Virginia Opens NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Thursday

Meet Information | Schedule of Events | Tickets | Watch | Live Results | Notes

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., beginning on Thursday, May 23.
 
Virginia will take its largest roster since 2012 to the three-day meet in Jacksonville as 29 Cavaliers will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Cavalier men’s team, ranked 15th in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, qualified 14 athletes for the meet, while the women’s team advanced 15.
 
The NCAA Preliminary Rounds will serve as the qualifier for the NCAA Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas June 5-8. The top-12 finishers from each individual event and top-12 relay teams will advance from the East Preliminary Round.
 
How to Follow
FloTrack will broadcast the meet. A link to the stream, available with a subscription to FloTrack, and to live results is available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow the action with updates on the team’s official Twitter account (@UVATFCC).
 
Tickets
Fans can purchase tickets to the meet at unfospreys.com. Single session tickets are $15, while adult tickets for all three sessions are $35. Senior, youth and college students (with ID) can purchase tickets for all three sessions for $30.
 
Topping the Field
• Nine Hoos enter the weekend with a mark that ranks in East Region’s top 12.
• Junior Jordan Scott (Portmore, Jamaica) enters with the top jump in the country in the triple jump, recording a wind-assisted mark of 17.37m (57’0″) at the ACC Championships. His performance also ranks fifth in the world.
• Senior Hilmar Jonsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) and redshirt senior Oghenakpobo Efekoro (Brooklyn, N.Y.) enter the weekend with the second-best marks in the region. Jonsson set an Icelandic, Lannigan Field and school record in the hammer throw at the Virginia Grand Prix (April 26-27) with a throw of 75.26m (246’11”). In the team’s meet against Maryland and Pittsburgh, Efekoro recorded a mark of 20.37m (66’10”) in the shot put to rank him second in the region.
• With his opening throw in the javelin at the ACC Championships, freshman Ethan Dabbs (Johnstown, Pa.) recorded a mark of 76.04m (249’6″) to capture the third-best throw in the East Region.
• Senior Kelly McKee’s (Lenexa, Kan.) triple jump mark and junior Brenton Foster’s (Townsville, Australia) high jump mark rank fourth in the region. McKee set a school record with her jump of 13.70m (44’11.5″) at the Virginia Challenge (April 19-20). Foster’s performance at the ACC Championships also set a school record as he cleared a height of 2.23m (7’3.75″).
• Redshirt senior Bridget Guy (Greensburg, Pa.) cleared a height of 4.33m (14’2.5″) in the pole vault at the Virginia Grand Prix, recording the sixth-best jump in the region with the mark. She will compete as the fifth seed.
• Juniors Anna Jefferson (Warren, Mich.) and Andrenette Knight (Morant Bay, Jamaica) will represent the Cavalier sprinters as Jefferson ran a season-best time of 52.42 in the 400m dash at the ACC Championships. Her time ranks ninth in the region as she enters the meet seeded seventh. Knight’s time of 57.71 in the 400m hurdles from the conference championships ranks 11th in the region. She’s seeded 10th in the event.
 
Hoo Has Momentum
• UVA heads into the weekend with momentum after capturing a second-place finish on the men’s side and a third-place finish on the women’s side at the ACC Championships (May 9-11). Eight Cavaliers captured an ACC title at the meet with Scott recording the title in both the long jump and triple jump.
• Scott was named the Men’s ACC Field Athlete of the Meet after he swept the horizontal jumps at the conference meet. He opened the competition with a win in the long jump, jumping 7.83m (25’8.25″), setting a school record in the event. Scott followed with a win in the triple jump, reaching a wind-assisted mark of 17.37m (57’0″) on his final attempt. He also recorded a wind legal jump of 17.08m (56’0.5″) earlier in the series, setting an ACC, ACC meet, Lannigan Field and UVA record in the event.
• Jonsson completed a career sweep of the hammer throw, winning his fourth consecutive title in the event. He was the first competitor to win four back-to-back titles in the event. Jonsson threw a mark of 72.84m (239’0″) to top the field by 13 feet.
• Efekoro, Foster, Dabbs and Guy also won ACC titles in a field event. Efekoro topped the shot put with a throw of 19.32m (63’4.75″). Foster and Dabbs set school records in their respective events as Foster won the high jump, clearing a mark of 2.23m (7’3.75″) and Dabbs threw 76.04m (249’6″) in the javelin. Guy captured the women’s pole vault title, her second consecutive win in the event, clearing a height of 4.32m (14’2″).
• In the sprints, Jefferson won ACC title in the 400m dash, running a season-best in the event at 52.42 to edge second-place finisher Brittny Ellis of Miami by a tenth of a second. Knight topped the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.16.
 
Hoo’s Looking for a Return Trip
• Six members of the Cavaliers’ roster have previously advanced from the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
• Guy advanced to the outdoor championships for the first time in her career last year, becoming the first female All-America pole vaulter in school history. She tied for fourth place on the national stage, earning first-team All-America honors in the event. She also competed at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships where she finished fifth.
• Knight is looking to advance to her third NCAA Championship in the 400m hurdles. She finished 10th at last year’s championships competing with the Cavaliers and 11th in 2017 while running for San Diego State.
• A 2018 triple jump All-American, McKee advanced to the finals at the national championships in the event where she finished ninth. She earned second-team All-America honors.
• Competing in three events this weekend, Efekoro will look to add to his four career All-America honors. He advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships three times in the shot put, finishing sixth in 2018, fourth in 2017 and 11th in 2016. He also placed third at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships in the event. 
• Jonsson advanced to both the 2017 and 2018 NCAA Championships in the hammer throw. He finished fourth in 2017, earning first-team All-America honors, and 11th in 2018, earning second-team honors.
• Scott finished 10th at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships and 18th at the 2017 championships, being named to the All-America second team and honorable mention team, respectively.  He enters this weekend’s competition as the defending NCAA indoor triple jump champion.