Tennessee Volunteers Track and Field

The Tennessee Volunteers Track and Field team has become a national power. In fact, the Vol Tracksters finished 2007 ranked 6th nationally. They also won the 2007 SEC Track and Field Championship.

The Volunteer track and field team celebrated the end of the 2007 season at a team banquet which was attended by 175 guests and the night was filled with awards and prestige.

The 2007 season marked the 25th Southeastern Conference (SEC) Outdoor Championship that the Tennessee Vols track and field team has attended, the most recorded of any other school in the Championship. The team scored 129.5 points during that event held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and earned their third title in the last seven years.


The second place team, LSU, was behind the Tennessee Volunteers track and field team by 6.5 points with a score of only 122. In addition, the Vols were tied for 10th at the NCAA Indoor Championship and lassoed a fourth place position at the NCAA Outdoor Championship. To top everything off, there were 10 individual players who were named All-American.


The banquet’s two hour ceremony involved going through an extensive list of player achievements including those who broke school records, like Jeff Day, Samdi Fraser, Yarrick Kincaid and Tyler Devalt, four Tennessee Vols track and field team members that had a time of 9:33.61 at the Alex Wilson Invitational, and Most Improved Athlete.

The Tennessee Volunteers track and field team had a bitter sweet ending this year with the passing of former Tennessee Vols track and field athlete Lamar Preyor, who was part of the sport back in the 70s and received letters three times. However, there were several former Tennessee Vols track and field team members who earned themselves recognition this season including Leonard Scott, the reigning world champion in the 60s, Aries Merritt, having the fourth fastest time in the world, and Gary Kikaya, ranked third in the world, all of whom are in the top-100 of the IAAF ratings. The ranks are 53, 27, and 14 respectively.


Chris Helwick, the former Tennessee Volunteers track and field athlete team member took second in a decathlon at the Internationale Meerkamp Woerden which was hosted in the Netherlands in August of 2007. As one of the only two Americans in the event, Helwick really did his Alma Mater proud against 44 athletes from 14 different countries as he scored a total of 7,602 points at the two-day event.

Helwick still owns the Tennessee Vols track and field team’s school record in the heptathlon and also holds the Sea Ray Relay record for javelin throwing. Helwick ended his career as a Tennessee Vols track and field team member with a sixth place win at the NCAA Outdoor Championship. .


Another exciting event which brings the Tennessee Vols track and field team into the spot light is Tom Pappas, two-time world Champion, has won his 5th USA Championship, the second in a row, at the USA Outdoor Championship this past season. Pappas currently has the sixth highest decathlon score in the world. Due to this win the Tennessee Vols track and field team flag will be brought into the World Championship event with Pappas as the barer.

Check out this Tennessee Vols Merchandise and Apparel.

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