Panezich, Alexander advance to NCAA track

A couple of Tennessee throwers confirmed NCAA championship track and field berths Friday at the Mideast Region meet in Louisville.

Annie Alexander took second in the women's discus with a throw of 185 feet, 8 inches. The sophomore came in with the top mark in the nation.

Nick Panezich produced a season-best mark of 59-7.75 to finish third in the men's shot put.

The senior will experience his first outdoor national championship meet.

The top five individuals in each event and the top three relay teams earn automatic bids to nationals at Fayetteville, Ark., June 10-13.

A number of other UT athletes qualified for today's finals.

Lynne Layne was a double-qualifier in the women's 100 and 200. Celriece Law advanced in the 100 hurdles and both Phoebe Wright and Chanelle Price in the 800.

Sarah Bowman had the fastest 1,500 time by a whopping margin of 13 seconds. Rolanda Bell also qualified.

On the men's side, freshmen Emerson Peacock and Joe Franklin reached the 800 finals and Charlton Rolle advanced in the 110 hurdles.

The UT men and women both advanced their 4x100 relay teams to the finals.

The relay was the only success for junior Evander Wells. A six-time All-American in his first two seasons, Wells finished 11th in the 200, his specialty. He finished ninth in the 100, missing the finals by one spot.

Coward Falls Short: Jackie Coward of Central Florida bowed out in prelims in the East Regional in Greensboro, N.C.

The freshman from West High finished 17th in the 100 hurdles. Her 4x100 relay team was 16th.

Bowman in Final Four: Bowman is one of four Division I women nominated for the Honda Sports Award for track and field.

The others are Jennifer Barringer of Colorado, Tiffany Ofili of Michigan and UTEP's Blessing Okagbare.

The winner will be announced Thursday.

Men's Tennis: John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren finished the year No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA doubles rankings. Smith and Sandgren were 32-12 against a steady diet of ranked opponents. They finished runners-up in the NCAA tournament last week.

Smith wound up No.3 in the singles rankings. Boris Conkic is at No. 38.

Conkic and Matteo Fago are the No. 43-ranked doubles team.

The UT men finished No. 8 in team rankings.

Women's Tennis: Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota finished with the No. 8 doubles ranking. The pair advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Whoriskey finished No. 40 in singles.

The Lady Vols are the No. 10 team overall, their highest finish since 2003.

Men's Golf: UT senior David Holmes, a West High alum, was confirmed as an All-American on Friday for his tie for 13th place in the NCAA golf championships.