Virginia kicked off its indoor track and field season with a bang this weekend at the Liberty Kickoff, held Thursday and Friday, and the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener, which followed Saturday. Senior Margot Appleton and junior Gary Martin highlighted the weekend by each knocking 11 seconds off their individual and school records, while senior Brooke Lumpkin established a new facility record in shot put.
Liberty Kickoff
For the Cavaliers’ first indoor meet of the season, most of the team traveled to Lynchburg, Va., for the Liberty Kickoff. The meet, which featured over 30 competing schools, began Thursday with events in the pentathlon and the heptathlon. Sophomore Elsa Spoor finished 11th in the women’s pentathlon, while sophomore David Frasier claimed fifth in the men’s heptathlon.
In the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Maya Rollins placed second for the women, while juniors Peter Djan and Jeremiah Wilson placed third and fifth for the men. Next was the 60-meter dash, where junior Sarah Akpan won the event in 7.45 seconds.
Junior Myles Plummer nabbed second in the 1,000 meters in 2:27.73, and senior Tobias L’Esperance came in just over a second later to finish in third. On the women’s side of the 1,000 meters, senior Annie Jackson took second in 2:47.04, coming in 0.04 seconds ahead of freshman Amelia Maughan, who finished in third.
In the women’s 300-meter dash, Virginia took 18th, 19th, 24th and 26th place. The Cavaliers dominated the men’s 400-meter race, boasting the first four finishers in junior Evans White IV, senior Alex Sherman, sophomore Gage Gose and senior Max Russo, their times ranging from 47.86 to 48.94 seconds. Sophomore Ariel Fletcher took fourth, and senior Emily Alexandru took fifth for the women, with the other Virginia runners placing 11th and 13th.
Freshman James Ford placed seventh in the men’s 500-meter race in 1:06.27. In the 200-meter dash, White once again took first place in 21.52 seconds, followed by Sherman in sixth. On the women’s side, Akpan also won her second event of the day in 24.14 seconds.
Sophomore Richard Moreno placed fourth in the 3,000 meters in 8:25.18, and in the 4x400-meter relay, Virginia’s women took second and the men third.
In the highlight of the two-day event, Lumpkin broke the facility record in the shot put, tossing 53 feet, 1.75 inches. Freshman Theresa Breckley came in second with a distance of 46 feet, 4.5 inches.
In the high jump, senior Carly Tarentino won the event with a jump of 5 feet, 10.75 inches, and freshman Grace Flynn placed third, jumping 5 feet, 8.75 inches. In women’s pole vault, the Cavaliers took third and fourth, with senior Trina Barcarola and junior Samantha Romano vaulting 12 feet, 11.5 inches.
Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener
The rest of the team traveled to Boston University for the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener, which took place Saturday and featured some tough competition from across the country.
Junior James Donahue kicked things off for Virginia, placing 30th in the mile with a time of 4:09.97. In the men’s 5k, Junior Will Anthony placed 53rd with a time of 13:43.57.
Martin finished fourth in the men’s 3k race, dropping 11 seconds from his own school record with a time of 7:36.09. Senior Margot Appleton followed suit in the women’s 5k, claiming fourth in 8:46.23 and taking 11 seconds off her own school record.
These two meets indicate the beginning of a strong indoor track season for Virginia and demonstrate growing momentum, especially with the performances of Appleton and Martin. The Cavaliers will pause competition during winter break before picking back up Jan. 17 and 18 with a meet against Virginia Tech.
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