This past weekend, the Virginia long distance team headed back up north to Boston for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational. The meet included many personal best times for the Cavaliers along with a surprising turn of events in the men’s 800-meter invite.
The David Hemery Invitational was split into two days, with the men competing Friday and the women Saturday.
Junior Tyler Edson, a transfer from University of Maryland, had an incredible race in the men's 800-meter invite. Edson was slated in the fourth heat. These heats are based on the personal records of the runners with the fastest runners set in the first heat and then the next group of runners with times behind them set in the second.
The race was set up with a waterfall start, pushing Edson to the group ahead of the line in the outside lanes along with the pacer and Boston University’s sophomore Thomas Cowan next to him.
Initially, Edson got out in front of Cowan and settled in behind the pacer but as the outside waterfall group joined the rest of the runners at the rail, Edson was usurped by Cowan. Cowan settled in behind the pacer and for the next two laps, Edson stayed in his second overall position.
In the final lap of the race, Edson made his move. He kicked into gear at the end of the first curve, passing Cowan and taking the lead. Edson held off Cowan, crossing the line ahead of him into first with a time of 1:46.48.
However, Edson was not simply first in his heat, he won the entire event. He also now holds the No. 2 Virginia time and stands at No. 10 in the NCAA.
The rest of the team was staying busy, too, claiming new personal records.
Freshman Kayden Lightner ran the 800-meter in the regular section with a personal best of 1:51.45.
In the men’s mile invite, graduate students Will Daley and Nate Mountain crossed the line under the four-minute mile mark. Mountain ran 3:54.88 — the third fastest Virginia time ever — and placed 15th, while Daley ran 3:59.19.
Graduate student Billy Atkinson, also running the mile invite, had a personal best of 4:00.91. Justin Wachtel, too, had a strong race, clocking in for a personal record in the 3km in 7:50.20.
Senior Gary Martin was also set to run the 3km, but did not end up racing.
The team returned the following day for the women's races.
In the women’s mile invite, junior Tatum David nabbed the Virginia No. 2 record with her time of 4:28.10, while junior Gillian Bushée dropped a full 15 seconds off her previous personal record in the 5km with her time of 15:55.58.
Also skimming time off her personal record was junior Cate DeSousa with a 13-second drop in the 3km. DeSousa’s time was 9:18.39.
Finishing off the meet for the women was sophomore Ella Woehlcke in the 800-meter race. Woehlcke also established a new best time of 2:07.38.
This meet has been the distance Cavaliers’ strongest showing so far, but it will be up to them to develop this momentum into a strong championship season
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