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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - There wasn't a lot of Tennessee orange to talk about.
The Vols and Lady Vols had relatively uneventful final days at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday at Tyson Track Center on the Arkansas campus.
The Vols, ranked second nationally, finished in fifth place with 26 points, well behind champion Arizona State's 44.
The Lady Vols used another strong performance by junior Sarah Bowman to finish in eighth with 19 points. Arizona State scored 51 points to defend its national title.
The Vols entered the final day in second place with 20 points but had only two scoring opportunities. Jangy Addy finished fifth in the heptathlon, and senior Rubin Williams was seventh in the 60-meter dash.
Williams had won the 200 Friday night.
UT coach Bill Webb said he couldn't complain about finishing fifth.
"We had some great things happen," Webb said, referring to Williams' title. "We were in there battling with some teams. I view us as a top five team nationally. With a few breaks here and there, we could have moved up a little bit.
"You have to be proud of the way our guys competed."
Addy entered the national meet with the third-best heptathlon total but couldn't match that score. Addy finished with 5,623 points, 187 short of his seasonal best.
He also finished fifth in the 60 hurdles after having the nation's best time before the meet.
"Jangy Addy is a warrior," Webb said. "He battled for two long days."
The Lady Vols had more athletes competing Saturday but couldn't keep pace with Arizona State and LSU, the top two teams in the nation before the meet. Tennessee, ranked third, scored just eight points the second day.
By comparison, Arizona State scored 36 and LSU 34.
Bowman was the highlight for Tennessee after anchoring the distance medley relay team's victory Friday night. Bowman, who had an emergency appendectomy in January, finished third in the mile in a time of 4 minutes, 36 seconds.
"What Sarah has done is absolutely remarkable," Lady Vols coach J.J. Clark said. "She has gotten stronger and stronger throughout the year. I'm content."
Clark said it was a difficult year for the Lady Vols after he brought in sprints coach Pauline Davis-Thompson before the season and freshman shot putter Annie Alexander didn't join the team until January, right about the time Bowman had surgery.
"We had some unexpected situations," Clark said. "I believe we are on the right track."
Alexander won the SEC shot put but couldn't repeat her performance at nationals, failing to score. The Lady Vols scored one point each for Courtney Champion's eighth-place finish in the 60 and an eighth-place finish in the 1,600 relay.
"We were expecting some points in the shot put, but she just had a bad day," Clark said. "You've got to score points to win the meet. You need all the points you can get. You've got to get 10s, 8s and 6s to make this thing work."
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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