Cavaliers Conclude Strong Performance at Virginia Challenge
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May 10, 2014
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams concluded their home competition for the season Saturday with the final day of the Virginia Challenge at Lannigan Field. The Cavaliers won four events and had several other top performances during Saturday’s action against a strong field of collegiate and professional athletes.
“This meet was once again a great opportunity for our team to compete against some elite athletes on our home track,” said head coach Bryan Fetzer. “We had a lot of good performances, both last night and today. Coming off of finals, it was a good chance to get back on the track and compete as we prepare for the NCAA East Preliminaries in a few weeks.”
Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina) won the men’s shot put with a throw of 59-5. On the women’s side Edy Ndem (Roanoke, Va.) won the long jump, posting a mark of 19-4.75 in her home finale. The 4x100m relay team of Dallas Rose (Pearland, Texas), Andrea Wright (Chesapeake, Va.), Peyton Chaney (Belleville, Ill.) and Jordan Lavender (Nashville, Tenn.) won in a time of 45.37, just off their season-best. Maria Hauger (Shakopee, Minn.) concluded the evening by winning the women’s 10000m in a time of 34:16.28, just a second off the UVa freshman record set earlier this year by Sarah Fakler (Phoenix, Ariz.)
The men’s 4x400m relay of Brandon Burton (Newport News, Va.), Nathan Kiley (Chantilly, Va.), David Bartha (Bonyhad, Hungary) and Payton Hazazrd (Huntington, N.Y.) ran a season-best 3:10.74 to finish second.
Chaney was second in the women’s 200m in a time of 24.07 and Christine Bohan (Avon Lake, Ohio) was third in the women’s shot put with a throw of 47-4.25.
The Cavalier distance runners shined during the final events of the evening. In addition to Hauger’s win the women’s 10000m, Virginia had a strong performance in the men’s 10000m where Thomas Madden (Front Royal, Va.) was second in the men’s 10000m with a time of 30:21.07. In the men’s 5000m, Thomas Porter (Fredericksburg, Va.) was eighth in a time of 14:11.29, while Adam Visokay (Ruckersville, Va.) ran a PR of 14:21.58 to finish in 11th place. In the women’s 5000m, two Cavaliers in their final home meet had top 10 finishes, with Barbara Strehler (Richmond, Va.) in fifth at 16:29.71 and Kathleen Stevens (Blacksburg, Va.) in 10th at 16:42.41.
Virginia had two of the top nine performers in the men’s decathlon. Christian Lavorgna (Jefferson, N.J.) was seventh with 6,454 points, while Anthony Dunavant (Franklin, Tenn.) had a PR of 6,328 points to finish ninth.
The Cavaliers will compete in their final regular season meet on Friday by sending athletes to the Wolfpack Last Chance meet in Raleigh, N.C.