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King Wins Steeplechase On Day Two of ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships
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April 18, 2014
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams continued competition at the 2014 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday on the campus of the University of North Carolina. The Cavalier men, led by Kyle King’s (Yorktown, Va.) victory in the 3000m steeplechase, are tied for seventh place, while the women are tied for 14th place after day two of the three-day meet.
The meet concludes on Saturday. Field events (men’s javelin, women’s high jump, discus, triple jump, men’s pole vault) will begin at 11 a.m. ESPN3 coverage begins at 4 p.m. with the start of the track events (4x100m relays, finals of the 1500m, 100m hurdles, 400m, 100m, 800m, 400m hurdles, 200m, 5000m and concluding with the 4x400m relays).
MEN’S DAY TWO RECAP
The Cavaliers are tied for seventh place after seven events with 18 points. Florida State leads after the second day with 48 points.
King’s victory in the 3000m steeplechase highlighted the second day of the meet for Virginia. He crossed the line in 8:48.47, the fifth-best time in school history. He becomes the first Cavalier to win the men’s steeplechase since Rob Cook won back-to-back ACC titles in 1993 and 1994.
Also scoring for the Cavaliers on Friday was Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina), who earned All-ACC honors in the men’s shot put. He placed third with a throw of 58’4.5″.
Virginia had three athletes advance to Saturday’s finals during Friday’s competition. Drequan Hoskey (Richmond, Va.) ran the eighth-fastest time in school history in the 110m hurdles, running 14.23 to advance to the final. Payton Hazzard (Huntington, N.Y.) advanced to the final of the 400m with a time of 46.41. Mike Marsella (Hope Valley, R.I.), who advanced to the 1500m final Thursday, advanced to the 800m final with a PR of 1:49.53 on Friday. They join Brandon Burton (Newport News, Va.), who advanced to the final of the 400m hurdles on Thursday, as Cavaliers who advanced from preliminary flights in their respective events.
In the decathlon, Christian Lavorgna (Jefferson, N.J.) earned an eighth place finish with 6,561 points, the ninth best score in school history. Anthony Dunavant (Franklin, Tenn.) was 11th with 6,299 points in his ACC outdoor debut.
“Kyle King, winning the steeplechase, was a great way to end the day,” said Fetzer. “The way he did it was even more impressive because he executed his race really well. Filip had a great performance in the shot. For a freshman to do that in his first ACC meet was impressive. In the preliminaries, we had a lot of guys move through today and set us up for a strong final day of the meet tomorrow.”
WOMEN’S DAY TWO RECAP
The Cavaliers are tied for 14th place after eight events with three points. Florida State leads after the second day with 67 points.
Virginia had three athletes advance to Saturday’s finals during Friday’s competition. Jordan Lavender (Nashville, Tenn.), the reigning ACC champion in the 400m, advanced to the final in that event by winning her heat in a time of 53.08, the fastest time in qualifying. Peyton Chaney (Belleville, Ill.) advanced in the 100m with a time of 11.80. Both Chaney and Lavender will also be in the 200m final, having advanced in that event on Thursday. Vanessa Fabrizio (Denver, Colo.) advanced to the final of the 800m by winning her heat in 2:06.34, a new PR and the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Sarah DeVita (Ridgewood, N.J.) posted the third-best mark in school history in the women’s pole vault, jumping 12’0.75″ to finish 14th.
“Today wasn’t a day where we scored a lot of points, but we set ourselves up for a big day tomorrow,” said head coach Bryan Fetzer. “We took care of business, for the most part. Our athletes who were ranked high, finished high and advanced. Tomorrow will decide how we finish up in both genders. We have a lot of people who have advanced to finals and there are quite a few events tomorrow that we should score well in.”