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April 12, 2007
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The men’s and women’s track and field teams will host the 2007 Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational this Friday and Saturday, April 13-14, at Lannigan Field. The meet marks the only home competition for the Cavaliers; however, it attracts over 20 collegiate teams, a host of track clubs, and almost 900 athletes. With the ACC Championships due to take place next week (April 19-21), both Virginia teams will look to set personal best marks and gain momentum for next weekend’s competition while at the same time qualifying for May’s NCAA regional meet. Nine Virginia athletes have already hit regional qualifying marks, and a pair of Cavaliers have hit NCAA provisional marks; many more are on the verge of qualifying and could hit those standards this weekend at home.
A number of student-athletes will compete in more than one event over the two-day affair. The hammer throw, which is the only event that will be contested on Friday, will feature Virginia’s Amy Bilmanis (Hughesville, Md.) and Alexa Manning (Coram. N.Y.). Bilmanis already has the fifth-best throw in school history; she will also compete in the discus while Manning will throw the shot in addition to the hammer on Friday.
Manning and Bilmanis will be joined in the women’s throws competition by third-year All-American Billie-Jo Grant (Arroyo Grande, Calif.), who has already qualified for the NCAA East Regional meet in both the discus and shot put. First-year Megan Briggs, who has also already qualified for regionals in the javelin, will continue her assault on the all-time javelin list when she competes in that event on Saturday along with second-year Caitlin Kelly (Florham Park, N.J.). On the men’s side, new school-record holder Yemi Ayeni (Kendall Park, N.J.) will look to continue his hot streak in the discus. Twice in three meets Ayeni has set the school record in the discus, flirting with 200 feet with a number of throws over 190′. He has one of the top-10 marks nationally in the discus and currently leads the ACC by a wide margin with his 198′ 3″.
All-American Erin Crawford (Hillsborough, N.J.), a fourth-year hurdler, has also qualified for the regional meet in the intermediate hurdles, as she took third at the Texas Relays in 58.40 seconds and will be racing in that same event this Saturday. Crawford will be joined in the intermediates by first-year Ayla Smith (Winchester, Va.), who competed with her at Texas Relays, third-year Keshia Ashe (Hampton, Va.) and first-years Hilary Moen (Rockville, Md.) and Rosemary Forsyth (St. Louis, Mo.) . Ashe, Forsyth, Moen and Smith will also compete in the short hurdles.
Fellow All-American Tomika Ferguson will anchor the Cavalier sprinters as well as compete in the horizontal jumps; the school record holder in the triple jump, who has already qualified for regional in the triple, will look to add a berth in the long jump as well as fellow 2006 qualifier Katie Tershel (Canonsburg, Pa.). Talia Wise (Newport News, Va.) and Tiffany Roberts (Jamestown, N.C.), who also qualified for regional in the sprints in 2006, will compete this weekend along with current 100 and 200 leader Janne’a Bridgeford (Upper Darby, Pa.)
On the men’s side, local prepster Reuben Jones (Charlottesville, Va.) , who leads Virginia in the 100 and 200, will compete in front of his hometown crowd. He will be joined by school record holder Kellen Blassingame (Silver Spring, Md.) and All-American Brian Lee (Richmond, Va.) as both men look to return to the NCAA meet.
Fifth-year All-American Kevin McHale (Fairfax, Va.) will look to qualify for the NCAA Regional meet in the 1500 meters at 12:15 pm on Saturday. Joining McHale will be fellow ACC Champions Andy Biladeau (Lutz, Fla.) and Ryan Foster (Stephens City, Va.) as well as Andrew Jesien (Bethesda, Md.). On the women’s side in the distances, All-American Emily Harrison (Front Royal, Va.), who already has an NCAA provisional time in the 10K, will shorten her distance this weekend and compete in the 1500 meter run along with Janine Ricci (Maple Glen, Pa.), Lauretta Dezubay (Bethlehem, Pa.), Jen Dolson (Oakton, Va.), Suzanne Ginnow (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Kristin Milot (Haymarket, Va.). Ricci, who holds one of the nation’s top times in the steeplechase, has already qualified for the NCAA regional meet in that event along with first-year Stephanie Garcia (South Riding, Va.) and, on the men’s side, Jan Foerster (Hamburg, Germany).
Competition begins on Friday with the women’s hammer at 1:30 p.m., followed by the men’s hammer. All other events will take place on Saturday, starting at 10:00 a.m. at Virginia’s Lannigan Field. Admission to the meet is free and parking is available in the University Hall parking lots.