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Chiariello Breaks School Record in Hammer Throw at Liberty Invite
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Junior Vincenzo Chiariello broke the school record in the hammer throw Friday evening to lead the Virginia track and field team at the Liberty Invitational in Lynchburg, Va. Juniors Tara Karin, Maureen Laffan and Erin Wykoff also had impressive performances at the meet, while redshirt junior Stephanie Garcia led the Cavaliers at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.
Chiariello threw farther than Bill Johnston’s school record mark of 190′ 11″ three times throughout his sequence of throws and finished the meet on a high note, with his final attempt being his best-ever – a winning mark of 198′ 11.
Following his first attempt, Chiariello sat second among all competitors, but passed Radford’s Curtis Hodge (191′ 2″) for the lead on his second throw, breaking the school record for the first time with a mark of 194′ 2. Chiariello held on to the lead and bettered his mark again on his fifth throw, tossing 197′ 11″.
Freshman Thomas Fuson also cracked into Virginia’s all-time top-10 in the event, throwing 148′ 6″ to finish 12th overall. His mark ranks 10th on UVa’s record board.
On the women’s side, Wykoff moved into second on Virginia’s all-time records in the hammer throw, throwing a personal-best 170′ 6″ to finish third overall. That mark betters her previous best by more than 10 feet and trails just Eliese Mitchell’s school record of 186′ 10″ set in 2003.
Laffan also set a big personal record in the event, finishing fifth with a mark of 166′ 0″. Her throw was over 10 feet farther than her personal-best from last weekend and moves her into fourth on Virginia’s all-time records.
In the javelin, Karin won the individual title with a mark of 148′ 7″.
At the Colonial Relays, Garcia won the 1500m with a personal-best time of 4:22.64. That mark ranks eighth all-time at UVa.
Senior Andrew Mearns finished third in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:12.15, while his brother – freshman Colin Mearns – followed him across the line with a time of 9:18.14. Colin’s time ranks third on Virginia’s all-time freshman records and was the fastest a Cavalier first-year has completed the steeplechase since John Hinton (8:58.21) and Jim Hays (9:10.69) in 1982.
Freshman Chris Foley wrapped up the day with a runner-up finish in the 10,000m. Finishing with a time of 30:25.14, Foley ranks second on Virginia’s all-time freshman records. Bobby Thiele holds the record at 29:58.29 from 1998.
Virginia will continue competition tomorrow at the Liberty Invitational. Events are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.