CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field program had a solid outing at the VT Challenge in Blacksburg, Va. and the ASICS Last Chance Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Saturday (Feb. 21) as the regular season winds down.
ASICS Last Chance Invitational
Winston-Salem, N.C.
- The Women's Distance Medley Relay team of Cate DeSousa, Ariel Fletcher, Ella Woehlcke and Tatum David combined to run a season best and Virginia No. 3 all-time mark of 10:53.27.
- Running under the previous facility and meet record of 10:55.49 set by NC State in 2023, the quartet's time ranks 16th in the NCAA this season.
- DeSousa led things off clocking 3:20.22 on the 1200-meter opening leg before passing the baton to Fletcher on the 400-meter leg (54.48).
- On the penultimate leg, Woehlcke split 2:08.09 for 800-meters before David crossed the line in 4:30.47 for 1600-meters to give the Cavaliers a final time of 10:53.27.
VT Challenge
Blacksburg, Va.
- Maya Rollins and Ava Rice went 1-2 in the prelims of the women's 60-meter hurdles clocking 8.40 and 8.50 respectfully. Rollins bettered her personal best from 8.42 to 8.40 and moved up to No. 5 all-time in program history.
- In the final, Rollins ran her second personal best of the day clocking 8.35 for the win and moved up to No. 2 all-time in program history.
- Similar to the prelim, Rice finished just behind Rollins in second place in the 60-meter hurdles final with her time of 8.40. Akpan finished fourth overall in 8.66.
- In the men's shot put, Jakob Alperin threw for a new indoor personal best of 17.09m/56-1 on his sixth and final throw to finish fourth overall. Alperin's mark is just off Virginia No.10 17.10m by Mike Murphy in 1993.
- In the men's 60-meter hurdles prelim, Peter Djan recorded the fastest qualifying time of 7.99 to advance to the final. Djan also qualified for the men's 60-meter dash final with the fastest qualifying time of 6.84.
- Djan won the men's 60-meter dash with his time of 6.91.
- Kaela Swift finished runner-up in the women's 60-meter dash crossing the line in 7.59.
- On her first of six throws, Suzie Kennelly threw a new personal best of 15.34m/50-4 to finish fourth in the women's shot put.
- The quartet of Alex Leath (1:50.48), Kayden Lightner (1:51.53), Harrison Witt (1:51.74), and Myles Plummer (1:51.78) finished sixth through nineth in the men's 800-meters. Leath and Plummer recorded season bests.
- In the women's pole vault, Samantha Romano cleared a season-best 4.09m/13-5 to finish sixth in the field. Romano cleared the first three bars on her first attempt at each height.
- Liam Paneque and Isaiah Hewton went 1-2 in the men's triple jump as Paneque leapt out 14.52m/47-7.75 while Hewton's furthest was 14.38m/47-2.25. Both recorded their furthest mark on their sixth jump of the competition.
Up Next
The Virginia men's and women's track and field teams are set to compete in the final competition of the regular season at the Saucony Battle for Boston in Boston, Mass. tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 22.