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Eight Cavaliers to Compete in USA Track and Field Championships
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Eight Cavaliers will head to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the 2009 USA Junior and Senior Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field this Thursday through Sunday. ESPN will provide coverage of the event on Friday (8-10 p.m. ET) and Saturday (7:30-9:30 p.m.), while NBC will air Sunday’s finals from 4-6 p.m. Flotrack.org will provide live video throughout the entire championship online, while live results will be available on VirginiaSports.com.
Competing in the senior national championships will be Meghan Briggs (javelin), Steve Finley (steeplechase), Stephanie Garcia (steeplechase) and Andrew Jesien (1500m). In addition, former Cavalier Alex Tatu will compete in the 1500m and volunteer assistant coach and Olympian Adam Nelson will throw the shot put. Each will vie for a spot to represent Team USA in Berlin, Germany this August at the IAAF World Championships. The top three finishers in each event will advance.
Meanwhile, Morgane Gay (1500m), Sean Keveren (5000m), Maureen Laffan (shot put) and Erin Wykoff (discus) will compete in the USA Junior Championships, which will serve as the selection meet for the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships held in Port of Spain, Trinidad this summer. The top two finishers in each event will advance to the junior world championships.
Jesien and Finley will kick things off for the Cavaliers on Thursday, with Jesien running the 1500m at 10:05 p.m., and Finley following in the steeplechase at 10:25 p.m. Both events will be first round action, with the top qualifiers advancing to the finals later in the meet. The 1500m finals are scheduled for Sunday, while the steeplechase finals are set for Saturday.
On Friday, Laffan and Garcia will compete. Laffan will throw at 3 p.m., in the finals of the shot put, while Garcia will run the first round of the steeplechase, looking to advance to Sunday’s finals.
Saturday will feature Wykoff in the discus final at noon and Briggs in the finals of the javelin at 7:30 p.m. Gay will also race the first round of the 1500m at 3:40 p.m., looking to advance to Sunday’s finals.
Nelson will kick off events on Sunday with the finals of the shot put at 3:35 p.m., while Keveren will conclude the championships for Virginia, running the finals of the 5000m at 7:50 p.m.