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Virginia's Men Win Saturday Night at The Armory III Team Title
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NEW YORK, N.Y. – Virginia’s men’s track and field team won the Saturday Night at The Armory III team title Saturday night, while the women’s squad finished runner-up to Columbia. Freshman Anthony Kostelac was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the meet.
The Cavalier men trailed late in the meet, before Virginia’s 4x800m relay team of redshirt freshman TJ Hobart, junior Andrew Mearns, freshman Colin Mearns and freshman Drew Paisley combined to finish first in 7:42.41. A win by junior Vincenzo Chiariello in the weight throw – the final event of the day – then secured the victory for the Cavaliers, as Virginia edged Army, 98.5-89.
Virginia’s men earned five victories throughout the evening. Freshman Patrick Farmer earned his first collegiate title, crossing first in the 400m in a time of 49.23. Kostelac then won the 800m in 1:49.47 – tying Cavalier All-American Lance Roller for the sixth-best time in program history. Senior Marcus Robinson earned the win in the triple jump, leaping 51′ 1.5″, and Chiariello wrapped up the day for the Cavaliers with the leading mark of 60′ 1″ in the weight throw.
On the women’s side, the Cavaliers earned three victories, en route to a runner-up finish to Columbia, 166.5-110. Sophomore Emily Vannoy got things going for Virginia, winning the shot put with a mark of 49′ 4.5″. Senior Lyndsay Harper then won the 800m in a personal-best time of 2:08.86. That mark is second all-time at UVa and is less than one-second shy of teammate Morgane Gay’s school record of 2:08.07 from last year. Harper then teamed with redshirt freshman Vanessa Fabrizio, junior Jenni Weatherly and redshirt sophomore Rosemary Barber to win the 4x800m relay in 8:59.94.
The Cavaliers also got impressive performances out of freshman Aaron Shepperd – who finished second in the 60m hurdles in a personal-best time of 8.12. That is the sixth-best time run by a Cavalier in program history. Freshman Katherine Walker improved her time in the 3000m, running 9:38.96 – the 10th-best time at UVa – and sophomore Danielle Williams missed cracking into the all-time top-10 by .01-seconds. Williams finished fourth in the 60m with a time of 7.69.
In other events, sophomore NCAA indoor 800m champion Robby Andrews – running unattached and in his USA uniform – served as a pacesetter for seven-time Olympic and world championship medalist Bernard Lagat as he broke the American indoor record in the two-mile. Lagat now owns all five of the American indoor distance records – the mile, two mile, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m.
Virginia will return to action next weekend as the Cavaliers head to the Virginia Tech Challenge for one final tune-up before the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships (Feb. 24-26). VT Challenge events are set to run Friday and Saturday in Rector Field House – the site of this year’s ACC Championships.