David Lewis Finishes Fourth in Heptathlon

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Virginia’s David Lewis set personal-best marks in six of the seven events en route to a personal-best mark of 4997 in the heptathlon, a 200-point improvement over his former personal-best. He won the pole vault and 1000-meter portions of the competition, helping him move from sixth place after five events to fourth at the conclusion of the event.

Lewis opened up the heptathlon with a 7.44 in the 60-meter dash, a PR by .02 seconds. He followed that up with a long jump of 19’ 11.75” before a toss of 38’ 2.75” in the shot put, his best mark in that event by over two feet. Lewis concluded the first day with a high jump of 5’ 10.5”, just edging his previous best mark by half an inch. Lewis stood in seventh at the end of the first day.

In the 60-meter hurdles competition that started day two, Lewis ran an 8.81, a third-of-a-second faster than his previous best mark in that event. After moving up to sixth place with the hurdle marks in, Lewis won the next two events (pole vault and 1000m run) to jump to fourth place over all.

Lewis’ leap of 16’ .75” is an indoor personal best by more than three inches; he becomes just the eighth person in school history to clear 16 feet indoors. He vaulted more than 20 inches higher than the second-place competitor. In the 1000m run, Lewis ran a 4:27.93, crossing the line three seconds in front of the next finisher.

The Cavaliers are next slated to compete in January, 2008 at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg. The two-day event will start on Friday, Jan. 11.