SEATTLE – Jackie Areson’s senior season on the oval is just getting started, but already the University of Tennessee distance runner has been a smashing success.
     Friday night at the University of Washington’s Husky Classic, the Lady Vol standout turned in her second school-record and NCAA automatic-qualifying time of the season, placing second in the 5000 meters with a very impressive clocking.
     Areson, who entered the meet ranked No. 2 nationally in the 3000 meters with her school-record run of 9:07.27 on Jan. 30, took down Patty Wiegand’s 19-year-old school 5K mark with a runner-up time of 15:53.54 on Friday at UW’s Dempsey Indoor.
      Oregon’s Nicole Blood is the only woman in the NCAA faster than Areson at that distance in 2010, winning the race in 15:51.59. They were among eight competitors dipping below the NCAA auto standard at the meet, which has a reputation for producing good times in the longer distances.
     To put Areson’s effort into perspective, she crushed Wiegand’s 1991 mark of 16:12.03 by nearly 18 1/2 seconds.
     Amplifying that accomplishment is the fact Areson’s previous indoor career best was 17:10.44, which she turned in last season in a ninth-place effort at the SEC Championships. That’s a personal improvement of one minute, 17.24 seconds since last March.
     UT now has five women qualified for the March 12-13 NCAA Indoor Championships in five different events. Areson has punched her ticket in the 3K and 5K, Phoebe Wright and Chanelle Price are in via the 800 meters, and Price and Wright join Brittany Sheffey and Ellen Wortham as members of UT’s distance medley relay team.
     Areson’s Tennessee teammates will compete on Saturday in College Station, Texas, as they take part in the Texas A&M Challenge.

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.