The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams concluded their competitions at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Hill City Twilight in Lynchburg, Virginia on May 2. The Cavaliers posted a total of 14 personal and season-best performances across both events.
The significance of these results lies in the number of top finishes and record-setting performances achieved by Virginia athletes during these meets.
At the Larry Ellis Invitational, Janae Profit finished second in the women’s discus throw with a mark of 53.73 meters on her final attempt. Freshman Alex Jackson placed fourth in the shot put with a personal best of 17.41 meters, which is now ninth-best in program history, eighth-best this season among Atlantic Coast Conference competitors, and fifth all-time for freshmen at Virginia. Brooke Lumpkin secured third place in shot put with a distance of 16.29 meters while Profit followed closely behind in fourth place at 16.20 meters.
In Lynchburg at the Hill City Twilight meet, Katie Payne won the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best time of 10:30.27—a result that places her tenth on Virginia’s all-time list and second among program freshmen. Maya Rollins claimed victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 13.32 seconds; this ranks sixth among ACC competitors this year and improved her standing as third-fastest ever for Virginia under wind-legal conditions.
Gary Martin led the men’s team by winning the men’s 1500 meters with a time of 3:34.12—fourth fastest nationally this NCAA season—while Justin Wachtel finished fifth overall with his own personal best (3:40.34), placing him tenth all-time for Virginia athletes.
Additional notable results included Cayden Dyer’s new personal best (3:45.04) to finish top ten in men’s 1500 meters; Tatum Olesen’s third-place finish (2:06.61) as a new personal best for women’s invitational section of the women’s 800 meters; Tyler Edson (1:48.28) and James Ford (1:50.79) setting season-bests to finish fifth and eighth respectively in men’s invitational section; Ma’Khi Falkquay (11.86 seconds) winning ahead of Sarah Akpan (11.91 seconds) as they went one-two in women’s sprints; Anders Felts took first place with his own career-best time (48.01 seconds) over men’s 400-meters debutant Sam Rodman who placed third alongside Evans White IV (fourth), Gage Gose (fifth), each achieving their respective season-bests.
Falkquay also led another sweep alongside Akpan for first- and second-place finishes over women’s two-hundred meter race while Madison Townsend matched Samantha Romano clearing identical heights to lead women’s pole vault event.
Looking ahead, Virginia will compete next at Duke Twilight on Sunday before returning to Lynchburg for Liberty Twilight Qualifier later that week.
