Romero topples discus record at Penn Relays

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia’s men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out the Penn Relays with a day of competition that saw four school records fall. Claudio Romero highlighted the performance with a discus throw that set a meet record at the historic competition and leads the NCAA.

With his second throw in the discus competition, Romero surpassed his own Virginia and ACC records before he took down the Penn Relays record with his final throw reaching 67.02m (219’10”). Romero leads the NCAA in the event.

On the women’s side of the event, Ashley Anumba took down a record of her own. For the second-consecutive outing and third time this season, Anumba set a Virginia record in the discus throw. This time her throw reached a distance of 57.53m (188’9”).

The men’s 4xMile relay came down to the wire as Ka’eo Kruse, Nathan Mountain, Yasin Sado and Wes Porter battled in a physical race. With no team able to establish any sort of advantage early on, it all came down to the anchor leg where Porter made his move in the final 150-meters. Sitting in fifth place coming around the final curve, Porter found another gear and pulled off a second-place finish for the Hoos securing a school-record time of 16:17.89.

In the 4x800m relay the Virginia women finished fifth as Keara Seasholtz, Mia Barnett, Sydney Coppolino and Alahna Sabbakhan combined for a school-record time of 8:31.00. On the men’s side Liam Bellamy, Conor Murphy, Yasin Sado and Ethan Zeh finished third with a time of 7:18.78.

Owayne Owens won the men’s triple jump with an outdoor-best mark of 16.61m (54’6”). The mark currently leads the ACC and ranks second in the NCAA. The performance also moves Owens into second on the UVA all-time list.

Up Next: Virginia will return home to host the Virginia Grand Prix tomorrow (May 1) at Lannigan Field beginning at 11 a.m.