This past weekend, the Virginia track and field team traveled to the Collegiate Invitational in New York to compete against some of the best teams in the country, including Louisiana State, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Baylor.
The men's team placed seventh out of the approximately 100 teams at the meet. Senior David Sullivan helped lead the men to success by placing first in the pole vault competition with a winning score of 17-00.75. His performance also provisionally qualifies him for the NCAA Championship meet in March.
"I have started a new, longer approach for this year," Sullivan said. "I am just now getting my rhythm back and am definitely looking to jump some higher bars than this past weekend to help secure my spot" at the NCAA Championship.
To be invited to the NCAA meet, an athlete must reach an automatic qualifying score or a provisional qualifying score during the season. An automatic score guarantees a spot at the championships. If a provisional mark is hit, the athlete is placed on the provisional list. This list is then used to fill in spots not claimed by the automatic qualifiers, with the highest provisional scores being invited first.
Also contributing to the men's overall seventh-place finish was their Distance Medley Relay team. Freshman Andrew Jesien, senior Kellen Blassingame, junior Alex Tatu, and senior Kevin McHale placed third with a time of 9:45.11.
"The time that we ran in the DMR in New York was one of the best times we ever ran," Blassingame said. "But we can definitely run faster. Right now we are ranked number-one in the conference in the DMR and hopefully that will carry over into a win in the ACC Championships."
Head coach Randy Bungard indicated that events such as the DMR are where he believes the men's team will succeed the most this season.
"Probably the strength of our men's team is going to be distance and middle distance," Bungard said. "In terms of numbers, it is the 800M and up group that will score the bulk of our points."
On the women's team, sophomore Emily Harrison also provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships while in New York. Facing stiff competition in the event from runners from Duke, North Carolina and Arkansas, she managed to place seventh overall in the 5000M with a time of 16:43.
Senior Ashley Gore ran the 500M over the weekend, placing second. Interestingly, the 500M is not an NCAA event and is not run at the championship meet in March.
"Running the 500M is a good way to train for the 400M," Gore said. "Because it is longer than the 400M it helps build up one's speed endurance. Also, it is still early in the season and Randy believes it is good to run a lot of races."
Gore is Virginia's top 400M runner and is ranked in the top eight conference-wide.
Virginia's success at the Collegiate Invitational is heartening for both the team and the coaches, who have their sights set on the ACC Championship meet.
"Throughout the year we go to these invitationals where the competition is either better or equal to what we will see at that meet," Bungard said. "All season we are working on increasing our performance and getting ready for the championships. We are a much better indoor [track and field] team this year than last -- deeper, more experienced and more competition-savvy."
Read More
With last-second three-pointer, SMU silences men’s basketball
By Michael Liebermann and Thomas Baxter | 9 hours agoThe late shot crushed a bouncing arena.
With dominance and high hopes, women’s tennis opens the spring season
By Gracie Genereux | 10 hours agoA commanding opening victory set the stage for the season to come.
No. 6 women’s squash falls to No. 5 Stanford in first match of the new year
By Peter Kratz | YesterdayThe Cavaliers fall to 0-1 in conference play after their first clash with the Cardinal.
