CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia’s standout triple jumper, Owayne Owens, has been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year for Indoor Track & Field the league announced Tuesday (April 11). Owens becomes the first Cavalier to garner the award for the indoor track and field season and leads a Virginia program that landed 45 total All-ACC Academic honors, the most of any ACC program.
A native of Montego Bay, Jamaica, Owens comes off his best indoor season in which he earned first-team All-ACC honors. Owens capped his spectacular season with a personal-best mark of 16.69 meters (54’9.25”) to win bronze at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The performance ranks second all-time at Virginia and saw Owens achieve his highest finish at an NCAA Championship meet securing first-team All-American honors for the second consecutive season. He was also honored by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association as the Southeast Region Field Athlete of the Year.
On the academic side, Owens is pursuing his graduate degree in Public Policy and Leadership following an outstanding career at UVA. His academic accolades include being named the first Cavalier from the men’s track and field program to be named a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Owens has been named a USTFCCCA Academic All-American and is a four-time All-ACC Academic team selection. He is the first Virginia track and field student-athlete to earn the ACC Scholar-Athlete award for the indoor season and fourth overall.
The Virginia men’s and women’s teams combined to place the most student-athletes on the All-ACC Academic teams of any other ACC track & field program with 45 total selections. The Cavalier men led all men’s teams with 24 student-athletes making the cut while the Virginia women’s 21 selections rank second among ACC women’s teams.
Academic requirements for selection to the team are a 3.0 grade point average for the previous semester and a 3.0 cumulative average during one’s academic career. In addition, student-athletes must have competed in the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships and/or the NCAA Indoor Championships during the most recent season.
Virginia Men’s All-ACC Academic Selections (24)
Will Anthony, Virginia, Arts & Sciences
Liam Bellamy, Virginia, Commerce
Tom Corel, Virginia, Leadership & Public Policy
Nigal Davis, Virginia, Kinesiology
Peter Djan, Virginia, Engineering
James Donahue,…