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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia track and field teams head to Philadelphia to compete in the 115th running of the Penn Relays this weekend, where high schools, college teams and even Olympians will compete. The historic event, which will feature over 1,300 different high school, college and professional teams from both across the country and outside of it, will begin on Thursday and conclude Saturday, with the final day of competition being broadcast from 4-6 p.m. on ESPN2. Live results will be available at VirginiaSports.com all weekend, while the championship relay races will be streamed live on thepennrelays.com.
At the Relays last season, senior Yemi Ayeni won the discus championship with a throw of 189’ 2”, becoming the first Cavalier to win an event at the prestigious meet since Anne Crouse’s javelin victory in 1999. Ayeni was also the first on the men’s side to win an event since Frank Fuller won the 110m hurdles in 1940.
This weekend, the quartet of senior Kevin Tschirhart, freshman Sintayehu Taye, senior Andrew Jesien and sophomore Emil Heineking who have all qualified regionally in the 1500m will look to highlight an already elite meet, running the Championship of America section of the 4xMile relay on Saturday.
Tschirhart will then join sophomore Andrew Lobb, junior Steve Finley and freshman Lance Roller in the championship section of the 4x800m relay, while freshman Kevin Anding, junior Brian Lee and sophomores Meikle Paschal and Adams Abdulrazaaq will team to compete in the 4x400m championship race.
In other relay action, Taye, Roller, Lobb and Finley will compete in the championship section of the distance medley relay, while junior Sara Casscells, freshman Meagan Gillespie, junior Lyndsay Harper and freshman Morgane Gay will run the women’s college DMR. Anding, Lee, Paschal and Abdulrazaaq will also run the 4x400m relay.
In individual events, Ayeni will look to lead the way as the defending champion in the discus, competing in the championship section. He also won the high school division in 2005 for South Brunswick (N.J.).
Others in the championship section of individual events include the Cavaliers’ senior trio of regional qualifiers in the discus Billie-Jo Grant, Amy Bilmanis and Caitlin Kelly while freshman Andy Fahringer and ACC Champion Megan Briggs will throw the javelin, and junior Lauretta Dezubay will run the 5000m.
On the track, sophomore Andrew Mearns will run the steeplechase, while junior Katie Darraugh (pole vault), senior Alexa Manning (shot put), freshman Tara Karin (javelin) and sophomore Marcus Robinson (triple jump) will compete in individual field events.
So far this season, Virginia has qualified 22 Cavaliers for the NCAA Regional Championships, while the men earned the program’s first-ever ACC Outdoor Championship and the women finished fourth at ACCs their best finish since 2003.
Up next, the Cavaliers will take a weekend off before heading to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the UNC Elite meet on Friday, May 8.