UVA to Host Strong Field at Virginia Challenge

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April 21, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-The No. 4 UVA track and field men and the Cavalier women host the fifth annual Virginia Challenge Friday and Saturday at Lannigan Field.

Action is set to begin Friday at 10 a.m. with the Main Event scheduled for 7-10 p.m. Saturday’s competition starts at 9 a.m. with the Main Event scheduled for 7-10:30 p.m.

Admission to the meet is free to the public. Live results will be available on VirginiaSports.com. Ahead of the Main Event on Saturday, the Cavaliers will honor its seniors in a brief ceremony at 6:40 p.m.

The Cavalier men are ranked No. 4 in the latest FloTrack national poll and No. 6 in the USTFCCCA national rankings. Four other schools are ranked in the USTFCCCA top 25, including No. 2 Florida, No. 8 Georgia, No. 19 North Carolina and No. 22. Seven schools are ranked in the USTFCCCA women’s top-25 rankings, including No. 6 Georgia, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Florida, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 14 Harvard, No. 18 Virginia Tech and No. 22 Notre Dame.

The meet will see some of the top competition in the nation and will include student-athletes from 22 conference champion teams. Over 70 All-Americans, including ones that have captured 16 individual NCAA titles, are set compete along with elite post-collegiate athletes, including United States Olympic medalist and world champion Bershawn Jackson.

Virginia has four student-athletes ranking in the top 20 in the nation, including junior Henry Wynne (Westport, Conn.), who is No. 1 in the men’s 1,500 meters and No. 13 in the 5,000 meters. Fellow juniors Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Christine Bohan (Avon Lake, Ohio) rank third in the men’s discus and 13th in the women’s shot put, respectively, while freshman Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) is currently sixth in the men’s hammer.

The Cavaliers return to action next weekend (April 29-30) for the Highlander Invitational in Radford, Va.

Virginia Challenge By the Numbers

1,207 • Number of athletes competing this weekend

80 • Number of student-athletes ranked in the NCAA top 25 in events they are contending in this weekend

61 • NCAA schools having at least one-student athlete competing at the Virginia Challenge

22 • Track and field conference championships won in the last calendar year by teams represented this weekend

16 • Individual NCAA titles accumulated by the field

11 • All 11 collegiate student-athletes competing in the first section of the men’s 1,500 meters have broken the four-minute barrier in the mile

9 • All nine of the competitors in the men’s hammer throw invitational (Sat. – 7 p.m.) are ranked in the NCAA top 15

4 • Student-athletes that are currently ranked No. 1 in the NCAA are set to compete this weekend, including Wynne in the men’s 1,500 meters at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday. Other No. 1 student-athletes are Marta Freitas of Mississippi State in the women’s 1,500m (Sat. – 8:10 p.m.), Sean Donnelly of Minnesota in the men’s hammer invitational (Sat. – 7 p.m.) and the No. 1 decathlete, Karl Saluri, of Georgia (competing in 110m hurdles Sat. – 1:30 p.m.)