This weekend provided a tale of two home meets for Virginia’s track and field teams. Friday evening, both teams competed against Columbia, Maryland and Pennsylvania at the UVA Quad. On the following day, the Cavaliers hosted the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational.
Both the No. 3 men’s team and the women’s team dominated the UVA Quad, handily sweeping the other three teams in dual-meet scoring. On the men’s side, the Cavaliers won seven events.
One of these victories came by junior Henry Wynne, whose winning time of 13:49.35 in the 5,000 meters marks the sixth-best time in the nation this season. Additionally, three freshmen — Hilmar Jonsson, Oghenakpobo Efekoro and Charles Bowman — also won events.
Meanwhile, the Cavalier women won eight events Friday on their way to winning the meet. Both sophomore Bridget Guy and junior Christine Bohan — who won the pole vault and the shot put, respectively — broke school records.
These performances have made Virginia coach Bryan Fetzer optimistic about the future of this season.
“Everybody is starting to click,” Fetzer said. “We had some great positions. It’s all building to the championship time.”
The success didn’t stop on Friday for the Cavaliers. The following day at the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational, the men won a total of three events while the women won five.
One of these event winners for the women was junior Andrea Wright, who finished with a time of 24.21 to win the 200 meters. For Wright, performing at home at Lannigan Field was helpful, she said.
“It feels great,” Wright said. “We practice here everyday, so it feels pretty normal.”
Sophomore James Williams, who finished third in the men’s discus with a personal best of 52.04 meters, echoed this sentiment.
“It’s always good throwing at home,” Williams said. “You feel good in your home circle, and you got friends and family watching.”
The weather provided an obstacle for the Cavaliers Saturday. With extremely blustery winds and low temperatures, Fetzer said the conditions were the second worst he has ever seen for a meet in his coaching career. However, the weather did not shake the team.
“My college coach said, ‘Be oblivious to other external distractions,’” Fetzer said. “No matter what’s going on around us, our team is able to focus on what we’re trying to accomplish. You can’t let what you can’t control dictate your performance.”
Notable for Virginia this weekend was how many Cavaliers contributed to the results. While both teams have consistent stars — like Wynne and junior thrower Filip Mihaljevic for the men and Bohan and senior sprinter Peyton Chaney for the women — several members for both teams were crucial to the successes of the teams this weekend.
“We’re always supporting each other, from preseason to now,” Wright said. “We’re always there for each other.”
According to Williams, these meets show that the team has grown and will continue to do so this season.
“As our team, we’re progressively getting better as the season goes on,” Williams said.
For Fetzer, he sees these results as a sign that his athletes are bouncing off one another to push themselves.
“Everybody breathes success, and it feeds off of each other,” Fetzer said. “When one person is getting better, it causes the other ones to step up.”
This upcoming week will provide Virginia time to rest. The following week, the Cavaliers will return to Lannigan Field to compete in the Virginia Challenge — one of the most competitive regular-season meets of the year.
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