On a day when many members of the Virginia indoor track team shined, Eliese Mitchell was undisputedly the day's brightest star.
The sophomore thrower bested her own school record by over two feet with a throw of 61 feet, inch (18.6 meters), and took first place in the 20-pound weight throw Saturday at the Winter Frolic in Newport News. Mitchell's throw also provisionally qualified her for the NCAA championship meet.
"I was really happy with it," Mitchell said. "I was trying to improve my previous throw to improve my NCAA placement. I wasn't thinking about the record. It didn't occur to me that I broke the record. I hugged my coach, though."
Virginia coach Randy Bungard thinks Mitchell may have thrown the weight farther than the distance measured.
"When she threw the weight, it immediately hit the boards," which are 62 feet away, Bungard said. "Since the weight doesn't make a mark on the ground they were throwing on, the scorer had to do it by eye. I think she threw more like 63 feet."
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Mitchell has much experience breaking the weight-throw record. This is the third time she has set a school record in her Virginia career. At the Virginia Tech Invite on Jan. 19, Mitchell tossed 58 feet, 4 inches (17.78 m), to break the record she set last year. Before Mitchell became a Cavalier, Laura Connolly held the record with a throw of 54 feet, 8 inches (16.67 m), set Feb. 2, 1996.
Mitchell's record-breaking performance Saturday "was a very pleasant surprise, but it wasn't a total surprise," Bungard said.
Mitchell has only thrown the 20-pound weight for the past two years. She was primarily a shot-putter in high school.
"She perhaps has reluctantly fallen in love with" the weight throw, Bungard said. "Success breeds success. Even though she broke the record, I think she has more in her."
Judging from her recent accomplishments, Mitchell is a very fast learner. She has already picked up the nuances of the event.
"I was pretty consistent at that distance" Saturday, Mitchell said. "I did change my style from a 3-spin to a 2-spin. I get more power out of it."
Mitchell was not the only Cavalier setting season bests in the field events at the Winter Frolic. Two other weight throwers and a long jumper also accomplished the feat Saturday. Bill Johnston threw a 35-pound weight 56 feet, 5 inches (17.19 m), David O'Rourke threw a shot put 47 feet, 2 inches (14.28 m), and Marion Mason jumped 24 feet, 2 inches (7.38 m), in the long jump. Johnston and Mason took first-place in their events while O'Rourke notched a third-place finish.
"We were pushing ourselves against ourselves," Mitchell said. "We all encouraged each other, giving each other high-fives and stuff."
Virginia's runners also had season-best performances on the track. Kiamesha Otey ran her fastest 60 meters this season and crossed the finish line in 7.6 seconds. Megan Schwartz followed in Otey's footsteps and ran the 800 in 2 minutes, 16.26 seconds.
"Next meet is the ACCs, so we should be peaking," Mitchell said.
Although Virginia did not face extremely tough competition at the Winter Frolic, the ACC Championships this weekend will prove to be an entirely different story altogether.
"ACCs in any sport is a battle," Bungard said. "It's just an emotional drain, so we wanted to get them to feel better [on Saturday] about what they were doing. Even though the competition wasn't stiff, [the team] did not see it like that"
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