Relay Record Headlines Seven Event Titles At Desert Heat Classic

Tennessee’s outdoor track & field regular season wrapped up Saturday with seven event victories at the Desert Heat Classic, including a school record and collegiate leading mark in the women’s 4×100-meter relay. The Lady Vol quartet of Jacious Sears, Dennisha Page, DaJour Miles and Jada Seaman got the baton around the oval in 42.52 seconds, the No. 1 mark in the NCAA this season.

UT’s mark in the women’s 4×100-meter relay rose the school to No. 7 on the collegiate all-time list. This season, it was the second sub-43 clocking by any team in the country – also the Lady Vols with a mark of 42.98 on March 30 at LSU.

In addition to aiding the record-setting relay, Page was remarkable in the individual sprints with two wins in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter. The Camden, New Jersey, native set personal-best marks of 11.11 (+0.5) and 22.61 (+0.9), respectively, with both performances ranking top-8 in the NCAA this season. On the Lady Vol all-time charts, Page rose to No. 5 in both events.

Tennessee picked up its second win of the evening in the men’s 4×100-meter relay, with Javonte’ Harding, Davonte Howell, T’Mars McCallum and Emmanuel Bynum posting a season-best time of 39.10 seconds. The group ranks UT as the 10th fastest program on the collegiate list this season.

In the men’s high jump, freshman Grant Campbell picked up his third event title of the season with a season-best clearance of 2.16 meters (7-1). His leap ranks 18th in the country and fourth among NCAA Division I freshmen for the 2024 outdoor season.

Senior sprinter Javonte’ Harding also tallied a season-best for the Vols in his 200-meter victory, stopping the clock at 20.48 seconds. His time ranks 25th on the 2024 NCAA Division I leaderboard.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay squad of Javonya Valcourt, Kyla Robinson-Hubbard, Miles and Brianna White finished off the meet with a facility record mark of 3:28.53. The indoor record-setting All-American squad turned in the No. 8 mark in the NCAA this season and vaulted up to No. 4 in Tennessee history in the event outdoors.

The 10th-ranked Lady Vols also had a group of pole vaulters compete on Saturday at the Clark Wood Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky. Junior Sarah Schmitt stole the show with a lifetime-best, school-record clearance of 4.33 meters (14-2.5) to finish as the top collegian at the meet. The Midlothian, Virginia, native ranks 13th on the collegiate list and second in the SEC this season.

UT’s distance squad closed out the App State Open Saturday morning with a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the women’s 5,000-meter. Freshman Jaci Sievers took the win in 17:23.44, followed by Lauren Rutlin (17:36.14), Summer Schuster (17:44.00) and Emma Kate Hamby (18:07.16).

PR TRACKER: Tennessee track & field athletes combined for eight outdoor, wind-legal personal bests on Saturday at the Desert Heat Classic and Clark Wood Invitational.