This past week, at the 2013 Armory Collegiate Invitational in New York City, red shirt freshman Austin Whitelaw covered the 5,000-meter (3.1 miles) race with a time of 14:18.11, placing third at the invitational in front of an estimated crowd of twenty-seven. The time broke former 1988 UT track star and Olympian Todd Williams' time of 14:24.29 and the attendance broke the previous record of 17 (set in 1993).
“I am so proud of my son! It’s too bad that none of his friends were up here to see this… not even that girlfriend of his came up,” Stated Austin’s Mother. “I think his dad and I are going to take him out to O’Charley’s to celebrate…it’s his favorite.”
The University of Tennessee’s Track and Field team is currently the best that they have been in years; sweeping the floor with the rest of the SEC in this recent meet. Having been successful on the track, the team is also starting to have some success in attendance.
“As far as I can tell, the entire front row of the stadium was filled,” said Assistant Coach Rohsaan Griffin. “I was really happy to see my parents show up to watch me coach and cheer the kids on. Maybe next time some of my extended family could come and kind of help bolster the team’s spirit… It’s hard for them to come to these meets and miss out on the keggers that their friends are throwing.”
In the same meet, Freshman pole-vaulter Jake Blankenship won the championship division of the men's pole vault with a jump of 18 feet, ½ inch. While he cleared the bar, he failed to clear his own disillusionment.
“When I closed my eyes, I could almost hear the cheers of my adoring fans. Then I landed and realized that it was just John’s parents.”
By: Snake Plitzkin
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