LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams opened their 2022-23 indoor seasons at the Liberty Kickoff as Virginia won eight events at the Brant Tolsma Indoor Track on Friday afternoon.
The day started with fireworks from UVA freshman Peter Djan. In his first career race, Djan opened up with a qualifying time of 8.12 in the 60-meter hurdles. That time ranks as the ninth-fastest in UVA history and the fourth-fastest from a freshman. Djan went on to finish second in the finals as the runner-up to Liberty’s Felix Lawrence. Jada Pierre placed third on the women’s side of the event in her first race of the season.
In the 60-meter dash, Virginia’s Kayla Bonnick and Sarah Akpan got their seasons started on the right foot. After posting the top-two times in qualifying, the Virginia pair went 1-2 in the final as Bonnick posted a win in her first race of the season.
The men’s 400-meters featured the debuts of three Virginia freshmen as Evans White, Luke Schroeder and Jaden Lyons each ran the first race of their collegiate careers. White notched a win in his first race while Schroeder and Lyons finished fifth and 12th respectively. On the women’s side, it was Anzhelika Parenchuk that earned a victory in her opening race of the new season as she ran a time of 57.15.
In the women’s 500-meters, Alahna Sabbakhan and Emily Alexandru went 1-2 to top the event while on the men’s side Tom Corel, Alex Sherman and Liam Bellamy opened their seasons in the event as well. Corel led the way in first place with a time of 1:03.98 while Sherman and Bellamy followed.
In the women’s 200-meters, the Cavaliers went 1-2-3 as Jada Seaman opened her season with a victory. Seaman was followed closely by Akpan and Bonnick in second and third while Jada Pierre picked up a fifth-place finish.
The day ended with a Virginia sweep of the men’s and women’s 4×400 relays. First for the Cavaliers, a team of Sherman, Lyons, Pendarvis and Corel cruised to a first-place finish posting an overall time of 3:16.11. A second crew of Cavaliers picked up a fourth-place finish as Schroeder, Trent, Bellamy and White posted a time of 3:20.41.
On the women’s side, a Virginia team of Parenchuk, Comella, Alexandru and Sabbakhan battled High Point in a close race. After the teams competed neck-and-neck throughout, Sabbakhan pulled away at the bell and finished with a time of 3:48.79.
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The Cavaliers will return to action on Friday, January 13…