Young Ties UVA Freshman Pole Vault Record
March 25, 2017
Miami, Fla. – The No. 6 Virginia men’s track and field team continued its season-opening weekend by competing at the Hurricane Twilight at Cobb Stadium in Miami, Fla., on Saturday. Highlighting the day’s event was a record-tying performance by freshman Sam Young (Lewes, Del.) in the pole vault.
In his first outdoor competition, Young tied the freshman record by clearing a height of 5.05 meters. He now shares the first-year record with Brian Shafer, who established the mark in 1990.
Young’s mark also tied Tom Cooke’s performance from 1995 for third on UVA’s all-time outdoor top-10 list in the pole vault. Young finished in second place at the meet and ranks 18th nationally and eighth in the East Region.
“Overall our men accomplished a lot this weekend in terms of position for the NCAA East Prelims in May,” said UVA director of track and field/cross country Bryan Fetzer. “We are well on our way for outdoors and it is an exciting time for the program.
“It was the first opportunity for the outdoor specific events in the long throws, hurdles and distances. The distance group took care of business last night in Raleigh (at the Raleigh Relays), which started the outdoor campaign on the high note we expected. It will only get better as the season continues!”
UVA sophomore Nace Plesko (Ljubljana, Slovenia) threw 17.16-meters in the shot put to post the seventh best performance in UVA history. He finished fifth overall at the meet and ranks 17th in the East Region for the event.
Adding another personal best for UVA was sophomore Charles Bowman (Harrisburg, Pa.), who ran a time of 52.76 in the 400-meter hurdles for the 16th best performance in the nation. He placed third in the event and seventh in the region.
In the hammer throw, senior Jordan Young (Windsor, Ontario) finished second with a mark of 65.24-meters. That stands as the fifth best regional mark and ranks 11th in the nation this season.
Redshirted sophomore Jack Lint (Westerville, Ohio) earned a personal best in the javelin with a throw of 50.56-meters to finish fifth in the competition.
The Cavaliers will travel to Austin, Texas, next, for the Texas Relays. The three-day event will begin on March 30.