Seeland Breaks 800-Meter Record, Cavaliers Open Weekend Strong
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams opened competition at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational, Clemson’s Tiger Paw Invitational as well as Liberty’s Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational as Esther Seeland continued her upward trend in the 800 meters.
David Hemery Valentine Invitational (Boston, Mass.):
Seeland continued an impressive campaign in the 800-meters as she raced to a second-place finish in her heat while posting a Virginia record time of 2:03.67. Seeland breaks her own record that was set just two weeks prior at the Penn State National where the State College native put her name in the Virginia record book in her first 800-meter race as a Cavalier. Since that race, Seeland has only looked more impressive as she ran 2:06.56 on the flat JDL Fast Track before breaking the school record once again.
Margot Appleton competed in the mile for the first time in her 2023 campaign as she came within a fraction of a second from setting a Virginia record of her own. The sophomore distance runner finished second in her heat knocking nearly four seconds off her personal-best to post a time of 4.33.82. Appleton’s time is the second-fastest indoor mile run by a Cavalier trailing the school record by just .28 seconds.
In the women’s 3000-meter run, Ellie Desmond posted a personal-best time of 9:24.18 while teammate Sophie Atkinson ran 9:25.92.
In the 5000 meters, Addison Cox set a personal best posting a time of 16:37.83 to finish ninth in her heat.
Tiger Paw Invitational (Clemson, S.C.):
In the 60-meter hurdles, Alix Still posted a personal best for the second consecutive week as she raced to a second-place finish in the first round of preliminaries clocking a time of 8.45 seconds as she advanced to the semi-final round.
In the women’s long jump, Jada Seaman led the Cavaliers with a jump reaching 6.18 (20’3.5”) while teammate Jordan Hardy jumped a personal-best mark of 6.12 meters (20’1”). With Hardy’s personal-best mark, she cracks Virginia’s all-time top-10 list ranking ninth all-time in the event at UVA.
Alex Sherman placed second in his heat of the 400 meters posting a personal-best time of 47.42 seconds. Sherman’s performance vaults him up on the Virginia all-time indoor performance list as his time ranks fifth in Virginia history. Jaden Lyons won his heat running a personal-best time of 48.80 while Evans White IV finished second with a personal best of 48.74. Emily Alexandru posted a personal-best of her own on the women’s side of the event as she clocked 55.82.
In the men’s weight throw, Jacob Lemmon continued his strong campaign in the weight throw by tossing for another personal-best performance as he posted a mark of 20.97 meters (68’9.75”) and finished third in the event.
Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational (Lynchburg, Va.):
In the men’s 3000-meter run, Andrew Jones took fifth overall in the event while posting a personal-best time of 8.09.35.
In the men’s 800 meters, Ethan Zeh led the Cavaliers placing seventh overall with a time of 1:52.28. Myles Plummer followed in eighth while Kenton Bachmann placed ninth.
Up Next:
The Cavaliers will be back in action tomorrow (Feb. 11) for the second day of competition at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational and the Tiger Paw Invitational.