Track & Field: Virginia turns in impressive all-around performance Saturday

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out the weekend of competition at the Doc Hale VT Elite Meet (Blacksburg, Va.), Camel Invitational (Winston-Salem, N.C.), and Columbia Invitational (New York, N.Y.) on Saturday.

The Cavalier distance runners impressed in New York City. Yasin Sado (4:02.70) moved into a tie with Patrick Todd (‘12) for eighth on the all-time indoor performance list in the mile run. Nathan Mountain followed at 4:03.27. Mountain’s performance ranks second all-time amongst Virginia freshman runners.

Also in New York, Wes Porter (7:56.81) and Rohan Asfaw (7:58.14) each broke the eight-minute mark in the 3000m for the first time in their collegiate careers. The times move both runners into the top-ten on UVA’s all-time indoor performance list at the sixth and seventh places respectively.

At the Camel Invitational, Mia Barnett clocked a mile time of 4:40.45 on the flat-surfaced JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem. Though the mark does not reach a personal best for Barnett, the official conversion to a banked surface will set a new personal record.

In Blacksburg, Owayne Owens leaped to a season-best mark in the triple jump at 16.43m (53’11”). Owens surpassed his mark of 16.23m which ranked fifth in the nation entering the weekend. Following in fourth-place was Heldi Valikaj with a personal best mark (14.86m).

In the shot put at Virginia Tech, Maria Deaviz’ best throw reached a mark of 15.66m (51’4.5”) to earn her a sixth-place finish. Following in ninth-place was Kaiya Saunders whose mark of 15.12m (49’7.25”) was a personal best. The mark also ranks ninth on Virginia’s all-time indoor performance list.

Notes

• Jay Pendarvis placed sixth and recorded a personal best in the 200m (21.94)
• Jordan Willis placed eighth in the 400m (21.98)
• Claudio Romero placed third in the shot put (18.10m / 59’4.75”)
• Zoe Rice placed second in the triple jump (12.15m / 39’ 10.5”)
• Jacob Kelly recorded a personal best and placed fifth in the men’s high jump (1.98m / 6’6”)
• Alix Still placed sixth in the high jump (1.66m / 5’5.25”)
• In the 4x400m relays, the Virginia women placed fourth, while the men placed fifth

Up Next 

Virginia will travel to Clemson, S.C. and Lynchburg, Va. to compete in the Bob Pollock Invitational and the Darius Dixon Invitational both beginning on Friday, Feb. 11