Bowman wins third SEC title in 3,000

Photo by UT Photo

Sarah Bowman

Tennessee senior Sarah Bowman became the first woman to win three consecutive SEC titles in the 3,000-meter run.

Bowman finished in 9 minutes, 21.66 seconds at the SEC Indoor Track and Field championships on Saturday night in Lexington, Ky.

Teammate Jackie Areson was second with a career-best 9:24.34.

Arkansas leads the standings with 45 points, followed by LSU with 32. Kentucky and the Lady Vols are tied for third with 25. The meet concludes today.

Bowman, who has won a program-best seven SEC Indoor titles, made her move with two laps to go.

"I really go on feel, which is exactly what he (coach J.J. Clark) tells me," Bowman said. "I usually don't even think about it; it's just what happens. In this race, I started getting clipped from behind, and that's what actually made me decide to move. I didn't think about it until after the race, but that's why I moved.

"Certain things in a race just trigger it, and when you've been racing a while, it's good to have that kind of responsiveness to what's going on and the situation."

Annie Alexander was seventh in the weight throw (52 feet, 8 inches), Lynne Layne was eighth in the long jump (19-2 1/2).

Victories by Brenard Wilson, Nick Panezich and Michael Ayers helped UT to move to third in the men's competition with 32 points. Arkansas leads with 37 and Florida is second with 33.

Ayers won the heptathlon, scoring a lifetime-best total of 5,717 points.

He pulled ahead with a stellar performance in the pole vault, clearing a lifetime-best of 16-10 3/4 and outdistance the nearest competitor by 153 points and more than 18 inches.

Including Friday's performances, Ayers posted five lifetime-best marks out of the seven events.

Wilson won the high jump, clearing a lifetime-best 7-0 1/2. He also was seventh in the long jump at 23-8.

Panezich won the shot put at 60-10 1/2. He had previously only scored for the Vols at the conference level in the discus throw outdoors in 2008.

"Brenard and Nick both did a great job of establishing themselves early in their competitions and putting pressure on their opponents," saud UT coach Bill Webb. "Michael fought and battled for two days and finally put the heptathlon away in a pole vault."