UVA Men Retain Lead at ACC Indoor Track

Feb. 24, 2017

Notre Dame, Ind. – The No. 15 Virginia men’s track and field team holds the lead heading into Saturday’s final day of competition at the 2017 ACC Indoor Championships at Notre Dame.

The Cavaliers finished Friday’s events atop the scoreboard with 39 points. Louisville is second with 37 and Florida State is third with 26.

Sophomore Jack Lint headlined UVA’s effort with the schools’ first championship in the heptathlon. Lint scored a career best 5,546 points. He got the day off with a solid start by finishing second in the 60-meter hurdles (8.37) and finished by placing second in the 1,000 meters (2:40.12) in his final competition. His score stood as the 19th best in the NCAA this season.

The Cavalier men’s 5000-meter team also piled up points with third, fifth and sixth-place finishes. Zach Herriott (Kansas City, Mo.) led that group with a time of 13:54.5 while junior Brent Demarest (Charleston, S.C.) was fifth at 14:02.76 and junior Chase Weaverling (Darnestown, Md.) was sixth at 14:05.59.

“Having three who were expected to score, line up and perform under pressure when we are in a battle for a team championship, shows how committed to contributing to this team these boys are,” said assistant coach Pete Watson. “Late in the race, seeing Brent take the lead and try and run into scoring position was big for him. Then, just a lap later, to have Zach attack the field and try and win the race was exactly what he needed to do for him to maximize scoring potential. Even though he came up short over the last 200 meters he gave it a really great effort and third in that field is a positive result.”

In another key distance event, senior Henry Wynne (Westport, Conn.) cruised into Saturday’s final by winning the prelims with a time of 4:04.42. He won last year’s ACC title with a time of 4:01.15.

Virginia managed to pull off a bit of a surprise in the 60-meter hurdles when sophomore Emmanuel Jackson (Raleigh, N.C.) crushed his personal best by running 8.15 to advance to Saturday’s finals. His previous top performance in the event was a time of 8.21.

Sophomore Charles Bowman (Harrisburg, Pa.) set a personal best in the prelims of the 400 meters with a time of 48.16 that ranks as the seventh best mark in school history.

In the long jump, freshman Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) placed eight with a leap of 7.28 meters and junior Aaron Worrell (Fort Eustis, Va.) was ninth at 7.26 meters.

“We had a very good day overall,” said head coach Bryan Fetzer. “We are where we need to be going into the final day. The ACC is such an amazing conference and having several teams in the hunt for a team championships going into the final day is what makes athletics great.

“For us, tomorrow is about keeping the focus on what we can accomplish and not looking outside that. The men are focused and understand that it is a roller coaster.”

ACC Network Extra will live stream the final day of action, with former Olympic decathlon gold medalist Dan O’Brien serving as color analyst. He will be joined by veteran ESPN play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney. Coverage will air from noon until the meet’s conclusion (approximately 4 p.m.).

The meet also signifies 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.