Virginia Advances Nine to Finals on Day Two of ACC Indoor Championships
BOSTON, Mass. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams continued competition at the ACC Indoor Championships on Friday (Feb. 23) where the Virginia men qualified four runners to the finals in the mile on Saturday. The Virginia women ended the day in third place while the men finished the day in fourth.
Virginia dominated the men’s mile as four Cavaliers punched their tickets to the finals tomorrow (Feb. 24). Gary Martin and Wes Porter led things off as the duo went 1-2 in the second heat to secure automatic qualifiers. Nate Mountain took care of business in heat three, finishing in second to earn an automatic bid. In the fourth and final heat of the day, Virginia’s James Donahue battled to the finish to earn his spot. Porter and Donahue come off an exhilarating gold medal winning performance in the distance medley relay (DMR) Thursday night.
Leading wire to wire, Anna Workman won heat three of the women’s mile to earn an automatic qualification to the final. Workman crossed the line in 4:41.94, the fourth fastest time across the four heats. Teammate Caroline Timm finished third in her heat running 4:41.23 to earn a time qualifier. Both Workman and Timm are set to compete in their first conference final on Saturday. The heat will feature a competitive field with three athletes ranking in the top-25 in the NCAA this season.
In the sprints, Peter Djan battled to the finish of the 60m hurdles. Despite clipping the final hurdle, Djan crossed the line in 7.89 to finish second in his heat and third overall. Saturday will mark the sophomore’s first conference final after finishing 10th in the event one year ago. Alex Sherman won his heat of the 400m dash crossing the line in 47.28. Unlike other events, the 400m final is comprised of the top eight times across all heats with no automatic qualifiers. Sherman finished sixth overall to advance to his first conference final.
Conor Murphy topped his heat in the 800m to secure an auto-qualifier to tomorrow’s final. Murphy qualified for his second conference 800m final in as many years, winning silver at these championships last season. Entering the weekend, Murphy’s personal-best of 1:46.95 ranks eighth in the NCAA this season.
Ethan Robinson began the second day of competition in the heptathlon in seventh place with a total of 3051 points. Leading off the day in the 60-meter hurdles, he finished second and posted a time of 8.12 seconds to earn another 952 points. In the final event of seven, Robinson set a new personal-best in the 1000m by eight seconds, crossing the line in 2:31.59. At the conclusion of events, Robinson had accumulated a new personal-best 5503 points to finish seventh overall and remain the third best performer in school history.
The Cavaliers qualified a total of nine (7 men, 2 women) to the finals on Saturday (Feb.24).
From Director of Track & Field Vin Lananna:
“The team competed hard today. We saw great performances in the men’s mile to send four guys to the final. Anna Workman led her heat wire to wire in the women’s mile and Ethan Robinson picked up important points in the heptathlon. I think that both teams have positioned themselves to do some great things tomorrow. We have excellent competitors scheduled to compete across a variety of events including the triple jump, 800 meters, 3000 meters and 60-meter hurdles.”
Women’s Team Standings
(6 of 17 events scored)
Notre Dame, 49
Virginia Tech, 25
Virginia, 23.5
NC State, 21
Pitt, 21
Duke, 20
Georgia Tech, 18.5
Clemson, 17.5
Miami, 15
Wake Forest, 7
Boston College, 6
North Carolina, 4.5
Louisville, 3
Syracuse, 2
Florida State, 1
Men’s Team Standings
(7 of 17 events scored)
Louisville, 43
North Carolina, 39
Virginia Tech, 39
Virginia, 30
Florida State, 27
Notre Dame, 26
Miami, 24
Duke, 18
Clemson, 8
NC State, 8
Wake Forest, 4
Pitt, 3
Syracuse, 3
Boston College, 1
Georgia Tech, 0
Up Next:
The ACC Indoor Championships will resume tomorrow for the final day of competition (Feb. 24) beginning with the men’s triple jump at 11 a.m.