RALEIGH, N.C. – Competitors from the UVA men’s track and field team won four events and toppled several Cavalier freshman records to highlight day two at NC State’s Raleigh Relays.
Owayne Owens (Montego Bay, Jamaica) won the triple jump with a leap that placed him third on UVA’s all-time performance list. A first-team All-American in the event as an indoor competitor, Owens hit a winning mark of 16.29 meters (53’ 5.5”) on his first attempt of the day. That stands nationally as the fifth-best triple jump this season.
The Cavaliers’ fabulous freshman duo of Claudio Romero (Santiago, Chile) and Jacob Lemmon (Sanibel, Fla.) captured the top two spots during the men’s discus competition. Romero’s best throw of 61.50 meters (201’ 90”) proved to be a UVA freshman record and stands as the third-best on the Cavaliers’ all-time performance chart. Romero opened his Virginia outdoor career last weekend by winning the UVA Opener with a toss of 58.54 meters that registered second on the UVA freshman list. Lemmon took second place on Friday with an effort of 56.31 meters (184’ 9”).
Virginia also picked up a sweep in the 400 meters. Jordan Willis (Williamsburg, Va.) improved on personal best time with a clocking of 46.10. He ranks fourth on the UVA performance list. Brandon Outlaw (Moorestown, N.J.) used his second-place finish (46.35) to record the fifth-best performance by a Cavalier for the distance.
Claudio Romero, Owayne Owens and Brenton Foster in action at the Raleigh Relays.
UVA’s fourth win came in the high jump where grad student Brenton Foster (Townsville, Australia) won with a best clearance of 2.08 meters (6’ 9.75”).
“This has already been a great weekend for our team,” said Vin Lananna, UVA’s director of track and field and cross country. “I think we took a giant leap forward and we’ve still got one more day to go.”
Anna Jefferson (Warren, Mich.) took second place in the 400 meters (53.90), Thelma Kristjánsdóttir (Reykjavik, Iceland) was fourth in the women’s discus (50.13m / 164’ 5”) and Rebecca Hawkins (Sidcup, London) was fifth in the high jump (1.70m / 5’ 7”) to lead the Cavalier women’s team on Friday.
The third and final day of the Raleigh Relays gets started Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Paul Derr Track and Field Facility.