Yemi Ayeni Smashes School Record, Sailing Past 60m

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April 6, 2007

Virginia’s Yemi Ayeni, who has flirted with a 60-meter toss in the discus over the last couple of weeks, achieved that goal with a throw of 60.44m (198′ 03″) at the Texas Relays. He easily re-set the school record, tossing over seven feet past his previous best mark of 190′ 11″ set at the Wake Forest Open two weeks ago. He continues to rank in the top-10 nationally following a fifth-place finish today. This is the second time in three meets that Ayeni has set the school record.

Virginia All-American Billie-Jo Grant opened up her outdoor season with a toss of 53.15m (174′ 4″) at the Texas Relays, qualifying easily for the NCAA Regional meet. Her throw puts her in the top-10 nationally through performances through last week and her third-place finish from today. Grant earned All-American honors in the discus for the second consecutive year in 2006 and won the ACC Championship in the event.

“Yemi is throwing very consistently right now,” said Virginia head coach Randy Bungard. “Going from California to Virginia back to Texas in a week and being able to throw competitively twice within that time frame shows that Yemi is in a good technical groove. Two school records in his first 3 meets also shows his consistency. He threw over 59 meters three times today. That type of consistency tells me he has even bigger throws around the corner. I am very excited for Yemi right now.”

All-American Tomika Ferguson took ninth in the long jump, leaping 19′ 2.75″. All-American Erin Crawford will run in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday. She is the school record holder, following her fifth-place finish at NCAAs in 2006.