Robinson Named USTFCCCA First-Team All-American
NEW ORLEANS, La.-Virginia track and field senior Marcus Robinson (Richmond, Va.) has been named to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America First Team, the USTFCCCA announced Tuesday (June 12).
Seniors Maureen Laffan (Toms River, N.J.), Lance Roller (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) and Catherine White (Roanoke, Va.) and junior Morgane Gay (Bethesda, Md.) earned Second-Team All-America honors.
In addition, senior Vincenzo Chiariello (Staten Island, N.Y.), juniors Brett Johnson (Ocean City, N.J.), Sean Keveren (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Patrick Todd (Highland Park, Texas) and redshirt freshmen Chelsea Ley (Woolwich Township, N.J.) and Kathleen Stevens (Blacksburg, Va.) were All-America Honorable Mention selections.
The USTFCCCA All-America honorees are based on the final positions at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which concluded Saturday (June 9) in Des Moines, Iowa.
Robinson placed sixth in the men’s triple jump with a leap of 16.46m (54′ 0″), a new school record. It was Robinson’s second first-team nod this year, after he finished fifth at the indoor nationals.
Laffan made her NCAA debut and broke the school record in the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 59.91m (196’6″), good enough for 14th overall.
Roller set a season-best time in the men’s 800 meters semifinal, placing 10th overall in 1:47.07. It is Roller’s third All-America citation and second in the 800m, as the senior placed sixth in 2010.
White set a new personal record in the women’s 10,000 meters final, finishing 10th in 33:21.55, the second fastest time in school history. It was 21 seconds faster than her previous best, which was set at the 2009 NCAA meet, when she finished sixth for Arkansas.
Gay placed 11th in the women’s 1,500 meters final, two days after she set the school record in a time of 4:13.20. This is Gay’s sixth All-American nod and is one of six women to compete at the NCAA Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Championships each of the last two school years. She has been an All-American in the last five of those seasons.
Johnson and Todd earned their second All-American honors in the men’s 1,500, while Chiariello (men’s hammer), Keveren (men’s 10,000), Ley (women’s 5,000) and Stevens (women’s 5,000) were all competing at their first NCAA track and field championships.