Senior Margot Appleton has certainly checked another goal off her bucket list for her final season. This weekend at Penn Relays, the Virginia women’s distance medley relay claimed a wheel — one of the most coveted prizes in high school and collegiate running — for their first place finish.
The team for this relay was composed of sophomore Tatum David, who ran the 1,200 meter leg, sophomore Ariel Fletcher in the 400, graduate student Annie Jackson in the 800 and, finally, Appleton in the 1,600.
Virginia was not expected to win this event. Going into it, Providence had the top seed and was the 2024 runner up, making them a strong favorite.
For most of the race, Virginia was not at the front. David, Fletcher and Jackson managed to stay within the mix, eventually moving up to the first half of the pack — a pack that included Clemson, Penn State and Providence –– and continuing to fluctuate slightly in position.
When Appleton was handed the baton from Jackson, she was far behind the four runners ahead of her. Appleton got out quickly and, by the end of her first 200 meters, she was right behind them. She got around graduate student Kileigh Kane of Penn State during the second lap and stayed glued to the pack of three runners ahead.
The bell went off for the final lap and thus began Appleton’s kick. She moved around Clemson and Georgetown with 250 meters to go and started to chase Providence’s senior Kimberley May who had pulled away from the group. Appleton tailed her until the last 100 meters where she drifted around May and then closed hard, cementing Virginia’s first place finish.
The team finished with a time of 10:42.16, bringing down the Virginia women’s DMR record by a staggering six seconds. David’s split was 3:20.66, Fletcher’s 53.60 seconds, Jackson’s 2:06.45 and Appleton’s 4:21.46.
Not only was 10:42.16 a Virginia record, but it is also the third fastest women’s DMR in collegiate history — and the first time a Cavalier cohort won the women’s DMR since 1982.
“Winning a relay at Penn is the goal of every man or woman in our sport,” Coach Vin Lananna said. “I am very proud of these four awesome athletes. This will be a lifetime memory.”
Another Virginia distance relay of graduate student Caroline Timm, freshman Stella Kermes, David and Appleton also raced the 4x1,500 the next day, but they did not have the depth of performance as the team of the DMR did and finished sixth overall in 17:38.32.
Over on the high jump, junior Celia Rifaterra continued this pattern of Virginia dominance by winning the event and claiming a gold watch –– another valued trophy specific to the Penn Relays. Her jump clocked in at 1.80. While a strong showing, it was not a personal nor season best as Rifaterra had previously jumped 1.84 earlier in the 2025 outdoor season.
On the men’s side, their distance team of junior James Donahue, senior Alex Sherman, sophomore Alex Leath and junior Gary Martin made up this relay had a more difficult weekend. Their time of 9:26 for the men’s DMR was close to the program record of 9:25.56, but the Cavaliers failed to surpass the second and third place teams.
In the men’s 4xMile meter relay, Martin had another challenging race —- this time in a downpour. The relay team finished fourth again as Martin could not kick hard enough to get around the three competitors ahead of him. Still, it was an extremely close race for the top four, all of which finished within a mere second of each other.
The Penn Relays showed the fortitude of the women’s DMR team, and their win, along with Rifaterra’s, is an impressive achievement. The men’s team did not fare as well, but they should certainly not be counted out yet.
Virginia has a few more meets for their typical season, as the postseason will pick up May 15 at the ACC Outdoor Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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