Virginia Competes at Gene Anderson Invitational
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Jan. 17, 2014
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track & field teams competed in their second indoor meet of the season as they were in action at the Gene Anderson Invitational on the campus of the University of North Carolina. The Cavaliers sent a partial squad to the meet, where they were up against athletes from four other schools.
“This meet was a good learning experience,” said head coach Bryan Fetzer. “Most of the athletes we took to this meet didn’t compete in their primary event. This was a great teaching meet. We can take the lessons learned in practice and in these first two meets of the year and use them to compete at a high level later in the season when it counts.”
Virginia had one event champion at the meet. First-year Jeff Jernigan (DeKalb, Ga.) jumped 13’7.25″ to tie for first place in the men’s pole vault.
The Cavaliers also had numerous athletes set PRs during the meet. Junior Jordan Lavender (Nashville, Tenn.) and senior Edy Ndem (Roanoke, Va.) each tied their PR in the women’s long jump, jumping 19’2″ and 19’1.5″, respectively, to finish second and third in the event. Several first-years set PRs at the meet, including Heather Smith (Chesapeake, Va.), who ran a PR of 9.02 in the 60m hurdles, improving her time from last week’s meet by a quarter of a second.
Virginia will return to action next weekend as the entire team will compete at the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet at the University of Kentucky. That meet will feature several of the top teams in the country, including Oregon, Florida, Arkansas and Ohio State.