Feb. 23, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
Nashville, Tenn. – The best and brightest from SEC track and field will converge on West End this weekend for the 2017 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The event takes place on Feb. 24-25 at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility.
The SEC Championships won’t just feature some of the conference’s most talented athletes. Many SEC track and field participants recently represented their home countries in last summer’s 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Here are 15 Olympians competing in the SEC event this weekend:
Aliyah Abrams, South Carolina (Sprints)
Guyana
Abrams authored a stellar freshman campaign in 2015-16 by earning First Team All-America honors in the outdoor 400-meter relay and Second Team All-America honors in the 400-meter dash. As a member of Team Guyana at the 2016 Olympics, Abrams finished 38th overall in the 400 meters (52.79 seconds) as a first-time Olympian.
Andres Arroyo, Florida (Mid-Distance)
Puerto Rico
Arroyo represented Puerto Rico in Rio by finishing 22nd overall in the 800-meter semifinals, becoming the first Puerto Rican to reach the event’s semifinals. At the 2016 SEC Indoor Championships, the middle-distance specialist broke a 26-year-old Florida record in the indoor 800-meter event (1:46.20).
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Kentucky (Hurdles)
Puerto Rico
During the 2015-16 outdoor season, Camacho-Quinn became the first freshman ever to win the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships. She clocked a time of 12.54w (+3.8) at NCAAs, the fifth fastest all-conditions time in NCAA Championships history. Competing for Puerto Rice at the Rio Olympics, she barely missed the finals in the 100-meters.
Christian Coleman, Tennessee (Sprints)
United States
Coleman was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week earlier this season after his performance at Virginia Tech’s “Doc Hale” Elite Meet the weekend of Feb. 3. He set a personal best time of 6.51 seconds in the 60-meter dash, the second-fastest sprint in UT history and fastest in the nation and the world in 2017. Coleman ran the second leg of the United States’ 4×100-meter relay during qualifying at Rio but was replaced for the event’s final, where the U.S. disqualified.
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, LSU (Sprints)
England
Mitchell-Blake competed for the United Kingdom in the 200-meter event in Rio, reaching the semifinals with a 20.24 (+1.0) time and eventually placing 11th overall. The London native was the 2016 SEC Men’s Outdoor Runner of the Year and finished eighth in the 100 meters at NCAAs to garner All-American honors.
Keturah Orji, Georgia (Jumps)
United States
Orji finished 2016 as the SEC Indoor & Outdoor Women’s Field Athlete of the Year and claimed both indoor and outdoor SEC titles in the triple jump. With Team USA in Rio, Orji missed a bronze medal by three centimeters with a triple jump of 48-3.25. That mark still set an American and school record for a freshman.
Clive Pullen, Arkansas (Jumps)
Jamaica
Pullen is a four-time All American for the Razorbacks who won the triple jump event at both SEC Indoor Championship and NCAA Indoor Championships in 2016. The senior placed 33rd overall in the Rio Olympics as part of Team Jamaica with a best mark of 16.08/52-9 ¼.
Jereem Richards, Alabama (Sprints)
Trinidad & Tobago
A native of Port Fortin, Trinidad & Tobago, Richards served as an alternate member on his country’s 4×400-meter relay team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio DeJinaro. At Alabama, Richards ran the anchor leg for Alabama’s 4×400-meter relay and set a personal-best time of 46.37 seconds in the 400 earlier this season, the second-fastest time in Crimson Tide history.
Karl Saluri, Georgia (Multi-Events)
Estonia
A native of Kuimetsa, Estonia, Saluri competed for his home country in Rio and finished 23rd in the decathlon with a score of 7,223 points. At Georgia, Saluri finished the 2016 season as a First-Team All-American in both indoor and outdoor selections.
Raven Saunders, Ole Miss (Throws)
United States
As a junior this season, Saunders has broken meet records at four of five competitions and set two facility records in the shot put. She most recently won the Music City Challenge with a toss of 18.59m/61-0. Saunders finished fifth in the women’s shot put in Rio with a throw of 19.35 meters for the United States.
Teray Smith, Auburn (Sprints)
Bahamas
At the Tiger Paw Invitational earlier this month, Smith finished with a personal best 20.75 in the 200-meter outdoor event, moving into third all-time in Auburn’s record book. Smith hails from Freeport, Bahamas and represented his home country in the 200-meter in Rio last summer.
Brenessa Thompson, Texas A&M (Sprints)
Guyana
Thompson competed for Guyana in Rio in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints after a 2016 SEC season in which she helped Texas A&M’s 4×100 team to a runner-up finish at the SEC Championships.
Lindon Victor, Texas A&M (Multi-Events)
Grenada
Victor, the 2016 SEC Field Athlete of the Year, represented Grenada at the 2016 Olympics and finished 16th in the decathlon with 7,998 points. He ventures to Nashville this weekend as the defending SEC (8,446 points) and NCAA (8,379 points) champion in that event.
Lexi Weeks, Arkansas (Pole Vault)
United States
A two-time NCAA Champion and two-time All-American at Arkansas, Weeks became just the fifth woman in NCAA history to vault over 15 feet at the Tyson Invitational in 2016. She became one of the youngest qualifiers for the US Olympic team by earning a bronze medal at trials with a PR of 4.70m/15-5. Weeks went on to place 19th in the pole vault for Team USA in Rio.
Kendell Williams, Georgia (Multi-Events)
United States
Williams is a three-time NCAA indoor champion in the Pentathlon and a three-time collegiate record holder in the same event. The Marietta, Ga. native competed in the heptathlon at the Rio Olympics and finished 17th with a score of 6,221 points through seven events.