The Virginia track and field teams competed in the ACC Outdoor Championships this weekend in Clemson, S.C. Both squads failed to perform as well as last year, as the men finished in third place behind Florida State and Virginia Tech after taking home a portion of the title last spring, and the women dropped from fourth to eighth, far behind the champion Clemson.
Nevertheless, several Cavaliers managed impressive individual showings, with 15 overall earning all-conference honors, while several others notched personal bests. Sophomore runners Lance Roller and Sintayehu Taye captured the 800-meter and 1500m titles, respectively, and senior thrower Meghan Briggs became the second javelin thrower in ACC history to win three straight titles with a season-best 171 feet, 10 inches.
On the men's side of the javelin competition, sophomore thrower Andrew Fahringer turned in his best-ever performance with a throw of 222 feet, 9 inches, finishing second.
On the track, redshirt junior Ryan Collins lost a heated battle in the 10,000m run by less than three seconds to take second place with a time of 29:35.10. Senior Trey Miller finished right behind him at 29:40.71, claiming his first All-ACC honors.
Friday, senior runner Steve Finley finished runner-up in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:56.11, a mere one-tenth of a second too slow. Freshman thrower Emily Vannoy also took second in the shot put, setting a personal record of 51' 2.5".
Saturday began with a the 1500m final, during which Taye outran the competition to win his first individual ACC title in 3 minutes, 59.96 seconds. Senior teammate Alex Bowman settled for third with a time of 4:00.19.
The 800m finish turned into a one-on-one battle between All-American Cavalier teammates. In the end, Roller edged freshman and NCAA indoor champion Robby Andrews for the crown with a time of 1:50.79. Andrews finished second in 1:50.92.
Also during the final day, junior Adams Abdulrazaaq finished second in the 110m hurdles (13.85), breaking Virginia's 26-year-old school record in the event, and senior Steve Delice was runner-up in the 400m hurdles (50.94). Junior Marcus Robinson set yet another personal-best leap in the triple jump of 52' 5.5", good for third place at the meet and second place on Virginia's all-time list. Finally, Collins added another All-ACC performance to his weekend, finishing third in the 5000m run (14:28.44).
The last all-conference finish came from the men's 4-by-400m relay team of sophomore Kevin Anding, Roller, Andrews and Abdulzaraaq, which finished third at 3:09.5, a mere two seconds off of the school record.
The squads next will head to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa. from April 22-24.
-compiled by Aaron Bernstein
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