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ACC foes await Virginia in N.C.

Team heads to Durham this weekend for Raleigh Relays; outdoor meet will preview conference championships

As a warm-up meet for the upcoming ACC Championship in three weeks, the Virginia track and field team will travel to North Carolina this weekend to compete in the Raleigh Relays. Although the race marks only the second outdoor meet of the season for the Cavaliers, the competition - which will feature several conference opponents - is expected to be steep.

"It's one of the best meets on the East Coast," Virginia coach Jason Vigilante said. "It's still early, but there will be plenty of Division I teams to compete against, and I think it's a good way for us to segue from indoors to outdoors."

The meet provides several athletes who did not compete in an indoor season, such as senior All-American javelin thrower Meghan Briggs, the opportunity to solidify their mechanics and begin the season on the right note. Briggs lost by a slim margin in last year's event and ultimately placed second.

"I'm trying to get my form down and trying to work on the mechanics to make sure that everything's going well," Briggs said. "There's a lot more competition than a couple of the other meets that we usually start off with, so it's a great opener for me."

The team opened the outdoor season last week at George Mason University. It performed well in the relatively small meet, taking home five individual victories. Sophomore sprinter Kevin Anding stood out for the Cavaliers, winning the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.59 seconds and finishing runner-up in the 100m. He will compete in his main event, the 400m, this weekend.

"Having the 200m under my belt gives me more confidence," Anding said. "My 200m time is a good amount faster than last year, so it's a good indication that I should be able to run faster in the 400m."

For Briggs, the meet will provide a glimpse at the team's conference foes before the ACC Championship.

"I haven't really seen much competition from the ACC," she said. "It'd be good to see where the competition is going to come from at the [ACC Championships] at this meet."

Vigilante said he has emphasized to his athletes the importance of maintaining focus and avoiding costly setbacks, which could hamper the team's final result. In addition, the team will work to gain its bearings, he said, before regular season competition this season.

"I think these early season meets, the primary goal is to gain experience, get our timing down in the field events, and most importantly, remain healthy," Vigilante said. "The conference meet is three weeks away, and we want to make sure that everything we do between now and then is a logical step in developing our teams to perform as well as they can."

The meet will begin Friday 10:30 a.m. in Raleigh, N.C., and conclude Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

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