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Mihaljevic Places Seventh in Shot Put at NCAA Championships
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June 11, 2014
EUGENE, Ore. – Virginia first-year Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina) broke the school record in the men’s shot put during the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. Mihaljevic recorded a mark of 64-2.25 (19.56m) to finish in seventh place of the event.
Mihaljevic’s seventh place finish gave the Cavalier men two points on the first day of the four-day meet. Virginia is tied for 18th place after three events of the competition.
Mihaljevic posted his school-record mark on his second attempt and was in sixth place going into the finals. Even though he couldn’t improve on his mark on his final three attempts, his 64-2.25 mark gave him a seventh place finish. He broke the previous school record of 64-0.25 (19.51m) set by Nick Vena in 2012. Mihaljevic’s seventh place finish was the best by a Cavalier in the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and was the best overall Virginia finish at the meet since Marcus Robinson was sixth in the triple jump in 2012.
“We were hoping for Filip to peak at this time of the year,” said assistant coach Martin Maric. “Each of the last few meets he has made adjustments in technique and had better results. Filip likes being the underdog and performed higher than his seed at both regionals and tonight. He was the youngest guy in this competition and seventh place was a great result against one of the deepest shot put fields in recent years. He set the school record, but I know it is only the start of some big things he will do during his career at Virginia.”
Mihajevic will earn first-team All-American honors with his seventh place finish in the shot put. He will have a chance for more accolades on Friday when he competes in the discus.
Virginia also had two athletes compete Wednesday night in the men’s 10000m. Thomas Porter (Fredericksburg, Va.) finished in 16th place, matching his finish from last year in the event. He earned second-team All-American honors for the second time as he crossed in 29:50.74. Adam Visokay (Ruckersville, Va.) was 23rd in the race with a time of 32:25.14 to earn honorable mention All-American status.
The meet will run through Saturday at Hayward Field. Two Cavaliers are in action on Thursday. Kyle King (Yorktown, Va.) will run in the semifinals of the men’s 3000m steeplechase, beginning at 8:35 p.m. ET. The day concludes with Jen Flack (Alexandria, Va.) in the final of the women’s 10000m, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET. ESPN3 will have online coverage of day two starting at 6:55 p.m. ET.