History was made Saturday at Miami’s Cobb Stadium, where the Virginia men’s track and field team won the school’s first-ever ACC Outdoor Championship. The squad shared the title with three-time reigning NCAA champion Florida State, as both teams finished the three-day competition with 141 total points. It marked the first time since 1982 that two ACC teams shared the conference crown.
Virginia’s women’s team, meanwhile, also put forth a strong showing, finishing the meet in fourth place with a total of 74 points. Florida State won handily with 160 points, while Virginia Tech finished runner-up with 127 and North Carolina placed third with 123.
The men’s breakout showing was anchored by 11 All-ACC performances and two individual ACC titles. Senior All-American Yemi Ayeni won his third consecutive conference title in the discus with a heave of 189 feet, 7 inches, and sophomore Adams Abdulrazaaq earned the school’s first ACC title in the 110-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.16 seconds. Abdulrazaaq’s feat especially is impressive, as he has only been competing in hurdles for two years.
“To have the outcome turn out like it did was just really big,” Abdulrazaaq said. “Everyone was excited that it happened. So much team spirit was involved. It took every person that was competing, it took everybody. It was a huge team effort.”
The meet began on the right foot for the Cavaliers, as both the men’s and women’s sides led the field after the first day of competition, Thursday. Junior Meghan Briggs kick-started the squad’s productive day, heading a 1-3-5 Cavalier finish in the javelin for her second consecutive ACC title in the event with a throw of 162’0”. The 29 points the ladies collected the first day nearly amounted to their ACC indoor tournament total in February.
The men’s team made an equally impressive showing, as sophomore Ryan Collins led a sweep of the second- through fifth-place finishes in the 10K, finishing less than one second behind Florida State’s senior Steeve Gabart to claim the runner-up spot. Sophomore Emil Heineking joined Collins in taking ACC honors in the event, finishing in third place. The race gave Virginia 23 of its 30 total points for the day.
Virginia junior Ayla Smith qualified Friday for Saturday’s finals in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, beating her own school record in the 100-meter hurdles with 13.51 seconds. In the steeplechase, junior Stephanie Garcia, a tableau editor for The Cavalier Daily, ended with a bittersweet fourth-place finish, completing the race in 10:28.38 after recovering from a hard fall while leading the race. The women fell back to fourth place at day’s end, trailing first-place North Carolina by 15 points.
The 3,000-meter steeplechase highlighted the second day for the men in a somewhat unusual fashion. Though junior Steve Finley’s 8:59.74 runner-up finish was significant, freshman Andrew Mearns’ 9:09.71 fourth-place performance was perhaps even more noteworthy. Mearns lost his shoe early in the race and was forced to run about 90 percent of the race without it— a difficult feat, considering the steeplechase involves negotiating hurdles and 12-foot jumps over 3-foot deep water. The freshman’s performance seemed to embody the Cavaliers’ hard-nosed team effort during the weekend and this season, as Mearns did not make the cross country or indoor track teams but was given the chance to compete in the steeplechase.
“It was a really gutty performance, which was a catalyst on Friday night for the rest of the fellas to look at and say ‘If he can do it, so can I,’” Virginia coach Jason Vigilante said. “I think our team really owes a lot to Andrew Mearns’ performance on Friday night.”
The steeplechase gave the men’s side a much-needed 13 points and pushed them to within 14 points of first-place Florida State the final day of competition, Saturday. In addition to Abdulrazaaq’s and Ayeni’s outstanding title performances, the Cavaliers garnered critical points from several athletes. Seniors Andrew Jesien and Kevin Tschirhart picked up 13 points in the 1500-meter run, with Jesien earning a runner-up finish in 3:44.43 and Tschirhart picking up fourth place in 3:45.66. In the shorter 800-meter race, freshman All-American Lance Roller finished runner-up in 1:51.16 and sophomore Andrew Lobb grabbed a close third-place finish in 1:51.31. Sophomore Marcus Robinson finished third in the triple jump with a jump of 50’9.25”, the program’s fifth-best leap.
Heading into the final stretch of the meet, the men’s side found itself still squarely in second place and needed a solid performance in the 5,000-meter race before going up against Florida State in the 4-by-400-meter relay, an event in which the Seminoles hold the nation’s first- and second-best times. Collins came through for the Cavaliers with a crucial runner-up finish in the 5,000, pulling Virginia ahead of Florida State on the scoreboard 135-131. The meet was far from finished, however, as Virginia needed a strong showing in the 4-by-400 to hold onto its lead. Freshman Kevin Anding, Abdulrazaaq, Roller and sophomore All-American Meikle Paschal fought hard to make a pass in the final turn, but could not overtake Florida State runners. The Cavalier quartet’s third-place finish was just enough, though, as it knotted up the score at 141 with Florida State, resulting in a shared conference title between the two schools.
“What became exciting for us was focusing on the positives and focusing on the things that we had control over,” Vigilante said. “Regardless of the circumstance, we had to finish in the top three and we were able to."
The women’s side also put together a string of solid finishes the final day. In the discus, senior All-American Billie-Jo Grant finished runner-up with a toss of 166’4”, enabling her to claim her fourth All-ACC honor in the event. Senior Caitlin Kelly finished close behind, earning third place and her first All-ACC honor with a throw of 165’2”. In the 1,500-meter run, freshman Morgane Gay came in third place with a time of 4:22.11, the seventh-fastest time in program history.
“The women were outstanding,” Vigilante said. “I’m so proud of our ladies, the way they’ve gotten their act together in terms of becoming a cohesive team and worked on focusing on what the goals would be for the outdoor season. We scored over 100 percent more points than we did at the indoor championships, so we really did a phenomenal job on the women’s side.”
Up next for the Cavaliers are the coveted Penn Relays, a special event that draws huge crowds to watch elite athletes compete in non-timed events. Even famed Olympic medalist and world-record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica will be on hand. The meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia.
Vigilante, who is coaching his first outdoor season with Virginia since his arrival from Texas last summer, credits not only the athletes and assistant coaches for the teams’ incredible performances to this point in the season, but also a simple, consistent mindset.
“If you focus on the things that matter ... things like integrity, character, sacrifice, good things are the byproduct — it’s inevitable,” Vigilante said. “And all throughout this year, we’ve been able to do that. That’s how we got to this point, not necessarily focusing on one thing or another. We were able to focus on who we are as individuals and then what we contribute as individuals to the group.”
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