Cavalier Men in First After One Day, Women in Second

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April 21, 2001

Brian Kollar defended his ACC title in the javelin and in the process led a 1-2-3 sweep for the Cavaliers as John Welch took runner-up honors and James Murdock took home the bronze. Their teammate Inge Jorgensen also defended her title in the javelin, throwing a season-best 51.10m (167′ 8″). Dana Coons was also an ACC Champion today, taking the honors in the 10000-meter run in an NCAA Provisional time of 34:45.15.

The Cavalier weight events were extremely successful as Eliese Mitchell took second in the hammer (54.48m) and fourth in the discus (47.04m). Mitchell led a 4-5-7 run in the discus as the Cavaliers were the only school to have three scorers in the event. Hillary Wilson was also a double-scorer as she took fifth in the discus and seventh in the hammer.

Dawn Cleary and Jane Maxwell just missed earning All-ACC honors as they finished fourth in the 3000 Steeplechase and the 10000-meter run respectively. Cleary ran a 10:50.10 while Maxwell ran 35:57.17. In the 1500m prelims, Megan Schwartz was the top qualifier, running a 4:31.28.

On the men’s side the Cavaliers had a trio of runners-up as Bobby Thiele just missed the gold in the 10K, coming in at 30:57.55, less than three seconds behind the winner, and Tim Bilmanis was just more than a meter behind the winner in the men’s discus with a toss of 52.58m (172′ 6″). Matt Ruhl led the Cavaliers in a 2-4-5 run in the 3000-meter Steeplechase as Sam Jackson took fourth and Tom Ellis was fifth.

The Cavaliers have a 6.5 lead over Florida State on the men’s side and have 12 qualifiers for the finals on Saturday, including three in the 800-meter run and two in the 1500-meter run. The women stand just 17 points behind UNC and are eight points in front of defending champion Florida State.