The Virginia men's and women's track teams will host the only home track meet of the season Saturday, the Lou Onesty/Milton Abramson Invitational.
"It's cool to have a home meet," high-jumper and hurdler Rachel Marks said. "Every day you're at the track and you see it the way it is, and then you see the track all dressed up for the meet."
Virginia head coach Randy Bungard expects competition to match up well with the "dressed up" Lannigan Track. Bungard estimates that about 50 collegiate teams, track clubs and unattached runners will compete in Saturday's meet.
Bungard said he will use the meet as a barometer for how well the team is performing early in the outdoor season.
"I think this meet, because it's always a week before the conference championships, is used as a see-where-we-are meet," Bungard said. "The outdoor season is still really early, and our conference meet is one of the earliest in the country. So we are trying to see where we are coming off of the indoor season."
The Cavaliers have enjoyed success from members of both the men's and women's teams so far. Freshman Erin Crawford began the season-- and her career -- on the right foot when she won the 400-meter hurdles at the 49er Invitational March 20. Crawford won with a time of 60.19 seconds, the seventh fastest time recorded in the event by a Cavalier. Sharon O'Conner also won the 1,500 with a time of 4 minutes, 30.13 seconds, and Cheryl Carr won the 3,000 with a time of 10 minutes, 7.04 seconds.
At the Duke Relays April 3, Virginia got a pair of strong performances from Kellen Blassingame. The sophomore sprinter from Silver Spring, Md., finished third in both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes with times of 21.87 and 46.76 seconds, respectively. Blassingame's time of 46.76 broke the 25-year-old school record of 46.94 held by Jim Bruce.
The Cavaliers also performed well in the field events. In the high jump, Marks and fellow high-jumper Meggie Schuelke finished second and third, respectively, after they both cleared a season-best 5' 9.25".
"I usually go into things blindly and try to up my own [personal record]," Marks said. "But Schuelke and I are at a pretty good standing right now [compared to the competition]."
David Sullivan won the pole vault with a personal best of 16' 8.75", a height which qualifies Sullivan for the NCAA East Regional Meet. Former ACC champion and All-American Inge Jorgensen also qualified for the East Regional Meet with her win in the javelin throw. Jorgensen's throw of 163'4" shattered the competition as she beat her nearest competitor by 10 feet.
So far, Bungard likes the way the season is coming together for the Cavaliers.
"I think [the season so far] pretty much mirrors the makeup of our team," Bungard said. "We have a lot of good individuals on the team, and I think we are more of an outdoor team than an indoor team."
The Cavaliers will start a critical part of the season this weekend.
"The next three weeks are going to be tough," Bungard said.
This weekend's meet is followed by the ACC championships next weekend and the Penn Relays in two weeks. The main concern for the Cavaliers right now, however, is this weekend's meet.
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