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April 5, 2007
The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams travel this weekend to Durham, N.C. to compete at the Duke Relays. The Cavaliers will send 42 student-athletes to compete in the sprints, distance, and field events.
Fourth-year Jan Foerster (Berlin, GER) makes his outdoor debut in the steeplechase, an event in which he qualified and competed in the NCAA Championships a year ago via a fourth-place finish at the NCAA East Regional meet. Foerster comes off an indoor campaign that saw him run the second fastest 3,000 meter time in program history, and earn All-ACC honors in that same event. Fourth-year Kellen Blassingame (Silver Spring, Md.) also makes his outdoor debut. The 400 meter school-record holder will compete in the 200 meters, an event in which he holds the fourth-fastest time in school history. Also competing for the men are first-year high jumpers Arthur Gennari (Housatonic, Mass.) and Aaron Klansek (Bluffton, Ind.), first-year thrower Eric Pickle (Knoxville, Tenn.), and distance runners Sam Fletcher (Auburn, Maine), Taylor Smith (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.), Trey Miller (Winston-Salem, N.C.), and Kevin Tschirhart (Northport, N.Y.).
For the women, NCAA East Regional participant Tiffany Roberts (Jamestown, N.C.) will compete in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. First-year Meghan Briggs (Palmyra, Pa.) continues her quest at breaking the school-record in the javelin throw as she will compete in that event with second-year Caitlin Kelly (Florham Park, N.J.). Also competing for the Cavaliers will be a corps of mid-distance athletes. Susan Brooks (Burke, Va.), Huma Husain (Springfield, Va.), Sara Casscells (Wilmington, Del.), Jen Hovland (Burke, Va.) and Arian Sloan (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) will all compete in the 800 meters. Casscells and Brooks will also compete in the 1500 meter run.
Next Friday and Saturday (April 13-14) the Cavaliers will host their only home meet, the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational. Action in some field events starts on Friday while the bulk of the competition will take place on Saturday (April 14) at Lanningan Field.