Virginia closes exceptional weekend with strong showing at Virginia Grand Prix

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Coming off an outstanding showing in Philadelphia at the Penn Relays just one day prior, the Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out the weekend with a number of strong showings at the Virginia Grand Prix on Sunday.

On the back of his historic performance in Philadelphia, Claudio Romero recorded his second discus win in as many days. After winning the competition at the Penn Relays while setting school, conference and meet records in the process of recording the eighth-best throw in collegiate history, Romero topped the field at the Virginia Grand Prix to remain undefeated on the season. Jacob Lemmon placed third in the event posting a mark of 56.59m (185’8”).

On the women’s side Ashley Anumba won her second discus competition of the weekend as well after her victory in Philadelphia. The Hoos placed three competitors in the event’s top-four as Thelma Kristjansdottir and Janae Profit placed second and fourth respectively.

Evangelos Fradelakis took third place in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark that reached 62.49m (205’0”) and ranks fifth on the Virginia all-time performance list. On the women’s side of the event Jada Marsh finished fourth.

The men’s 5000m featured an excellent race from Virginia’s Jack Eliason. In the early stages, Eliason found himself in the second of the two packs that had begun to form. With 1600m to go, Eliason began to make his move putting himself within touching distance of the leaders and finding himself in second place by the time he rounded the first curve of the final two laps. It was a two-horse race as Eliason trailed Syracuse’s Alex Comerford heading into the final 200m. The hometown Cavalier found a new gear down the final straightaway and blazed past Comerford to hit a personal-best time of 14:11.60.

Helena Lindsay climbed up the Virginia all-time rankings in the 3000m steeplechase. Lindsay raced to a third-place finish posting a time of 10:16.63. The mark was not only a personal best for Lindsay but moves the senior into sixth on Virginia’s all-time performance list.

In the men’s 800m Virginia’s Liam Bellamy trailed Seb Anthony of Virginia Tech after one lap around but with a well-timed move at the 600-meter mark Bellamy surged for the win and set a personal-best time of 1:50.66 in the process.

In the women’s 1500m Virginia’s Taylor Jones won the race with an outstanding final 200m that saw her finish with a time of 2:19.24 to top her previous-best time by eight seconds. It was the third time Jones has competed in a 1500m this season. The graduate transfer has recorded a personal best in each attempt.

In the women’s high jump, multi-athlete Alix Still hit a personal-best mark as she cleared 1.66m (5’5.25”) to finish second in the competition with teammate Carly Tarentino following in third. On the men’s side Jacob Kelly placed third in the event posting a mark of 2.01m (6’7”). Multi-athlete Derek Pekar recorded the same mark to surpass a personal-best and place fifth.

Heldi Valikaj finished as the top collegian in both the long jump and triple jump competitions. After winning the long jump with a personal-best mark of 7.27m (23’10.25”), the freshman went on to finish second in the triple jump behind former Cavalier Jordan Scott. Ayende Watson placed third in the long jump while Dejon Mayo took third in the triple jump.

Maria Deaviz took home a victory in the shot put as she wrapped up the win with her second throw of the series reaching a mark of 16.61m (54’6”).

The Cavaliers made up three of the top four finishers in the women’s pole vault as Trina Barcarola took first. Barcarola passed on the first four heights before clearing 4.02m (13’2.25”). Maya Maloney and Caroline Dannenbaum finished third and fourth.

Freshman sprinter Will Trent raced to a victory in the 400m dash as he clocked a personal-best time of 49.30.

FROM DIRCTOR OF TRACK & FIELD VIN LANANNA:

“I think this was a great meet for us as we head into the championship portion of the season. We accomplished what we needed to accomplish today, and we are looking forward to the ACC Championships in a couple weeks.”

Up Next:

The Cavaliers will be back at Lannigan Field to host the Virginia High-Performance Meet on Wednesday (May 4).