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April 13, 2006
The University of Virginia Track and Field teams are set to host the Lou Onesty/Milton Abramson Invitational this week April 14 and 15 at Lannigan Track. Events start Friday afternoon at 1:30 with the hammer throw and continue all day Saturday with field events beginning at 8:00 AM and running events starting at 11:00 AM. The final event is scheduled to begin at 6:40 PM. This year’s invitational will include 75 different men’s and women’s teams and approximately 1,200 athletes. A full list of scheduled events can be found as a link in the Track and Field section.
The Virginia men’s team will be led by its strong corps of distance runners, including regional qualifiers Andy Biladeau and Jan Foerster who have both qualified for the NCAA regional meet in the 5000m run with their times of 14:06.73 and 14:09.08, respectively. Biladeau’s time ranks first in the ACC this season while Foerster is ranked third. Also competing is Ryan Foster who has provisionally qualified in the 10,000m run with a time of 29:16.79. His time places him second in the ACC. Kevin McHale is also ranked second in the ACC with his regional qualifying time of 3:47.48 in the 1500m. Yemi Ayeni is Virginia’s final regional qualifier. He has qualified in the discus with his toss of 54.19m, placing him third in the ACC. Charlottesville native Reuben Jones currently leads the team in the 100m dash and ranks in the top 10 of the ACC with his time of 10.64. Jordan Orr with his time of 1:51.01 in the 800m dash ranks third in the ACC, and Isi Azeke with his time of 14.69 in the 110m hurdles ranks in the top 10.
Indoor All-American Tomika Ferguson and her regional qualifying mark in the triple jump of 13.08m lead the Virginia women’s team this weekend. Other individual regional qualifiers include Rachel Marks in the high jump (1.75m), Erin Crawford in the 400m intermediate hurdles (58.51), Kara Scanlin in the 5000m run (16:36.38) and Billie-Jo Grant who has qualified in both the shot put and discus with marks of 14.57m and 52.72m respectively. Grant’s toss in the discus places her third in the ACC this season. Janne’a Bridgeford leads the team in both the 100m and 200m runs this season. The 4x400m relay team has also qualified for the NCAA regional with their time of 3:41.53. Ashley Gore currently ranks in the top 10 of the ACC with her time of 55.49 in the 400m dash. Distance runners Shannon Hawrylo (1,500m run), Kara Scanlin (5,000m run) and Laura Hodges (10,000m run) are also all currently rank in the top 10 of the ACC in their respective events.
Full results of this years meet will be available Saturday April 15 at approximately 7:30 PM on the website. Admission to the meet is free.