Hoos Head to Notre Dame for ACC Indoor Track

Feb. 22, 2017

Charlottesville, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams open the ACC Indoor Championships Thursday (Feb. 23) at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center. The meet runs through Saturday (Feb. 25) with events starting at 11 a.m. each day.

ACC Network Extra will live stream action the final two days, with former Olympic decathlon gold medalist Dan O’Brien serving as color analyst, reprising the role he first filled at the 2015 ACC Outdoor Championships. He will be joined by veteran ESPN play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney. Coverage will air from 3:30 p.m. through 7:30 p.m. on Friday and from noon until the meet’s conclusion (approximately 4 p.m.) on Saturday.

Virginia enters this week’s meet holding the No. 15 spot in the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings. The Syracuse men and Miami women are the reigning ACC champions after winning last year’s titles in Boston. The UVA men were third at last year’s event while the women placed ninth.

A pair of Cavalier performers help to headline this year’s field of individual competitors. Virginia senior men’s miler Henry Wynne (Westport, Conn.), the defending NCAA and ACC indoor champion, is set to compete along with junior thrower Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina), the defending NCAA champion in the outdoor shot put.

In addition to Wynne’s individual crown, last year the Cavaliers also repeated as the distance medley relay champions. The quartet of Matthew Novak (Glen Allen, Va.), Nathan Kiley (Chantilly, Va.), Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg, Va.) and Wynne took home the title with a time of 9:36.27.

Several other UVA competitors on the men’s side hold down top seeds entering the competition including a solid field in the 5000 meters where senior Zach Herriott (Kansas City, Mo.) is the top seed at 13:45.37, junior Chase Weaverling (Darnestown, Md.) is third seeded at 13:54.39 and sophomore Brent Demarest (Charleston, S.C.) is fourth seeded at 13:56.03.

In the triple jump, freshman Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) is seeded first at 16:36m while senior Jordan Young (Windsor, Ontario) has posted the best throw (22.91m) in the weight throw.

The meet starts with the heptathlon where sophomore Jack Lint (Westerville, Ohio) has the top point total (5385) among ACC competitors. Mihaljevic is the top seed in the shot put (19.47m) while sophomore Efekoro Oghenakpobo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is the second seed at 19.17m.

On the women’s side, junior Bridget Guy (Greensburg, Pa.) is the No. 3 seed in the pole vault (4.12m). She set the UVA record at the 2016 ACC Championships with a height of 4.17m.

In addition to ACC team and individual titles, conference student-athletes will seek to enhance their rankings heading into the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, scheduled for March 10-11 at the Gillam Indoor Track in College Station, Texas.

There is no charge for admission.

The meet will also signify the men’s and women’s track and field matchups between Virginia and Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash, sponsored by Virginia529, the official college savings plan of University of Virginia Athletics. There are two points at stake in the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash, the point rivalry series between UVA and Virginia Tech. The school that finishes higher in the meet on the men’s side will receive a point in the competition, as will the school that finishes higher on the women’s side. The current Commonwealth Clash is tied 5-5. Learn more about Virginia529 and this competition at thecommonwealthclash.com.