Lady Vols to go distance at SEC Indoors

In a time of major transition for Tennessee's track and field program, it's comforting to have at least one constant.

The UT men and women will for the first time be competing for conference track and field honors as a combined team at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend.

Besides administrative and coaching changes, uncertainty over the program's indoor facilities has been a hurdle in the pursuit of excellence.

One thing, however, hasn't changed: While All-American Sarah Bowman may be gone, the Lady Vols will still score major points in the distance events.

Phoebe Wright, Chanelle Price and Jackie Areson are headliners for a women's team that is defending both SEC and NCAA indoor titles from 2009.

Repeating, even on the SEC level, is a daunting proposition.

"We have some glaring holes,'' said J.J. Clark, who is in his first year as director of track and field for men and women. "We're going to do the best we can and see where that lands us.''

After the retirement of men's coach Bill Webb last summer, UT combined the men and women with Clark, formerly the women's coach, as director.

"It's gone outstanding, from an efficiency standpoint, for us getting along and for recruiting,'' Clark said. "It's just getting through the little things.''

Like, for example, a meal on the road.

When the team headed to Kentucky for a meet in January, Clark stopped the bus at a Subway restaurant the women's team frequents.

"But now, with the men, we've got roughly 60 or 70 athletes and staff,'' he said. "We go in the Subway like we normally do and it takes two hours.

"The next trip we stopped at a place with five restaurants close by and it takes 30 minutes. Just little things.''

And some bigger things, too. Michael Ayers, a decathlon All-American and the reigning SEC indoor heptathlon champ, transferred to rival Georgia after Webb retired.

The Lady Vols took a hit when sprint All-American Lynne Layne transferred to Central Florida after UT lost its second women's sprint coach in two years.

Without Layne, the Lady Vols will be pressed to score in the sprints.

"With the different sprint coaches, our recruiting has not been as consistent as we wanted,'' Clark said. "But we have some good developers.''

Meanwhile, the program is awaiting facility news. Antiquated Stokely Athletics Center is destined for the wrecking ball and UT has yet to finalize plans or a timetable for a new facility to house indoor track and volleyball.

Stokely is a disadvantage for athletes training now. The uncertainty over a solution makes recruiting more difficult.

"Can you show me a place that has our climate that wins national titles?'' Clark said. "It's a compliment to our athletes and coaching staff.

"But where I come from there's no quit. You keep doing your best.''

Women's Notes: The SEC meet begins today and concludes Sunday. ... Lady Vols have the top marks in five events. Areson is involved in three of them, the 5K, 3K and distance-medley relay. She'll skip the 3K, Clark said. ... Wright has the top 800-meter time in the nation. ... Sophomore Ellen Wortham has the SEC's top pentathlon mark.

Men's Notes: The Vols, who finished third a year ago, should again score well in the pole vault with Joe Berry and Robert Rasnick. ... UT hoped to have prize signee Dentarius Locke beefing up the sprint corps alongside senior Evander Wells but Locke has to sit out a year to become eligible. ... With Ayers gone, the multi-events (heptathlon) will no longer be a traditional UT stronghold.