UT teams to make runs at SEC

The hardware will be handed out today before it gets dark enough for trick-or-treat.

Tennessee's men and women are in Oxford, Miss., to begin the postseason with the SEC Cross Country Championships.

The Vols were the preseason pick to finish fifth in the men's 8,000-meter race that begins at 11 a.m. EDT.

The Lady Vols were projected third in the women's 6,000 that follows at noon.

Coincidental or not, those are exactly the finishes UT's men and women recorded at last year's meet.

The Lady Vols figure to be competitive. Jackie Areson, Brittany Sheffey and Katie Van Horn rank 1-2-3 in the conference at the 6,000-meter distance this fall.

The graduation of Sarah Bowman meant a new leader must emerge for the women and senior Areson has risen to that role.

Areson has been UT's first finisher in all four fall meets.

"These are upperclassmen, so I expect that,'' Lady Vols coach J.J. Clark said. "I expect that consistency and leadership. It's just good to see it happen.''

And for only the second race this year, UT's women will be at full strength with Chanelle Price and Phoebe Wright in the mix.

Both had taken a break after international track competition in the summer.

"We're a completely different team (with them),'' Clark said.

"You can't run year-round so they took some time off and are now coming on as the year has progressed.''

Alabama is the men's favorite, hoping to repeat the 2008 title that ended Arkansas' perfect record since joining the SEC in 1991.

A win would make Alabama the first SEC team - other than Arkansas - to repeat since Tennessee did in 1989-90.

"Alabama is the favorite, then Arkansas,'' said UT men's coach George Watts. "Then there's five teams that could finish third-through-seventh.

"We could be third or seventh or somewhere in between. That's how tight it is.''

Watts hopes tight is an adjective applicable to his top five finishers. Usually, the less the spread between one and five, the better the team finish.

Juniors Michael Spooner and Peter Sigilai have finished first and second in every meet they've run this fall. Freshman Leoule Degfae is a good bet for the third spot.

Michael Brodsky, Chris Bodary and Steve Fassino have been consistent as the next grouping.

"Two of our guys should be All-SEC,'' Watts said, "and Degfae is coming on.

"He's kind of in no-man's land. He's not quite able to run with Peter and Michael but he's broken away from the other guys.''

Spooner was 13th a year ago, earning All-SEC. Sigilai, UT's first Kenyan, is a transfer from Rend Lake (Ill.) Junior College.