C) Ryan Gebelein
10:25 a.m. Women’s 100m Hurdles Trials Rebekah Hampton
10:55 a.m. Women’s 5K (Seeded) Sophia Neglia
Brianna Nelson
Emily Poole
Rebekah Wich
12:50 p.m. Women’s 1500m (Seeded – A, B) Hannah Caldwell
Julia Henderson
Haley Morris
1:05 p.m. Men’s 1500m (Seeded – A, B) Mark Britt
Brennan Huber
John Payne
Nathan Watson
1:25 p.m. Women’s 100m Hurdles Final TBD
1:30 p.m. Women’s 400m Katie Coker
Taylor Sawyer
2:30 p.m. Women’s 800m Abby Bateman
Nicole Buehrle
Ashlynd Broling
3:00 p.m. Men’s 800m Gavin Hasty
5:10 p.m. Men’s 4x400m Relay
Saturday – Field
9:00 a.m. Women’s Shot Put Taylor Grayson
11:30 a.m. Women’s Triple Jump Rebekah Hampton
1:30 p.m. Women’s Pole Vault Rebekah Bryant