CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia’s men’s and women’s track and field teams are set to compete in three different meets over the weekend. The Cavaliers will travel to Lynchburg, Va. to participate in the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational hosted by Liberty on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 11-12) while small portions of the team will travel to Clemson’s Tiger Paw Invitational (Feb. 11-12), and Boston University’s Valentine Invitational on Friday (Feb. 11).

Virginia will be joined by 23 schools at the competition including Campbell, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Duke, ETSU, Elon, Furman, High Point, James Madison, Liberty, Navy, NC State, North Carolina, North Florida, Penn, Radford, UNCG, UNCW, USC Upstate, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and William & Mary.

The Cavalier men’s and women’s teams each find themselves ranked outside the top-25 in the latest release of the USTFCCCA rankings. The men rank seventh in the southeast region while the women rank ninth.

DARIUS DIXON MEMORIAL INVITE DETAILS:

Dates: Friday (Feb. 11), Saturday (Feb. 12)

Location: Lynchburg, Va. (Liberty Indoor Track Complex)

Friday Start Time: 1:30 p.m.

Saturday Start Time: 10:30 a.m.

TIGER PAW INVITATIONAL DETAILS:

Date: Friday (Feb. 11), Saturday (Feb. 12)

Location: Clemson, S.C. (Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex)

Friday Start Time: 11:55 a.m.

Saturday Start Time: 11 a.m.


VALENTINE INVITATIONAL DETAILS:

Date: Friday, Feb. 11

Location: Boston, Mass. (BU Track and Tennis Center)

Virginia Start time: 5 p.m.

HOO TO WATCH:

Reigning ACC Champion and all-American, Owayne Owens, ranks second in the nation in the triple jump after a first-place performance at the Doc Hale VT Elite meet (16.43m / 53’11”) Owens earned ACC Field Athlete of the Week for his performance on Tuesday, January 18 after his first attempt at the event this season. Owen’s collected the honor for the second time this season on Tuesday, February 8. Owens ranks third on Virginia’s all-time performance list in the event.

Virginia freshman, Mia Barnett has started her Virginia career on a blistering pace in the distance events. In her first collegiate attempt at the mile at the Hokie Invitational (Jan. 21), Barnett threw down a time of 4:40.43. The time goes down as a Virginia freshman record and ranks sixth on the all-time indoor performance list. On the flat-surfaced JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem (Feb. 5) Barnett ran 4:40.45.

Barnett also played a role in helping Virginia to an 11:13.70 finish in the DMR, a time that ranks second all-time in Virginia history and ninth in the nation this season.

The Cavalier men’s distance runners have had a strong start to their season as well. Wes Porter (7:56.81) and Rohan Asfaw (7:58.14) each broke the eight-minute mark in the 3000m for the first time in their collegiate careers. The times move both runners into the top-ten on UVA’s all-time indoor performance list at the sixth and seventh places respectively.

The Virginia men rank 17th nationally in the DMR with a time 9:48.78 run by Yasin Sado, Will Trent, Liam Bellamy and Wes Porter.

ON THE HORIZON:

  • Virginia will compete at the JDL DMR Invitational and the Virginia Tech Challenge on Friday (Feb. 18) and Saturday (Feb. 19).