Cavaliers Set Virginia DMR Record at Penn State National
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams closed competition at the Penn State National on Saturday (Jan. 28) where the men’s distance medley relay team took down a 14-year-old school record by running the top time in the nation.
The Cavaliers dazzled in the men’s distance medley relay as Gary Martin ran the 1200-meter leg, followed by Alex Sherman in the 400, Conor Murphy in the 800 while Yasin Sado anchored the team in the mile. Sado was handed the baton with a lengthy lead as he chased not only the victory but one of the top times in the nation. Sado ran a blazing 3:58.14 split and crossed the line to put Virginia’s time at 9:27.80 to give the squad not only the Virginia record, but the leading time in the NCAA this season.
On the women’s side of the event, Esther Seeland led off for the Cavaliers in the 1200 meters followed by Jada Seaman in the 400, Alahna Sabbakhan in the 800 and Margot Appleton in the mile. The Cavalier women posted a time of 11:05.66 which ranks fifth in Virginia history and ninth in the NCAA this season.
Sophie Atkinson and Camryn Menninger went 3-4 in the women’s 3000 meters as Atkinson clocked 9:21.65 while Menninger followed at 9:23.96. The Cavalier duo each stamped their names on the Virginia all-time performance list as their times rank fifth and sixth in Virginia history.
In the men’s 3000 meters, Derek Johnson and Wes Porter went 2-3 as Johnson recorded a time of 8:01.49 while Porter ran 8:02.49.
In the women’s high jump, Carly Tarentino took home her first-ever collegiate victory in the high jump. Tarentino cleared 1.70 meters (5’7”) which ties a personal best and is just 1.25 inches shy of cracking Virginia’s top-10 performances all-time.
In the women’s 400 meters, Emily Alexandru won her heat taking third place overall in the event with her time of 56.64 while teammate Abby Comella took sixth overall clocking 57.27.
On the men’s side of the 400-meters, Jaden Lyons led the Cavaliers winning his heat with a personal-best time of 49.86 seconds.
Liam Bellamy took home a victory in the 600 meters as he cruised to a time of 1:20.06. Myles Plummer placed second in his heat and third overall clocking 1:20.93.
In the women’s 200 meters, Jada Seaman took third place with her time of 24.15 seconds. Kayla Bonnick ran 24.60 to place seventh overall. In the unseeded section, freshman Sarah Akpan raced to a win in her heat clocking a personal-best 24.77 seconds. Akpan’s time ranks just outside the top-5 UVA all-time freshman performance list.
Ashley Anumba threw 15.67 meters (51’5”) in the shot put to take third place in the event.
From Director of Track & Field Vin Lananna:
“Today was a great showing to close out an excellent weekend of competition for our team as a whole. Each event area performed well against strong competition. We saw impressive individual performances as well as an inspiring race by our men’s DMR team. This was an important step forward for our team as we continue to progress towards the ACC Championships in February.”
Up Next:
The Cavalier men and women will be back in action across multiple meets as the upcoming schedule includes the Doc Hale Virginia Tech Elite Meet (Feb. 3-4), the JDL DMR Invitational (Feb. 4) and the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational (Feb. 4).