No. 23 UVA Men's DMR Repeats as ACC Champions

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Feb. 25, 2016

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BOSTON-The No. 23 Virginia men’s track and field team’s distance medley relay repeated as conference champions on the first day of the ACC Indoor Championships Thursday (Feb. 25) at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.

The Cavaliers lead after the first day of action with 13 points, ahead of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, who have 10.

“We had a great first day,” UVA director of track and field/cross country Bryan Fetzer said. “Our heptathletes did well on their first day, Hilmar (Jonsson) broke the freshman record in the weight throw and our distance medley relay ran an outstanding race to go back-to-back at the ACC Championships. We have a lot of work to do the next two days, but this was a fantastic start to the meet.”

The distance medley relay of freshman Matthew Novak (Glen Allen, Va.), junior Nathan Kiley (Chantilly, Va.), sophomore Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg, Va.) and junior Henry Wynne (Westport, Conn.) came from behind and won in an ACC Championship-record time of 9:36.27, just ahead of second-place Syracuse in 9:36.74. The Cavaliers were in fourth place, but a 3:56.37 mile split from Wynne led UVA to its second-consecutive win in the DMR.

“This group of four men did exactly what they needed to do last weekend at the UCS Invitational to qualify for the NCAA Championships and ran another outstanding race tonight, including an incredible anchor leg by Henry,” UVA distance coach Pete Watson said.

In the weight throw, freshman Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) broke the Virginia freshman record and placed sixth with a mark of 20.32m (66′ 8″), while redshirt freshman Oghenakpobo Efekoro (Washington, D.C.) finished 12th with a heave of 17.36m (56′ 11.5″).

After four events of the heptathlon, redshirt freshman Jack Lint (Westerville, Ohio) is in second place with a score of 3,016 points, while redshirt sophomore Cam Collins (Calhoun, Ga.) is eighth with 2,839. Senior Christian Lavorgna (Jefferson, N.J.) is 12th with 2,711 points and junior Anthony Dunavant (Franklin, Tenn.) is 14th with 2,635.

“It was a great start to the ACC Championship for the Hoos today,” UVA assistant coach Mario Wilson said. “The heptathletes consistently hit a combination of season and personal bests in the first four events. Jack, Cam and Christian are each on pace to score valuable points for the team. This will be the deepest field ever to score at the ACC indoor meet.”

Lint had indoor personal records in the 60 meters, shot put and high jump, while Collins had PRs in the shot and long jump. Lavorgna had a PR in the shot put and high jump.

The action continues Friday (Feb. 26) at 11 a.m. ESPN3 will have a live broadcast from 5-8 p.m.