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FAYETTEVILLE Ark. - Tennessee had plenty of winners but not enough depth at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Vols finished third in the men's competition with 99 1/2 points, trailing champion Arkansas' 124 and LSU's 108. The Lady Vols finished second with 116 points, failing to defend their title against No. 1 LSU, which scored 133.

Neither Tennessee coach was glum after their teams' close competitions. Coach Bill Webb said he had predicted the Vols would score 98 points, but Arkansas and LSU just had too much firepower in more events.

Webb said the Vols failed to score several events, which offset performances such as Michael Hogue's third consecutive pole vault championship and Rubin Williams' victory in the 200. Tennessee couldn't make up the missing points, though.

"Our problem was we had seven events where we didn't get any points," Webb said. "That's uncharacteristic of Tennessee. We had some great performances.

"To finish third in the best conference is nothing to hang your head on."

Hogue cleared 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches to put himself on the bubble for the NCAA meet. Hogue became just the second vaulter to win three consecutive SEC titles.

"I'm thrilled," Hogue said. "It was a great competition, and I can't ask for anything better for my last indoor conference."

Williams, the No. 1-ranked 200 runner in the country, had an easy time in winning in 20.68 seconds. That was slower than his 20.55 preliminary time, but still fast enough to win by one-tenth of a second over teammate Evander Wells.

"I ran OK," Williams said. "It wasn't the time I wanted. It feels good to be SEC champion."

Tennessee senior Jangy Addy, the nation's leader in the 60 hurdles, finished third in the event.

"We left some points on the table," Webb said. "I don't think we could have won the meet (because) we needed some points cut up. In this conference, you have to hit on all cylinders and we hit on seven of eight."

The Lady Vols stood up well to the challenge of chasing prohibitive favorite LSU, which scored 24 points in the 60 and 60 hurdles for sweeping the top three spots. Tennessee got victories from Sarah Bowman in the mile, Courtney Champion in the 200 and in the distance medley relay.

"We had a great meet," Lady Vols Coach J.J. Clark said. "It was a situation where we had two or three championship teams but only one title."

"One hundred sixteen points is a solid score, but it just wasn't enough."

Champion finished in the top three in the 200 the previous two years and finally broke through with the Lady Vols' first championship in the event, finishing in 23.23 seconds. Champion's coach, Pauline Davis-Thompson won the 200 conference title in 1988 at Alabama.

Champion upset LSU's Samantha Henry and Kelly-Ann Baptiste, who were ranked No. 3 and No. 6 in the world. Champion, who ran in the first heat, had to suffer through watching the Lady Tigers run in the second heat.

"When I saw that my time had beaten the second heat's time, I was ecstatic," Champion said. "Words can't describe the feeling, because I've been runner-up, third place, always right there but never winning."

Clark said he hopes Champion's victory serves as a springboard for faster and better things.

"She is obviously very talented," Clark said. "She is just getting better and better. She knows she's good and maybe this victory will encourage her to keep striving."

Bowman made it 3-for-3 for the second consecutive year. Bowman won the 3,000 on Saturday, then won the mile in 4:37.16 and anchored the winning DMR team Sunday.

Bowman did the same thing last year in Kentucky. This year's performances came less than two months after she had an emergency appendectomy.

"She's unbelievable," Clark said. "She really has a big heart. She came through with a lot of points."

So did the Lady Vols, but it wasn't quite enough.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.