Program Additions Announced

University of Tennessee Director of Track & Field J.J. Clark has announced the signing of five student-athletes to national letters of intent and the arrival of two more who are transferring into the program.
Joining the men’s team in the fall of 2011 from the prep ranks will be jumper/sprinter Tyler Anderson of Antioch, Tenn. (Hillsboro H.S.) and thrower Carson Frost from Sonora, Calif. (Sonora Union H.S.). Transferring to Tennessee from Wake Forest will be javelin thrower Luke Hadden, who spent two years in the Demon Deacon program. He is a native of Berlin, Vt., and is a graduate of Union 32 High School in East Montpelier. Discus specialist Tavis Bailey has transferred to UT from Lenoir-Rhyne College, where the native of Kannapolis, North Carolina and graduate of A.L. Brown High School spent one season on the football and track & field teams.
Entering the Lady Vol squad will be Maryville (Tenn.) High School sprinter Julia Petree, middle distance runner Amirah Johnson of Greenbelt, Md. (Eleanor Roosevelt H.S.) and distance runner Lizzie Cornell of Princess Annie High School in Virginia Beach, Va.
The seven newcomers will join a trio of distance signees from earlier in the spring, all of whom hail from Michigan. That group includes Jeremy Dickie of Swartz Creek (Swartz Creek High School), Nick Kaiser of Temperance (Temperance Bedford High School) and Austin Whitelaw of Monroe (Monroe High School).
Hadden joins the Big Orange with a career best throw of 200 feet, nine inches in the javelin, which he achieved as a freshman at Wake Forest. That mark ranks him No. 5 all-time on the Demon Deacon top performers list. He is coming off a fifth-place finish in the javelin at the ACC Outdoor Championships (197-0) and placed sixth as a rookie. In high school, he was the state of Vermont’s top prep thrower in the discus and javelin in 2009, and he lettered three years in football as well as Nordic skiing along with earning four bars in track & field.
Bailey spent his first football season at Lenoir-Rhyne as an offensive lineman, but his track & field success as an unattached competitor during the spring encouraged him to further pursue his talent in the discus. He uncorked a toss of 173-10 on his third attempt to defeat a field of NCAA Division I competition at the 2011 Raleigh Relays. His personal-best prep throw of 185-1 with a lighter implement enabled him to win the 2010 North Carolina 3A state title in the discus. He later finished ninth at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals with a fling of 168-4.
Frost threw the discus a career-best 160-9 in 2010 and has since gained experience expertise in both the weight and hammer throws. He posted a best of 66-0 in the weight in 2011, which ranked No. 2 in California and No. 15 nationally, and he qualified for and competed in the 2011 New Balance Indoor meet in New York City. He recently improved his hammer mark to a best of 155-8 this season at the California High School Hammer Championships, placing sixth at that meet.
Anderson, a jumper/sprinter, is coming off a AAA state meet where he won the triple jump (46-2), took second in the long jump (23-5 1/4), finished fourth in the 100m dash (10.93) and was fourth in the 200m (22.09) despite competing with a nagging injury. He also jumped 24-2 1/2 to place third at the recent 2011 New Balance Outdoor Nationals meet. His career bests include 24-8 1/4 in the long jump, 47-10 in the triple jump, 10.77 in the 100m, 21.39 in the 200m and 48.55 in the 400m. His long jump mark at the Boston-Moon Classic bettered the old state record of 24-7 1/2.
A middle distance runner, Johnson leads the incoming trio of Lady Vols as a seven-time state champion in Maryland. She won the indoor 1600m in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and captured the 800 indoor crown in 2009 as well. Outdoors, she won with the 4x800m relay in 2008 and was a double victor in the 800 and 1600 in 2009, just as she was indoors. Additionally, she was part of the No. 3 all-time prep sprint medley relay at the 2009 Nike Nationals meet. Her career bests include 2:11.30 for 800m, 5:00.48 for 1600m, 2:52.71 for 1000m and 18:35.00 for 5K in cross country.
Petree joins former MHS products Ellen Wortham, Ally Colvin and Jordan Chaney at Rocky Top. The sprinter holds Rebel records in the 100 and 400 meters and with the 4x200m and 4x400m relays and claimed a AAA state championship in the 400m in 2009 with a personal record of 55.63. Petree also had state finishes of second in the 100m in 2010 and third in 2011 and second in the 400m last season as well. Her other career bests include 12.06 in the 100m, 24.95 in the 200m, 2:24 in the 800m and 21:37 in the 5K in cross country.
Distance runner Cornell rounds out the class and also brings cross country ability with her to the program as the first woman in the history of her high school to earn all-state honors. She did so in 2010 with a personal best 18:25 readout and eighth-place finish at the state meet. A 10-time all-district and seven-time all-region recipient combined in cross country and track, she also is a three-time AAU Mid-Atlantic champ in the 1500 meters. Her career bests include 4:40 in the 1500m, 5:04 in the 1600m, 2:57 in the 1000m and 2:16 in the 800m.