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Virginia to Send 22 Athletes to NCAA East Preliminary Round
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May 22, 2014
Complete Men’s Selections | Complete Women’s Selections
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams had 22 athletes selected to compete in the NCAA East Preliminary Round, the NCAA announced on Thursday. The preliminary round will be held May 29-31 at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Each individual event (excluding the heptathlon and decathlon) will have 48 competitors, while relays will have 24 teams. The top 12 from every event will move on to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, to be held in Eugene, Ore., on June 11-14.
Virginia will have 14 women and eight men competing in 17 events at the preliminary meet. Eight of the 22 athletes have competed in a NCAA preliminary meet previously in their career, while 14 Cavaliers will be making their debut at the event.
The list of Cavaliers selected to compete is highlighted by five 2014 ACC Champions. Virginia’s highest-seeded athlete in the meet is Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina), the ACC champion in the men’s discus. Jordan Lavender (Nashville, Tenn.), the ACC women’s indoor and outdoor 400m champion, is seeded seventh in the event at the meet. Dallas Rose (Pearland, Texas) is seeded 11th in the women’s triple jump, while Ryan Satchell (Central Islip, N.Y.) is seeded 13th in the men’s triple jump. Kyle King (Yorktown, Va.), the ACC steeplechase champion, is seeded 10th.
Mihaljevic is one of two Cavaliers competing in a pair of individual events in the meet, as he will throw the shot put in addition to the discus. Maria Hauger (Shakopee, Minn.) will run a pair of distance events, the women’s 5000m and 10000m.
The Cavalier distance runners will be well represented at the meet. Hauger is one of three Virginia competitors in the women’s 10000m, as she is joined by fellow first-years Sarah Fakler (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Jen Flack (Alexandria, Va.). Cleo Boyd (Kingston, Ont.) will join Hauger in the women’s 5000m, while Vicky Fouhy (Buckinghamshire, England) will run the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Virginia will also have three men competing in the 10000m, with Adam Visokay (Ruckersville, Va.), Thomas Porter (Fredericksburg, Va.) and Zach Herriott (Kansas City, Mo.) selected to compete.
The women’s contingent headed to Jacksonville also includes Vanessa Fabrizio (Denver, Colo.), who is seeded eighth in the 800m. The Cavaliers will also compete in both women’s relays, with Tori McKenzie (Chatham, Va.), Andrea Wright (Chesapeake, Va.), Peyton Chaney (Belleville, Ill.) joining Lavender on the 4x100m relay, and the team of Lavender, Wright, Fabrizio and Chimere Ezumah (Gardena, Calif.) competing in the 4x400m relay. In the field events, Edy Ndem (Roanoke, Va.) makes her NCAA debut in the long jump, while Abbey Karin (Byfield, Mass.) makes her third straight appearance in the javelin.
The men’s contingent also includes a pair of middle distance runners, with Payton Hazzard (Huntington, N.Y.) running the 400m and Mike Marsella (Hope Valley, R.I.) competing in the 800m.