Owens wins triple jump, UVA women have best finish since 1995 at ACC Indoors

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Owayne Owens’ triple jump victory and the overall finish of the Cavalier women’s program highlighted the final day of competition for Virginia at the 2021 ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The UVA women finished third to record their best result at the ACC event in 26 years. The Cavalier men were seventh.

Owens, a sophomore from Montego Bay, Jamaica, brought home UVA’s fourth triple jump title in the past five years. The silver medalist last season, he used a leap of 16.48 meters (54’-1”) to claim this year’s championship and earn All-ACC honors. After fouling on his first attempt, Owens improved on each of his next three jumps to take the lead. Going last in the finals, and with the title already in hand, he posted his best result on his sixth and final run down the ramp.

The UVA women’s finish was the program’s best ACC showing since the 1995 team placed third. A total of nine Cavalier individuals and one relay team earned All-ACC honors during the meet, the most ever for the program since the championship started in 1987.

Headlining Saturday’s results for the UVA women were a pair of bronze medal finishes. Senior Halle Hazzard (Commack, N.Y.) placed third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.28. Freshman Kayla Bonnick (St. Catherine, Jamaica) was sixth in the same event with a personal best time of 7.47.

Sophomore Jada Seaman (Pikesville, Md.), who won the ACC long jump title on Friday, was third in the 200 meters with a time of 23.60. Hazzard was fifth at 23.66 and Bonnick placed eighth at 24.44.

Senior Khyasia Caldwell (Pocono Summit, Pa.), the runner up in the long jump, used a personal best effort of 13.05m (42’-9.75) on her final jump to place fourth in the triple jump. Her finish ranks her third on UVA’s all-time performance list.

Junior Zoe Rice (Ashburn, Va.) picked up points for UVA in the event with a seventh-place showing of 12.46 meters (40’-10.5”). Graduate student Andrenette Knight (Morant Bay, Jamaica) ran a season-best 54.56 to earn second-team All-ACC honors in the 400 meters.

Senior Jordan Willis (Williamsburg, Va.) earned first-team All-ACC honors as an indoor competitor for the first time thanks to a third-place finish in the 400 meters. Willis ran a season-best time of 46.64. Classmate Brandon Outlaw (Moorestown, N.J.) was right behind him in fourth place at 46.69.

The Cavaliers had a couple of all-conference performances in the shot put. Senior Brittany Jones (Bloomfield, Conn.) had a season-best mark of 15.88m (52’-1.25”) on her last attempt to move up to fifth place. On the men’s side, Claudio Romero (Santiago, Chile) was the top freshman finisher, placing sixth with a top put of 18.02 (59’-9”). Their finishes earned them second-team All-ACC honors.

In the final race of the day, the UVA women’s 4×400 relay squad of Anzhelika Parenchuk, Seaman, Alahna Sabbakhan and Knight, used a strong showing to cement the team’s third-place finish. The Cavaliers, running together for the first time, posted a finish of 3:40.79 to place fourth overall and then moved up to third place following a disqualification. Their time ranks No. 5 on UVA’s all-time performance list.

The Cavalier men’s relay team of Nigal Davis, Willis, Jay Pendarvis and Outlaw also posted a season-best time of 3:12.79 that ranks No. 4 on UVA’s all-time list. They were sixth in their race.