The Virginia Track and Field team will travel to Durham, N.C. to compete in the Duke Invitationals today and tomorrow. The Cavaliers will compete against 38 teams in 16 events for the men and 18 for the women.
Sprinter Kiamesha Otey in the 100-meter and 200-meter events and thrower Eleise Mitchell in the field events will lead the Cavalier women, while McGavok Dunbar, one of the best runners on the men's side, was not registered to compete in this weekends competition as of April 2. Dunbar raced to a first place finish last weekend at the Raleigh Relays in the 800-meter event.
"He's one of the best guys in the conference in the 800," coach Randy Bungard said of Dunbar.
Dunbar, a senior out of Birmingham, Alabama, turned 22 this week and should be missed by the inexperienced, young men's squad.
"Our women's team is much older and much more mature than our men's team," Bungard said. "Most of our men are learning how to train right now, so it's hard to give them kinds of goals."
One young Cavalier talent on the men's squad, David Sullivan, also will not be competing this weekend, shifting the attention onto runners Matt Antunes, Gemeyal Hazard and javelin thrower Brian Kollar. Kollar entered the season with high expectations and has worked hard to try to meet them.
"For the men our star is going to be Brian Kollar," Bungard said. "He red-shirted last year and he's back now. Brian Kollar is another one who leads by example."
The women's squad is expecting to fare better this season, and Otey figures prominently into their plans. She qualified for NCAA Indoor championships this winter as she dominated the opposition. Otey entered the spring season looking to break her personal records of 11.43 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 24.05 seconds in the 200-meter dash which she broke her first time out this season.
"Kiamesha is a good example," Bungard said. "She won the 60-meter indoor and came out and ran a personal best in the 200. The indoor season made her more hungry for the outdoor season."
Otey will compete in both the 100 and 200-meter events as well as the long jump, the event in which she finished fifth nationally last year.
Virginia also will look for help from pole-vaulter Vika Osipenko who owns the school record in that event. Osipenko also had a stellar indoor season and says she has been eager to get out and start the outdoor spring season.
"Working hard during the pre-season paid off for me during the indoor season," she said. "I'm looking to carry over everything I learned during the indoor to this spring season and hopefully to continue improving in the event."
The goal of the women's team is to finish in the top three in the conference, and with ACC championships only two weeks away the Duke Invitationals will be an important step in preparation of achieving this goal.
"The ACC Championships are sooner than most conferences," coach Bungard said. "We have only three or four meets outdoor before the ACCs."
As the Cavaliers will face three other ACC teams this weekend including powerhouse North Carolina, the Duke Invitationals could be Virginia's best gauge of how they can hope to fare in two weeks at ACC championships.
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