Virginia Qualifies 25 Individuals for NCAA East Preliminary Rounds
May 17, 2018
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |Female Qualifiers | Male Qualifiers
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams qualified 25 student-athletes for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, as announced by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee on Thursday (May 17). The Cavaliers also qualified in the men’s 4x400m relay.
The three-day meet will begin on Thursday (May 24) at the USF Track & Field Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
The women’s team advanced 13 student-athletes to the East Preliminary meet as senior Carter Green (Ashland, Pa.), redshirt juniors Mia Barron (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Bridget Guy (Greensburg, Pa.), and juniors Ciara Leonard (Elkins Park, Pa.), Kelly McKee (Lenexa, Kan.) and Emily Mulhern (Ijamsville, Md.) will make a return trip. Barron leads the team with her third consecutive advancement, ranking 19th and 23rd regionally in the triple jump and long jump, respectively. After a strong season, which included earning an ACC title, Guy will participate in the pole vault as the second seed in the region. McKee ranks ninth in the triple jump, while Leonard ranks 19th in the 100m hurdles, Mulhern ranks 25th in the 10,000m run and Green ranks 43rd in the discus.
Senior Katie Freix (Chantilly, Va.), junior Alana Herran (Orange, N.J.), sophomore Anna Jefferson (Warren, Mich.), Andrenette Knight (Morant Bay, Jamaica) and Alexis Woodley (Chesapeake, Va.), and freshmen Khyasia Caldwell-Adams (Pocono Summit, Pa.) and Brittany Jones (Bloomfield, Conn.) will compete in their first regional meet.
Jefferson advanced to the East Preliminary Rounds in the 400m run, ranking 13th in the event. Knight and Herran will race in the 400m hurdle, competing as the 14th and 16th seeds, respectively, while Woodley advanced to the regional meet as the 28th seed in the 100m hurdles. In the field events, both Caldwell-Adams and Jones rank 31st, participating in the long jump and shot put, respectively. Freix enters as the No. 43 seed in the pole vault.
The men’s team qualified 12 student-athletes for individual events with 10 competitors competing previously in the regional qualifier. Graduate student Mike Marsella (Hope Valley, R.I.) posted the region’s fourth-fastest performance in the 1,500m run. In the 10,000m run, sophomore Lachlan Cook (Brisbane, Australia) enters as the 11th seed. He is joined by senior Chase Weaverling (Darnestown, Md.), who ranks 20th, and redshirt sophomore Alex Corbett (Burke, Va.), who ranks 39th in the event. Redshirt sophomore Matthew Novak (Glen Allen, Va.) is seeded 39th in the 3,000m steeplechase.
In the field events, redshirt junior Oghenakpobo Efekoro (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior Nace Plesko (Ljubljana, Slovenia) will represent the Cavaliers in the shot put as the 13th and 27th seeds, respectively. Plesko will as compete in the discus, entering the meet with the region’s 22nd best throw. Junior Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) ranks ninth in the hammer throw, while sophomore Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) ranks 24th in the triple jump and sophomore Sam Young (Lewes, Del.) ranks 29th in the pole vault.
Redshirt sophomore Ari Klau (West Hartford, Conn.) and freshman Alfred Shirley III (Chesapeake, Va.) advanced to their first East Preliminary Qualifying meet. Klau qualified in the 5,000m run as Shirley qualified in the 400m dash. Both enter as the 19th seed in their respective events.
Junior Jake Dixon (Falmouth, Maine), redshirt junior Jack Lint (Westerville, Ohio), freshman Brandon Outlaw Moorestown, N.J.), Shirley and freshman Jordan Willis (Williamsburg, Va.) will aid Virginia in the men’s 4x400m relay.
The NCAA Preliminary Rounds will serve as the qualifier for the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., June 6-9. The top-12 finishers from each individual event and top-12 relay teams will advance from the East Preliminary Round.
UVA Qualifiers for NCAA East Preliminaries
Women’s Qualifier
Mia Barron, R. Jr., Minnetonka, Minn. – Long Jump and triple jump
Khyasia Caldwell-Adams, Fr., Pocono Summit, Pa.- Long Jump
Katie Freix, Sr., Chantilly, Va.- Pole Vault
Carter Green, Sr., Ashland, Pa.- Discus
Bridget Guy R-Jr., Greensburg, Pa.- pole Vault
Alana Herran, Jr., Orange, N.J.- 400m Hurdles
Anna Jefferson, So., Warren, Mich.- 400m
Brittany Jones, Fr. Bloomfield, Conn.- Shot Put
Andrenette Knight, So., Morant Bay, Jamaica- 400m Hurdles
Ciara Leonard, Jr., Elkins Park, Pa.- 100m Hurdles
Kelly McKee, Jr., Lenexa, Kan.- Triple jump
Emily Mulhern, Jr., Ijamsville, Md.- 10000m
Alexis Woodley, So., Chesapeake, Va.- 100m Hurdles
Men’s Qualifier
Lachlan Cook, So., Brisbane, Australia-10,000m
Alex Corbett, R-So., Burke, Va.- 10,000m
Oghenakpobo Efekoro, R-Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.- Shot Put
Ari Klau, R.-So., West Hartford, Conn.- 5000m
Hilmar Jonsson, Jr. Reykjavik, Iceland- Hammer Throw
Mike Marsella, GS, Hope Valley, R.I.- 1,500m
Matthew Novak, R-So., Glen Allen, Va.- 3000m steeplechase
Nace Plesko, Jr., Ljubljana, Slovenia- Shot Put and Discus
Jordan Scott, So. Portmore, Jamaica- Triple jump
Alfred Shirley III, Fr., Chesapeake, Va.- 400m
Chase Weaverling, Sr., Darnestown, Md.- 10,000m
Sam Young, R-So., Lewes, Del.- Pole Vault
Men’s 4x400m relay