Virginia Men Finish Third at NCAA Championships
June 10, 2017
EUGENE, Ore. – The Virginia men’s track and field team ended the NCAA Championships on Friday (June 9) at Hayward Field in Eugene Ore. in third place, the best finish in school history.
Scoring in five-throwing events, the Cavaliers tallied 36 points at the meet, the most by a throwing team since SMU in 2002. Additionally, the team’s finish was the best by an ACC school since Florida State was the runner-up in 2011.
Florida finished as the 2017 men’s NCAA champions with 61.5 points while Texas A&M placed second with 59.5 points.
“What a blessing,” head coach Bryan Fetzer said. “This is a very special group of young men, that I will never forget. There is only one first-time and this group is a first for Virginia (in team scoring). The entire team and staff have been through a lot of adversity and disappointment. A few weeks ago (ACC Championships) was a tough pill to swallow. They (team) have handled themselves with class and high character all the way. One of their goals was to win a team trophy. They accomplished it this week on the nation’s largest stage in one of the most difficult competitions in the world. I’m so proud of all of them.”
In a 16-point event for the Cavaliers, senior Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina) captured the NCAA title in the discus on his last throw of the night. He recorded a mark of 63.76m (209-2) for a personal-best and a school record. Senior Jordan Young (Windsor, Ont.) finished third in the event for six points. He recorded a season-best effort of 61.94m (203-2).
Mihaljevic finished first in the shot put on the opening day of competition to end the meet with two first-place finishes.
“Words cannot describe Filip (Mihaljevic),” Fetzer said. “What he accomplished is simply magnificent. To win the discus on his last throw speaks volumes of him as a competitor and leader.”
In the triple jump, freshman Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) recorded a mark of 15.50m (50-10.25). He finished 18th in the meet.
The Cavaliers topped their previous best performance of seventh from the men’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2016.