Virginia’s 1500m runners impress in opening day at ACC Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams opened competition at the ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Morris Williams Stadium in Durham, N.C. where the Cavaliers put on a strong showing.

On the track Virginia dominated the 1500-meters on both the men’s and women’s sides. Mia Barnett, who came into the race with the second-best time in the nation, led the way for the Cavaliers as she won her heat with a time of 4:16.51. The first-place finish not only booked Barnett a place in Saturday’s finals, but set a Morris Williams Stadium record as well. Anna Workman finished fifth in the same heat and qualified for the finals with her time of 4:23.85.

On the men’s side Ka’eo Kruse recorded the second-fastest qualifying time (3:44.58) finishing second in the final heat. Conor Murphy placed third in his heat (3:46.13) while Wes Porter won his (3:49.32) to secure qualification for Saturday’s finals. The Virginia men qualified more competitors for the 1500-meter finals than any other team.

Jada Seaman qualified for the 200m finals as she finished second in her heat with a time of 23.36. Seaman also placed sixth in the long jump to secure three points for the Hoos. Freshman Jordan Hardy also chipped in a point for the Cavaliers in the long jump with an eighth-place finish and a personal-best mark.

Battling through the elements, Rohann Asfaw persevered through a testing 10,000-meters despite a pouring down rain and difficult conditions. Showing off his ability to adapt and compete at a high-level despite outside factors, Asfaw secured a hard-earned point for his team as he clocked a time of 29:00.92

In the 400m hurdles Alex Sherman threw down a personal-best performance to claim the eighth spot in the final. His time of 52.57 is the fastest by a Cavalier this season and is just .05 seconds from cracking the top-five amongst Virginia freshmen all-time.

Graduate transfer Evangelos Fradelakis entered the ACC Championships with the eighth-best seed mark in a competitive field. After qualifying for the finals, Fradelakis delivered a personal-best effort of 64.22m (210’8”) which ranks fifth in UVA history. The mark secured fourth place for Fradelakis to earn him his first All-ACC honors.

Trina Barcarola, Maya Maloney and Gabriella Recce all tied with North Carolina’s Alex Potts for eighth place in the women’s pole vault reaching a height of 3.94m (12’11”) to earn .75 points for their team

In the women’s heptathlon Alix Still ended the day in seventh place with a total of 3,263 points. Her top performance of the day came in the opening event where the senior finished third in the 100-meter hurdles clocking a time of 13.84.

Derek Pekar also finished the decathlon in seventh place after the first five events of the competition with a total of 3,595 points. Pekar finished second in the long jump soaring to a distance of 6.91m (22’8”).

Team Standings

The Virginia men end the day tied for sixth place with six points while the women sit in ninth place with 4.75 points.

In the battle for the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash points, both the Virginia men’s and women’s teams trail the Hokies. Virginia Tech’s women sit in fifth place and the men end day one in fourth.