Senior from Jamaica becomes first Tennessee woman to win that event indoors at league meet
Propelled by Patricia Hall’s victory in the 400-meter dash, the eighth-ranked University of Tennessee women scored 65 points on Sunday afternoon to ascend from seventh into a tie for third on the final day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the O’Connell Center.
The Lady Vols, who were unable to successfully defend their 2005 crown, did manage to record their third straight top-three finish at the SEC Indoor meet. The program had not accomplished that feat since a four-year string from 1988 to 1991. They did so with a solid final day after struggling to come up with only 13.50 points combined for Friday and Saturday’s events.
“It was hard to rebound from yesterday, but they performed much better,” UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. “Patricia, Carly, Celriece, and a couple of legs on the DMR really gave us some valiant efforts. We were in seventh after (Friday), and to come back to third in this league is very difficult. We did a good job in that manner; we just can’t afford to have such a devastating second day.
“The expectations of people, myself included, are so high for this program where third is something that you shake your stick at, and it is not accepted. To take third in the best conference in America is not absolutely embarrassing, but we have higher expectations.”
Georgia, which tallied 101.50 points, walked away with its first-ever SEC Indoor trophy on the women’s side. The Lady Bulldogs held off a determined Auburn squad, which scored 96 points to take second. Tennessee and South Carolina posted identical sums of 78.50 to hold down third, while Arkansas closed out the top five with 73. The rest of the scoring included Alabama in sixth with 70.50, followed by LSU (62.50), Florida (45.50), Kentucky (26), Ole Miss (16), Mississippi State (13) and Vanderbilt (2).
Tennessee’s 4x400m relay unit pulled the Lady Vols into a tie for third in the final event of the meet. The quartet of senior Patricia Hall, sophomore LaTonya Loche, sophomore Cleo Tyson and sophomore Courtney Champion rolled to a time of 3:36.61 to take third place in that event behind victorious LSU and second-place Auburn.
Earlier in the day, Hall left little doubt as to who would win the first section of the 400-meter dash final. She blew away the competition in her heat with a stout, 52.67 readout. Auburn’s Marquita James gave it all she had in section two, but her 52.76 clocking fell short of Hall’s and allowed Tennessee to crown its only champion of the meet and its first-ever SEC Indoor 400m victor. Sophomore LaTonya Loche added four more points to the ledger with a fifth-placing showing of 54.81 in an event where UT came up with 14 points.
Hall continued her strong meet in the 200 meters and improved her individual scoring tally for the weekend to 15 points. She did so by zipping around the oval in 23.59 and locking down fourth place in the one-lapper. Her 16.5 point total for the meet, gleaned from the 400m, 200m and later the 4x400m relay, was third highest behind the 22 of SEC Commissioner’s Trophy Winner Kerron Stewart of Auburn and the 20 by Penny Splichal of Auburn.
“Patricia had a great meet,” Clark said. “She did what she was supposed to do. She won the event she was supposed to win and ran tough in the event where she was supposed to run tough. That was the expectation, and that is what she did.”
In the mile run, Tennessee had an 11-point splurge that helped Team Orange begin to move up in the standings from seventh, where it began the day. Freshman Sarah Bowman’s third-place effort of 4:52.21 was good for six of those points. The Warrenton, Va., native was assisted by senior Brooke Novak, who was fifth in 4:54.20, while junior Mindy Sullivan was eighth at 4:58.05.

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Senior from Jamaica becomes first Tennessee woman to win that event indoors at league meet
Propelled by Patricia Hall’s victory in the 400-meter dash, the eighth-ranked University of Tennessee women scored 65 points on Sunday afternoon to ascend from seventh into a tie for third on the final day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the O’Connell Center.
The Lady Vols, who were unable to successfully defend their 2005 crown, did manage to record their third straight top-three finish at the SEC Indoor meet. The program had not accomplished that feat since a four-year string from 1988 to 1991. They did so with a solid final day after struggling to come up with only 13.50 points combined for Friday and Saturday’s events.
“It was hard to rebound from yesterday, but they performed much better,” UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. “Patricia, Carly, Celriece, and a couple of legs on the DMR really gave us some valiant efforts. We were in seventh after (Friday), and to come back to third in this league is very difficult. We did a good job in that manner; we just can’t afford to have such a devastating second day.
“The expectations of people, myself included, are so high for this program where third is something that you shake your stick at, and it is not accepted. To take third in the best conference in America is not absolutely embarrassing, but we have higher expectations.”
Georgia, which tallied 101.50 points, walked away with its first-ever SEC Indoor trophy on the women’s side. The Lady Bulldogs held off a determined Auburn squad, which scored 96 points to take second. Tennessee and South Carolina posted identical sums of 78.50 to hold down third, while Arkansas closed out the top five with 73. The rest of the scoring included Alabama in sixth with 70.50, followed by LSU (62.50), Florida (45.50), Kentucky (26), Ole Miss (16), Mississippi State (13) and Vanderbilt (2).
Tennessee’s 4x400m relay unit pulled the Lady Vols into a tie for third in the final event of the meet. The quartet of senior Patricia Hall, sophomore LaTonya Loche, sophomore Cleo Tyson and sophomore Courtney Champion rolled to a time of 3:36.61 to take third place in that event behind victorious LSU and second-place Auburn.
Earlier in the day, Hall left little doubt as to who would win the first section of the 400-meter dash final. She blew away the competition in her heat with a stout, 52.67 readout. Auburn’s Marquita James gave it all she had in section two, but her 52.76 clocking fell short of Hall’s and allowed Tennessee to crown its only champion of the meet and its first-ever SEC Indoor 400m victor. Sophomore LaTonya Loche added four more points to the ledger with a fifth-placing showing of 54.81 in an event where UT came up with 14 points.
Hall continued her strong meet in the 200 meters and improved her individual scoring tally for the weekend to 15 points. She did so by zipping around the oval in 23.59 and locking down fourth place in the one-lapper. Her 16.5 point total for the meet, gleaned from the 400m, 200m and later the 4x400m relay, was third highest behind the 22 of SEC Commissioner’s Trophy Winner Kerron Stewart of Auburn and the 20 by Penny Splichal of Auburn.
“Patricia had a great meet,” Clark said. “She did what she was supposed to do. She won the event she was supposed to win and ran tough in the event where she was supposed to run tough. That was the expectation, and that is what she did.”
In the mile run, Tennessee had an 11-point splurge that helped Team Orange begin to move up in the standings from seventh, where it began the day. Freshman Sarah Bowman’s third-place effort of 4:52.21 was good for six of those points. The Warrenton, Va., native was assisted by senior Brooke Novak, who was fifth in 4:54.20, while junior Mindy Sullivan was eighth at 4:58.05.

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