Indoor Track: UVA men in first; women in second at ACC Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams began competition at the ACC Indoor Championships on Thursday in Boston.

The men’s distance medley relay (DMR) won gold and Jacob Lemmon won silver, while the women saw a pair of silver medals for Celia Rifaterra and the program record-breaking DMR and a bronze medal for Jenny Schilling.

The men are in first and the women are in second in the team standings after day one.

The quartet of James Donahue, Jayden Lyons, Shane Cohen and Wes Porter bested the competition in the DMR crossing the line in 9:33.46. Despite tailing Notre Dame for the first two legs of the race, the Cavaliers stayed poised and executed through the line.

On the women’s side, Margot Appleton, Alahna Sabbahkan, Maggie Hock and Anna Workman broke their own school record clocking 10:50.58 to finish second. The foursome bested their previous record (10:52.22) by nearly two seconds.

In the field, Jacob Lemmon threw 21.57m (70-9.25) in the weight throw to earn the bronze medal. Throughout the competition, Lemmon continue to better his mark and ultimately launched one out to the 21.57m mark on his fifth throw.

Right behind Lemmon was John Fay in fourth place. On his first throw of the competition, Fay threw what would be his furthest mark of 21.19m (69-6.25). Lemmon and Fay combined to scored 11 total points, the most out of any single event group for Virginia.

The 5000m proved to be a strong event for the Cavaliers as Jenny Schilling ran a strong race to earn the bronze medal in 16:02.57. Schilling ran a new personal-best and the second fastest indoor 5000m just behind Margaret Gross’ time of 15:34.71 from 1981.

On the men’s side, Will Anthony finished fifth in 13:52.07. Anthony’s time ranks fifth all-time indoors in program history. The event also saw a pair of season-best performances by Camryn Menninger (16:36.56) and Jacob Hunter (14:09.96) in section one.

In the women’s high jump, Celia Rifaterra cleared 1.83m (6’0”) to finish second overall. Rifaterra and Georgia Tech’s Shanty Papakosta were the only two athletes in the field to clear 1.83m. Not far behind was fellow jumper, Carly Tarentino clearing 1.72m (5’7.75”) to tie for six place.

Justin Rogers picked up important for Virginia in the men’s pole vault after clearing 5.07m (16’ 7.5”) to finish sixth.

HEPTATHLON UPDATE

Ethan Robinson began his day winning his heat of the 60-meter dash posting a new personal-best time of 6.98 seconds finishing third overall. Henry Sullivan finished second in the heat just behind Robinson clocking 7.34 for a new personal-best.

After posting 6.96 meters (22’10”) in the long jump, Robinson sat in fourth place with a total of 1,693 points after the first two events. The duo went on to improve their marks in the shot put as Sullivan threw for a new personal-best (12.80m) and Robinson a seasons-best (12.04m).

Robinson ended the day in the high jump clearing 1.94 meters (6’ 6.25”) to position himself in seventh place with 3051 points at the end of the first day. The remaining three events that will be contested tomorrow (Feb. 23) include the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1,000 meters.

FROM DIRECTOR OF TRACK & FIELD VIN LANANNA

“It was a good start for both men and women. Both men and women had impressive DMR’s with the men winning and women coming in second, breaking the school record. We had great performances in the field events from Jacob Lemmon and John Fay in the weight throw and Celia Rifaterra in the high jump. Jenny Schilling also ran a strong race in the 5000m. It was a great momentum builder as we head into day two.”

TEAM STANDINGS

Women
(5 of 17 events completed)
Notre Dame, 49
Virginia, 23.5
Duke, 20
NC State, 17
Pitt, 15
Virginia Tech, 15
Georgia Tech, 13.5
Miami, 12
Clemson, 9.5
Boston College, 6
Wake Forest, 5
North Carolina, 4.5
Louisville, 3
Syracuse, 2
Florida State, 0

Men
(4 of 17 events completed)
Virginia, 28
North Carolina, 27
Notre Dame, 25
Virginia Tech, 19
Duke, 16
Louisville, 15
Clemson, 8
Florida State, 5
NC State, 5
Wake Forest, 4
Syracuse, 3
Boston College,
Georgia Tech, 0
Miami, 0
Pittsburgh, 0

UP NEXT

The ACC Indoor Championships will resume Friday beginning with the women’s heptathlon 60-meter hurdles at 11 a.m. and men’s pentathlon 60m dash at 11:20 a.m.