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Cavaliers to compete at ACC Outdoor Championships
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April 21, 2005
The men and women teams will travel to Tallahassee this weekend to compete in the ACC Outdoor Championships. The Cavaliers feature four men who have qualified for regionals and five women who have also qualified for the meet. Billie Jo Grant is the only Virginia athlete who has qualified in two events (discus and shot put) while of the nine, Kellen Blassingame and David Sullivan have both set school records in their respective events.
The Virginia men’s track and field team is led by a quartet of student-athletes who have all qualified for the NCAA East Regional meet: McGavock Dunbar, Kellen Blassingame, Isi Azeke, and David Sullivan. Dunbar, in his first appearance this outdoor season, qualified for the NCAA Regional Meet in the 800m in last weekend’s Lou Onesty/Milton Abramson Meet. He is second in the 800m standings for the ACC this season. This weekend, he will compete in the same event and is expected to score for the team. Kellen Blassingame, the UVA school record holder, will run the 400m and 200m dash this weekend for the Cavaliers. Blassingame leads the ACC this season in the 400m by over a second. Isi Azeke will compete in the 110m hurdles, the event in which he has qualified for NCAA Regionals, as well as compete in the long jump. Walton Kingsbery barely missed qualifying for NCAA Regionals in the 3000m steeplechase at last weekend’s meet, but will look to qualify this weekend as he will run the 3000m steeplechase and the 5000m run. He is currently third in the ACC rankings in the steeplechase. Other key performers include Will Christian, who will run the 10K in his first 2005 outdoor appearance. Joining Christian in the 10K will be Dave Vitto. Running the 5000m and the 10K are Andrew Dumm, Jeff Eggleston, Andrew Filachek, and Ryan Foster. The steeplechase will feature Kingsbery, along with Soeren Lindner, Ryan Neuhart, and Kevin McHale. Lindner, who had one of the top steeple times in the nation last year, will also run the 5000m and McHale will also run the 1500m with Alex Tatu, who leads the Cavaliers in the 1500m. Tatu will also run the 800m with Dunbar, Zach Davis, Jordan Orr, and Michael Hagos. David Sullivan, the school record holder in the pole vault and NCAA Regional Qualifier, will compete in both the pole vault and the high jump. Currently, he is second among the ACC in pole vault. Greg Blair will also compete in the pole vault with David Lewis. Reuben Jones and Kevin Carson will compete in both the 100m and 200m dash. Devin Canaday will run both the 110 high hurdles and the 400 intermediate hurdles. Trumaine Pendleton, who leads the Cavaliers in both the triple and long jump, will compete in both of those events. Robert Assibey will join Azeke and Pendleton in the long jump. Thomas Codevilla will compete in the decathlon while Walker Anderson will compete in the hammer throw.
The women’s team has a number of student-athletes who will figure prominently in the meet, including Inge Jorgensen, who is the heavy favorite in the javelin. She leads the ACC in the javelin by over 35 feet. She will be joined by Anne Bobiak, a former ACC Champion, and Sarah Convery. Billie Jo Grant will also be in the title hunt in the shot put and the discus after winning both events last weekend. She currently ranks first in the ACC in the discus and fourth in the shot. Erin Crawford, who already ranks third in Virginia history in the 400IH, won gold last weekend in that event. She currently ranks third in the ACC this season. She will be joined in the 400 intermediate hurdles by Janine Holman, Keisha Ashe, and Jackie Bailey, all of whom will also run the 100 high hurdles. Briana Smith will also run the 100 high hurdles, as well as compete in the long jump. The long jump will feature Smith, Kathryn Tershel, Rachel Marks, and Tomika Ferguson. Ferguson became the first Virginia athlete over 13 meters in the triple jump with her performance last weekend, and she will be joined in that event by Tershel. Marks will also compete in her best event, the high jump, along with Meggie Schuelke. Ferguson will also compete in the 100m along with Virginia leader Janne’a Bridgeford and Tosin Oluwole. The 200m dash will also feature Bridgeford and Oluwole, while Ashley Gore and Tiffany Roberts will run the 400m dash. Kathryn Pettine, the school record holder in pole vault, will seek gold in the pole vault. On the distance side, Shannon Hawrylo will run the 800m and 1500m run. Last weekend, Hawrylo ran a personal best in the 800m to qualify for NCAA Regionals. She will be joined in the 8 at ACCs by Sara Ensrud. Suzanne Ginnow will run the 1500m after clocking a personal best last weekend. Janine Ricci, Cheryl Carr, Emily Harrison, and Laura Hodges will all run the 5000m this weekend. In addition, Ricci will compete in the 3000m steeplechase, and Carr and Hodges will run the 10K. Ricci has one of the top times in the ACC in the steeplechase and will look to grab one the gold in the event.