Men's DMR Sets UVA Record at Arkansas Qualifier

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. —  The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field program began the first day of three competitions including the Arkansas Qualifier, Terrier DMR Challenge and Virginia Tech Challenge on Friday (Feb. 16) as the quartet of Conor Murphy, Alex Sherman, Alex Leath and Gary Martin break the DMR record.

Murphy, Sherman, Leath and Martin set DMR Record

• At the Arkansas Qualifier, Cavalier juniors Alex Sherman and Conor Murphy, sophomore Gary Martin and freshman Alex Leath set a Virginia record in the distance medley relay (DMR) running a blistering time of 9:18.95 which places them first in the ACC and second in the NCAA indoor performance rankings.
• Martin anchored the relay in 3:51.94 for 1600m (fastest in the NCAA) leading the Cavaliers to the number-four performance in collegiate history.
• The quartet breaks the one-year-old record of 9:23.71 set at this meet last year by Conor Murphy, Alex Sherman, Gary Martin and Wes Porter.

Appleton continues her dominance in Boston

• At the Terrier DMR Challenge, Margot Appleton recorded her second-fastest mile time of the season crossing the line in 4:31.06.
• Appleton’s time was less than one second off the indoor school record (4:30.87) she set this season at Penn State.
• The junior owns the two fastest times by a UVA athlete this season to rank third in the ACC and 16^th in the NCAA (4:30.87).

Alexandru, Fletcher and Parenchuk sweep the 400m

• Junior Anzhelika Parenchuk led a trio of Cavaliers with a first-place finish in the women’s 400m dash clocking 55.36 for a season-best time at the Virginia Tech Challenge.
• Setting a new personal-best, freshman Ariel Fletcher crossed the line in 56.59 to finish second overall. Her time ranks sixth among freshman in the ACC.
• Rounding out the top-three to complete the Cavalier sweep, junior Emily Alexandru took third in a seasons-best 56.97.

 Cohen and Koepke set personal-bests

• At the Arkansas Qualifier, Shane Cohen ran 1:48.15 to crush his previous PB of 1:49.06 and finish fifth in the men’s 800m.
• Cohen recorded the second-fastest time by a Cavalier this season to move up to fourth in the ACC rankings.
• Michael Koepke equaled his personal-best of 7.02 in the prelim of the 60m dash before improving his time to 6.99 in the final at the Virginia Tech Challenge.

Strong showing from Djan and Lumpkin

• At the Virginia Tech Challenge, sophomore Peter Djan won the 60m hurdles final in 7.92.
• On her second throw, Bree Lumpkin threw 18.04m (59-2.25) in the women’s weight throw to propel herself to a second-place finish in Blacksburg, Va.

Up Next
The Cavaliers will be back tomorrow, Saturday (Feb. 17) for day two of competition at the Virginia Tech Challenge (Blacksburg, Va.).