Tarentino Leads UVA on Final Day of Virginia Tech Invitational

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out the final day of competition at the Virginia Tech Invitational on Friday (Jan. 13) at Rector Field House.

Following an impressive performance to open the competition in which Peter Djan and Bree Lumpkin turned in impressive season-opening performances that rank in the top-10 all-time at Virginia, Carly Tarentino got the Cavaliers off to an excellent start as the team took home four more event wins to close out its first competition in 2024.

Tarentino Wins High Jump

• In her first outing of the 2024 season, Tarentino bagged a victory in the high jump while clearing a personal-best height of 1.75 meters (5’ 8.75”). Terentino’s clearance not only secured the victory but ranks as the eighth-best mark in UVA history.
• Virginia freshman Celia Rifaterra made her Cavalier debut in the event as well. Rifaterra placed second overall clearing 1.70 meters (5’7”) just one bar less than her teammate.

Pendarvis Victory Leads Virginia Sprinters

• In the men’s 200 meters, Jay Pendarvis picked up a win in the event. Peter Djan placed fourth in his section while Jeremiah Wilson placed second hin his heat.
• Sarah Akpan took home a runner-up finish in the women’s 200 meters clocking a time of 24.58 seconds.
• In the men’s 400 meters, Alex Sherman placed second in the event clocking 48.44. He was followed by teammate Jaden Lyons in third who posted 48.78.
• Virginia freshman Ariel Fletcher made her collegiate debut in the 400 meters and took home a runner-up finish in the event.

Cavaliers Sweep Distance Medley Relays

• In the men’s DMR, a Cavalier quartet featuring three freshman of Cayden Dyer, Gage Gose and Alex Leath and Wes Porter raced to a first-place finish.
• The Virginia women completed a UVA sweep of the event as a team of Caroline Timm, Sophia Akpan, Alahna Sabbakhan and Cate DeSousa took home a victory of their own.
• The Cavalier men’s 4×400 team posted a third place finish as a team of Alex Sherman, Jay Pendarvis, Gage Gose and Jaden Lyons clocked a time of 3:14.96

Romano Posts Season-Best

• Following an impressive freshman campaign in 2023, Sam Romano took home a third-place finish in the pole vault, clearing a mark of 4.12 (13’ 6.25”) to mark her best performance of the young season.
• Justin Rogers opened his season in the pole vault with a clearance of 5.05 meters (16’ 6.75”)

Lumpkin and Profit Open Shot Put Campaigns

• Virginia’s Brooke Lumpkin opened her 2024 season with a fifth-place finish in the shot put while marking a personal-best of 14.85 meters (48’ 8.75”).
• Janae Profit followed Lumpkin posting a seventh-place finish.

From Director of Track & Field Vin Lananna:
“This week as a great opportunity to for our team to get a competition under our belt in a high-training portion of the season. We saw great performances across each event area including displays from Peter Djan, Carly Tarentio and Bree Lumpkin. We will continue to improve each week as we progress closer to our program’s goals for 2024 indoor season.

Up Next:

The Cavaliers will travel back to Rector Field House next week when the teams begin competition at the Hokie Invitational on Friday (Jan. 19) and Saturday (Jan. 20).