Despite a somewhat successful track and field season for both the Tennessee men's and women's teams, it was announced earlier this summer that associate head coach George Watts and assistant coach Norbert Elliott will not return to the track & field staff for the 2011-12 season.
"I did not reach this decision easily, but I felt it was necessary to make some changes to our coaching staff," said UT director of track & field J.J. Clark in a statement at the time of the announcement. "Our focus and expectation will continue to be about restoring the Tennessee men's track & field program to a championship level."
Watts, who coached the men's distance corps and cross country team, was the longest-tenured member of a staff that became a combined men's and women's program in 2010. Elliott just completed his seventh season in Knoxville, overseeing the Vol sprinters and hurdlers. Under his watch, the members produced 29 All-America certificates, two NCAA championships and eight SEC individual titles.
Meanwhile, both the men's and women's teams enjoyed great success, placing several of its members on the first-team All-American squads.
Members included senior Annie Alexander, who was third at the NCAA meet in the women's shot put (school record 57-11 1/4) and discus throw (188-9); redshirt sophomore Dentarius Locke, who was eighth in the men's 200 meters (20.91w); and senior Chanelle Price, who placed third in the women's 800 meters (2:03.02). The Lady Vol 4x400m relay team of senior Ellen Wortham, sophomore Kianna Ruff and juniors Martinique Octave and Nijgia Snapp also made the top team after finishing seventh in a season-best 3:32.15.
Drawing second team All-American honors were Locke in the men's 100m (13th, 10.39), Wortham in the women's 400m hurdles (ninth, 56.43) and senior Brittany Sheffey in women's 1500m (12th, 4:22.50).
Honorable mentions included UT's 20th-place 4x100m relay quartet (44.78). That foursome included Octave, senior Ashley Harris, junior Kia Jackson and senior Brittany Jones.
There will be several new faces joining the returning track team members on both sides.
Joining the men's team from the high school ranks will be jumper/sprinter Tyler Anderson of Antioch, Tenn. (Hillsboro H.S.) and thrower Carson Frost from Sonora, Calif. (Sonora Union H.S.).
Transferring from Wake Forest will be javelin thrower Luke Hadden, who spent two years there. He is a native of Berlin, Vt., and is a graduate of Union 32 High School in East Montpelier. Discus specialist Tavis Bailey has transferred to UT from Lenoir-Rhyne College, where the native of Kannapolis, N.C., and graduate of A.L. Brown High School spent one season on the football and track & field teams.
The newcomers on the men's side will join a trio of distance signees from earlier in the spring, all from the state of Michigan. That group includes Jeremy Dickie of Swartz Creek (Swartz Creek High School), Nick Kaiser of Temperance (Temperance Bedford High School) and Austin Whitelaw of Monroe (Monroe High School).
Joining the Lady Vols' squad will be Maryville High sprinter Julia Petree, middle distance runner Amirah Johnson of Greenbelt, Md. (Eleanor Roosevelt H.S.) and distance runner Lizzie Cornell of Princess Annie High School in Virginia Beach, Va.
