Scott’s School Record in Long Jump Helps UVA to Second Place at ACC Championships
Championship Central | Schedule of Events | Live Results
Blacksburg, VA – The Virginia men’s indoor track and field team is in second place following Friday’s events in Blacksburg at Rector Field House. The Cavaliers finished the second day of competition with 31 total points while Virginia Tech holds the lead with 37 points.
The Cavaliers’ efforts were highlighted by three awards podium appearances and a school-record performance by junior Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) in the long jump.
Competing in the event for the first time this season, Scott toppled the 10-year old long jump record on his second attempt of the day, covering 7.53 meters. That put him in fourth place overall entering the finals’ flight.
“Even though he has not jumped in the event this year, we knew he would here,” said Mario Wilson, UVA’s assistant coach for jumps. “Jordan has a lot of pride and wants to support the team. The team aspect of track has not always rung true for international students, but he’s really adapted to it and he wanted to do the most for his team today.
In the event finals, Scott opted to attempt one leap and moved up to third place and earned first-team All-ACC honors with an improved record leap of 7.58m (24’10.5″). Scott will compete in the ACC triple jump on Saturday. He currently holds the ACC record in the event (16.9m/55’5.5″) he set earlier this season.
“He broke the school record on his second attempt and I told him ‘You’re good. You are going to score points. You can rest for tomorrow’s triple jump,’ Wilson said. “But as the finals flight was going he said ‘Hey, I want to take more jumps. I want to go out and try to win it.’ So, he goes and breaks the school record again and secured third place, which is awesome.”
Scott was not the only Cavalier to total points for UVA in the long jump. Freshman Ayende Watson (Baltimore, Md.) placed sixth with a season-best performance of 7.41m (24’3.75″). That mark ranks as the seventh best effort in UVA history and the third best by a Cavalier freshman.
“Ayende has had some problems being consistent and fouling at times,” Wilson said. “Today he put it all together when it counted the most and scored some points for us. As a true freshman, in this field, you can’t ask for more than that.”
Virginia’s top place-finish on the day came from high jumper Brenton Foster. The junior from Townsville, Australia, placed second in the event with a top clearance of 2.16m (7’1″). After finishing the final attempt tied with Pitt’s Greg Lauray, he lost a jump off when Lauray made a height of 2.19m and Foster could not clear the bar.
Freshman Trey Causey (Winchester, Va.) picked up second-team All-ACC accolades in the high jump by placing fifth at 2.13m (6’11.75″). That was a personal best mark and improved the freshman record standard he had set previously this season.
UVA senior Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) also collected first-team All-ACC honors by placing third in the weight throw after entering the event as the No. 11 seed. His best toss was 20.60m (67’7″). It marked the second consecutive year he’s earned first-team all-conference honors in the weight throw. He was the runner-up in 2018.
Senior Emmanuel Jackson (Raleigh, N.C.) advanced to Saturday’s finals in the 60m high hurdles as the No. 8 seed after clocking a personal best time of 8.03. That moved him up to fifth place on UVA’s all-time list for the event.
The three-day championship runs through Saturday with events starting at noon on Saturday. ACC Network Extra will broadcast events on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. Links to the broadcast and to live results are available on VirginiaSports.com.
The ACC Championships serve as the men’s and women’s matchup between Virginia and Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash. The Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529 is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. Visit www.TheCommonwealthClash.com for more information and updated standings.