Multi-Events Shine on Day One of ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships
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Note: This story has been updated to show the UVA men’s DMR team officially recorded a fifth-place finish after three teams were disqualified after a race review.
Notre Dame, IN – Outstanding performances in the multi-events highlighted Virginia’s first day of competition at the ACC Championships at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center.
Freshman Derek Pekar (Ventura, Calif.) posted personal-best marks in all four events during the first day of the heptathlon to enter Friday’s final day of competition in second place, just 30 points behind Louisville’s Micah Oberhausen. Pekar totaled 3,055 points, fueled by first-place performances in the long jump and the high jump.
Pekar opened the meet with a PR (7.20) in the 60-meter dash and followed that up with a win in the long jump on a season-best leap of 11.74m (23’6.75″). After recording his best throw in the shot put (11.74m/38’6.25″) he handily won the high jump at 1.99m (6’6.25″), bettering his previous best mark by two inches.
Pekar entered the ACC Indoor Championships with the second-best heptathlon score (5,354) in school history, which is also the program’s UVA freshman record.
Teammate Elby Omohundro (Midlothian, Va.) matched Pekar in the high jump until the final round, finishing second at 1.93m (6’4″). He finished the day in third place in the points standings at 2,918. The high jump was one of three PRs by the Cavalier freshman on the day. He also set best marks in the long jump (6.92m/22’8.5″) and shot put (11.79m/38’8.25″).
On the women’s side, sophomore Alix Still (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) earned second-team All-ACC honors for her sixth-place performance in the pentathlon. She finished with a career-best 3,657 points including PRs in the 60-meter hurdles (8.86), shot put 10.22m (33’6.5″) and 800 meters (2:21.94).
UVA’s men’s distance medley relay team of senior Randy Neish (Glastonbury, Conn.), junior Brandon Outlaw (Moorestown, N.J.), freshman Ethan Zeh (Wayne, Pa.) and sophomore Colton Bogucki (Purcellville, Va.) finished fifth while the Cavalier women’s distance medley relay team of (graduate student) Haley Yost (New Tripoli, Pa.), senior Alexis Woodley (Chesapeake, Va.), freshman Alahna Sabbakhan (Washington, D.C.) and junior Kiera Bothwell (Springfield, Va.) was eighth.
The UVA men are in ninth place following the first day of competition while the women figure eighth in their competition.
The three-day championship runs through Saturday with events starting at 11 a.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday. ACC Network Extra will return to provide coverage at the Friday and Saturday sessions. Play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney will be joined by veteran analyst Larry Rawson and statistician/researcher Dave Milner from 2-8 p.m. on Friday and from noon until the meet’s conclusion (approximately 4:30 p.m.) on Saturday.
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.