The Virginia track and field teams had a successful weekend at the Penn State National Invitational at State College on Friday and Saturday, winning six events and breaking several program records in the process.
Junior Conor Murphy led UVA’s performances on Friday when he recorded the third-fastest time in school history in the 800 meters and finished first in 1:47.71, a time that also ranked third this season in the entire NCAA Division I.
Esther Seeland, a native of State College, Pennsylvania, celebrated her homecoming by breaking the UVA indoor 800 meter record and finishing third in 2:05.38.
Justin Rogers equaled the UVA rookie record in the pole vault with a mark of 5.01 meters, good for fourth overall. Caroline Dannenbaum took third place in the women’s pole vault.
Another freshman record was set in the men’s mile when James Donnahue finished second overall with a time of 4:01.97, dethroning a Virginia record that had stood since 2005. On the women’s mile, Ellie Desmond broke her personal best by a staggering 12 seconds. Sixth in 4:43.88.
Jada Seaman took the long jump win when her third attempt cleared 6.10 meters and led the rest of the field.
Jacob Lemmon had the third-best weight throw in UVA history at 20.92 meters, good for fifth place, and Peter Djan also placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.10 seconds.
Kayla Bonnick added a fourth place finish in the 60-meter dash, finishing with 7.46 seconds.
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Virginia finished Friday’s first day of competition with a 1-2 in the 5000m, with Jacob Hunter taking first place in 14:05.03, followed by Andrew Jones in 14:21.40 in second place.
On Saturday, the Hoos delivered their most impressive individual performance of the weekend as Virginia’s men’s medley relay team broke a 14-year program record and set the season’s fastest time in the country. Gary Martin, Alex Sherman, Conor Murphy and Yasin Sado finished first this season with a stunning 9:27.80 and a new fastest men’s DMR time in the NCAA.
On the women’s side of the DMR, the UVA team of Esther Seeland, Jada Seaman, Alahna Sabbakhan and Margot Appleton finished fourth in 11:05.66, the fifth fastest time in school history and the ninth fastest in the NCAA this season.
Virginia’s runners topped the leaderboards in both the men’s and women’s 3000 meters. Sophie Atkinson and Camryn Menninger finished third and fourth, while Derek Johnson and Wes Porter both took the podium and took second and third.
Sophomore Carly Tarentino captured her first collegiate win, breaking 1.70 meters in the high jump to take first place. Emily Alexandru added a third place in the 400 meters.
Liam Bellamy ran the 600 meters in 1:20.06 and took first place, while another cavalier, Myles Plummer, was third in 1:20.93.
Jada Seaman was third in the 200m with 24.15 seconds and Ashley Anumba was third in the shot put with 15.67m.
Virginia track and field teams will be represented at a variety of competitions this coming weekend as various Cavaliers competed at the Doc Hale Virginia Tech Elite Meet (Blacksburg, VA), the JDL Camel City Invitational (Winston-Salem, NC), and the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational (Boston, MA).
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