Virginia caps impressive weekend at Duke Invitational

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams closed competition at the Duke Invitational where the Cavaliers continued their excellent start with impressive performances across the board.

Building on their strong opening day of competition, the Cavalier women got right to work in the discus at the morning’s first event. Ashley Anumba won the competition with a throw that reached 54.14m (177’’7”) while Maria Deaviz finished third with a personal-best mark of 52.58m (172’6”) which ranks sixth in Virginia history. Thelma Kristjansdottir took fifth in the event.

Virginia continued its dominance in the discus on the men’s side. Claudio Romero won the event with his best mark of the season reaching 64.31m (211’). The mark set a Duke Invitational record while also breaking the facility record at Morris Williams Stadium. Jacob Lemmon followed Romero in second place with his mark of 56.37m (184’11).

Jada Seaman won the 200m dash for Virginia running her season-best time at 23.65 while on the men’s side Jay Pendarvis and Jordan Willis went 1-2 in their section of the event. Pendarvis led the way clocking 21.08 while Willis hit 21.10.

Owayne Owens opened his outdoor season competing in the triple jump. The senior won the event with his final jump reaching 16.14m (52’11.5”) and setting a Duke Invitational and Morris Williams Stadium record. Heldi Valikaj finished fourth.

In the women’s 800m Alahna Sabbakhan led the way for the Cavaliers in third place posting an outdoor-best time of 2:05.97 which ranks sixth in Virginia history. Mia Barnett followed in fourth place with a time of 2:06.11 which ranks eighth in Virginia history and tops a UVA freshman record held by Keara Seasholtz by just a hundredth of a second. Sydney Coppolino placed second in her heat with a personal best time.

In his first appearance of the season, Ethan Dabbs took third in the javelin with his throw of 71.62m (235’).

Other Highlights

• Rebecca Hawkins placed second in the high jump reaching a height of 1.74m (5’8.5”)
• Alex Sherman (53.47) and Anzhelika Parenchuk (1:01.56) each topped their heats in the 400m hurdles
• Zoe Rice placed fourth in the triple jump
• Pendarvis won his 400m heat with a personal-best time of 47.40
• Seaman placed fourth in the 100m dash

FROM DIRECTOR OF TRACK & FIELD VIN LANANNA

“This was a great way to finish off what was an excellent weekend for our team overall. We started very well on Friday and saw a number of great performances today as well. This weekend has been an important opportunity for us to continue to build momentum, and our team did a great job of that.”

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will return home to Lannigan Field to host the Virginia Challenge on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23.