Virginia Opens NCAA Championships on Wednesday
Meet Information | Tickets | Broadcast Schedule | Live Results | Notes
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Nine members of the Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams will open competition at the NCAA Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, June 5. The national championships will last four days, alternating between the men’s championship on Wednesday and Friday and the women’s championships on Thursday and Saturday.
How to Follow
ESPN will stream the field events on all four days on ESPN3. Running events on Wednesday and Saturday will be televised on ESPN2. Thursday’s track events will be carried on ESPN2 and ESPNU, while Friday running events will air on ESPN.
Links to the broadcast and to live results are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow the action on the team’s official Twitter account (@UVATFCC).
Tickets
Fans can purchase an NCAA Track and Field All-Session Package for $75 per adult and $35 for youth, students and seniors. Fans can also purchase reserved seating for all-four sessions for $130.
Hoo’s Competing
• Virginia will have nine athletes compete at the NCAA Championships.
• Six Cavaliers will make a return trip to the NCAA Championships, while three will compete in the outdoor championships for the first time.
• Redshirt senior Oghenakpobo Efekoro (Brooklyn, N.Y.) leads the team with his fourth consecutive NCAA outdoor appearance in the shot put.
• Senior Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) qualified for his third NCAA Championships in the hammer throw, while junior Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) will jump in the outdoor triple jump for the third time. For the third consecutive year, junior Andrenette Knight (Morant Bay, Jamaica) advanced in the 400m hurdles, competing her freshman year for San Diego State and last year for the Cavaliers.
• Redshirt senior Bridget Guy (Greensburg, Pa.) and senior Kelly McKee (Lenexa, Kan.) both qualified for their second outdoor championships. Both athletes made their first appearance at the outdoor championships last year as Guy competed in the pole vault and McKee competed in the triple jump.
• Graduate student Brent Demarest (Charleston, S.C.), junior Brenton Foster (Townsville, Australia) and freshman Ethan Dabbs (Johnstown, Pa.) qualified for their first outdoor championships. Demarest will race in the 10000m, while Foster will jump in the high jump and Dabbs will compete in the javelin.
Jumping Into Nationals
• Scott enters the competition with the top jump in the NCAA and sixth-best jump in the world this season, recording a wind-assisted mark of 17.37m (57’0″) at the ACC Championships where he clinched the conference title. In the same series, he recorded a wind-legal jump of 17.08m (56’0.5″), which set an ACC, ACC meet, Lannigan Field and UVA record. His performance this season earned him the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Southeast Region Field Athlete of the Year award. Scott also won the 2019 NCAA indoor triple jump title earlier this year.
• Two-time defending ACC pole vaulting champion Guy enters the week with the 13th-best jump in the nation at 4.33m (14’2.5″). She cleared her regional qualifying height of 4.17m (13’8.25″) at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Fla. (May 23-25) on her first attempt to tie for the top mark in the region. Guy is a two-time All-America, becoming Virginia’s first female All-American in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault.
• McKee placed second at the ACC Championships in the triple jump. She captured the NCAA’s seventh-best jump at the Virginia Challenge (April 19-20), jumping 13.70m (44’11.5″). Additionally, McKee is the first female Cavalier to earn back-to-back trips to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump since Dana Boone competed in the event in 1980-90-91.
• Foster advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the high jump where he finished 11th, earning All-America honors in the event. He set an outdoor school record at the ACC Championships, capturing the conference title with a jump of 2.23m (7’3.75″). His jump ranks ninth in the NCAA this season.
Hoo’s Throwing
• Jonsson set an Icelandic and UVA record in the hammer throw at the Virginia Grand Prix (April 26-27), throwing 75.26m (246’11”). He ranks second in the NCAA and 21st in the world in the event. He captured his fourth consecutive ACC title in the hammer, becoming the first ACC male competitor to clinch four straight titles in the hammer and the 11th to do so in any event.
• In his fourth NCAA outdoor appearance in the shot put, Efekoro ranks sixth in the NCAA this season with a mark of 20.37m (66’10”). He captured his first ACC title in the shot put at this year’s championship, recording a mark of 19.32m (63’4.75″).
• As a freshman, Dabbs has etched his name into UVA’s record book, setting a school record and capturing Virginia’s first ACC javelin title since 2003 with his throw of 76.04m (249’6″) at the ACC Championships. The throw is the fifth-best mark in the NCAA this season. Dabbs concluded the regular season undefeated winning the javelin at all three of Virginia’s home competitions.
Running the Race
• Knight captured the 2019 ACC 400m hurdle title, winning the event at the ACC Championships with a time of 58.16. She topped the performance at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, running a season-best time of 57.05 to place fifth in the region. Knight’s season-best time ranks 13th in the nation this season.
• Demarest ran a career-best time at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds to punch his first ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The two-time cross country All-American ran a time of 28:54.69 in the 10000m to finish third in the region. His time ranks 24th in the NCAA this year.