Martin Earns ACC Athlete of the Week Honors

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Tuesday (April 30) that Gary Martin of the Virginia track and field program earned ACC Athlete of the Week status after a record setting weekend at the 2024 Penn Relays.

Gary Martin garners ACC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season for his outstanding performance in the men’s distance medley relay (DMR) and men’s 4xMile relay at the 2024 Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa. The Warminster, Pa. native is no stranger to the Penn Relays as he competed at the historic Franklin Field throughout high school career racing for Archbishop Wood.

In the College Men’s Distance Medley Relay Championship of America, the team of Wes Porter, Alex Sherman, Conor Murphy and Gary Martin joined forces to finish third among an extremely competitive field. Martin received the baton on the anchor leg from Murphy a few steps ahead of the competition. The field remained bunched until the final 200m of the race when each team began to surge. The clock flashed 9:36.61 as Martin stormed across the line in third place for the Cavaliers, recording a split time of 4:00.46 for 1600m.

In the College Men’s 4xMile Championship of America the relay team of Wes Porter, Will Anthony, Yasin Sado and Gary Martin finished runner-up in a blistering time of 15:52.30. Pulled along by Villanova’s collegiate record setting performance, the Cavaliers were able to also dip under the previous collegiate record to now own the second-fastest time in collegiate history and fourth-fastest time in world history in the event. The previous collegiate record stood at 16:03.27 set back in 2009 by Oregon. The top three finishers in Villanova, Virginia and Georgetown became the first collegiate teams in history to record a sub-16-minute 4xMile relay.

Returning from a dominate performance in the DMR a day prior, Martin again received the baton ahead of the competition from Sado on the penultimate leg. Martin led the field until about 50 meters to go when he was overtaken by Liam Murphy of Villanova. The Cavaliers turned in an impressive performance to break the Virginia record in the non-NCAA event by 22 seconds. The previous record stood at 16:14.48 set just one year ago by Nate Mountain, Conor Murphy, Martin and Porter.