Andrews, Garcia and Roller Advance at USA Championships

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DES MOINES, Iowa – Stephanie Garcia and Lance Roller each advanced to the next round of their events at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium Thursday, while Robby Andrews also advanced in the junior championship.

Garcia, a senior who redshirted this season, used a time of 10:05.05 to finish sixth in her heat and advance to Sunday’s finals. The 2007 USA Junior National Champion in the steeple, Garcia becomes the first Cavalier to advance to the finals of the senior section since Dawn Cleary did so in 2003. The finals are scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Sunday.

Roller, an All-American in the 800m this year, earned the final at-large spot into today’s semifinals. Finishing fourth in the third heat with a time of 1:48.17, Roller becomes one of six collegiate athletes to advance to the 16-person semifinal scheduled to run at 8:30 p.m. tonight.

Andrews, the top-ranked junior in the world at 800m, won the opening section of the junior race (19-and-under) with a time of 1:51.41 to advance to today’s final. The top-two finishers from today’s event will advance to represent Team USA at the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada. Today’s finals are scheduled to begin at 2:40 p.m.

Virginia will also have other various student-athletes competing throughout the day today. FloTrack.com is providing a live webcast of the event, while ESPN will air the competition from 8-10 p.m. tonight.

Friday’s Schedule
11:15 a.m. – Robert Guider – Junior Men’s Hammer (second flight)
2:10 p.m. – Dallas Rose – Junior Women’s Triple Jump (first flight)
7 p.m. – Pearl Bickersteth – Junior Women’s High Jump (first flight)
7 p.m. – Meghan Briggs – Senior Women’s Javelin (first flight)
8:30 p.m. – Lance Roller – Senior Men’s 800m Semifinals