Cavaliers to Compete at NCAA East Regional In Track & Field

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May 26, 2004

The University of Virginia track and field team is sending fourteen student-athletes to compete in the NCAA East Regional meet, which will be held in Gainesville, Fla. on the campus of the University of Florida. This meet is the next step in qualifying for the NCAA National Championships, which will take place in Austin, Texas, June 9-12. Leading the way for the Cavaliers is All-American and ACC Champion Inge Jorgensen, who ranks fourth among all collegians in the javelin with her personal-best 177′ 10″, which she set earlier this year. The top-ranked performer for the men is school recod holder Kellen Blassingame, who sits at #5 in the East meet in the 400 with his 46.18.

Jorgensen earned All-American honors in the javelin in 2001 with her fourth-place finish at the NCAA meet. She won her third ACC title this season in her third season of competition, coming back after two years out due to injury. Jorgensen will be joined by fellow javelin thrower Annie Bobiak, the 2003 ACC javelin champion, who ranks fourth all-time in Virginia history. Teammate Meggie Schuelke also earned All-ACC honors this year with her second place finish in the high jump, and she and Rachel Marks will both compete for Virginia after clearing 5′ 9.25″ this year.

The Cavaliers will have an athlete compete in both horizontal jumps as Tomika Fergasun will compete in the triple jump and fourth-year Caroline Harvey will jump in the long jump. Harvey will also compete in the 100m dash and is the only Cavalier who is declared in two events. Erin Crawford, who already ranks third all-time in Virginia history in the 400 hurdles, will run that event at the regional meet, where she enters as the tenth-ranked performer in the competition. A pair of distance runners will also race for the Cavaliers as 2002 NCAA participant Melanie Matthews will run in the steeplechase while Sharon O’Connor will compete in the 1500m run.

Blassingame will be joined in the 400m run by teammate Jason Young, whose 47.07 makes him the #4 performer all-time at Virginia in the one-lapper. McGavock Dunbar, who was runner-up in the 800m run in both indoors and outdoors, will compete in that event after running a personal-best 1:49.72 this year, which moves him into #9 on the all-time perfomers list at Virginia. Teammate Alex Tatu will run in the 1500m following his blistering 3:46.63, which ranks him at #8 all-time at Virginia as a freshman. School record holder David Sullivan, who took second at the ACC Outdoor meet with his 17′ .75″, will pole vault at the meet and comes in ranked ninth in the East.