Women's DMR Squad Earns All-America Honors at NCAA Indoor Championships
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Virginia’s distance medley relay team of junior Morgane Gay (Bethesda, Md.), senior Ayla Smith (Winchester, Va.), senior Lyndsay Harper (Albuquerque, N.M.) and redshirt senior Stephanie Garcia (South Riding, Va.) earned All-America honors Friday night at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning a third-place finish in the DMR at Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
“A third-place finish in the distance medley relay tonight is just terrific,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Jason Vigilante said. “This group of ladies has worked so hard to represent UVa and I couldn’t be more proud of the students, coaches and training staff who contributed to this effort.”
The Cavaliers entered the national meet as Virginia’s first-ever DMR squad to advance to the NCAA Championships and finished in a time of 10:59.79. Villanova won the NCAA title in 10:52.52, while Oregon finished runner-up in 10:52.90.
Gay opened the first 1200m with a time of 3:24.19, before Smith completed the 400m leg in 53.90. Harper turned in a time of 2:06.00 on the 800m leg to move the Cavaliers from seventh and into fifth, and Garcia wrapped up the final mile in 4:35.71 to cross in third. With their season-best time of 10:59.33 from Columbia’s Last Chance Meet on March 4, the quartet holds UVa’s all-time program record in the event and finishes the season with the third-fastest time run this year.
Senior Adams Abdulrazaaq also competed today, wrapping up his indoor season with his first-ever NCAA Indoor Championship appearance in the 60m hurdles. Abdulrazaaq finished second in his heat and 12th overall with a time of 7.85 to claim second-team All-America honors.
The Highland Springs, Va., native wraps up his indoor career as a three-time All-ACC performer in the 60m hurdles and as a four-time conference finalist in the event. He also owns the school record in the event, with a mark of 7.75 set at the Hokie Invitational on Jan. 21.
With six points, the Cavalier women finish tied for 30th at NCAAs – their highest finish since finishing tied for 27th in 1994 with seven points. It is also the first time the women have scored at the national meet since 2007.
Virginia will conclude its indoor track and field season tomorrow, as senior Marcus Robinson competes in the triple jump. The event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.