Williford named hoops assistant at U.Va.
By Jeff White
Published: April 11, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Former University of Virginia basketball standout Jason Williford is returning to his alma mater.

Williford, a Richmond native, yesterday accepted an offer from Tony Bennett to become an assistant coach at U.Va., the Richmond Times-Dispatch learned. It's not known when an official announcement from Virginia will come.

Bennett, who recently replaced Dave Leitao as the Cavaliers' coach, could not be reached for comment.

Williford, 35, has been a Division I assistant for nine seasons. The first five were at Boston University, where his boss was Dennis Wolff, a former U.Va. assistant. In May 2005, Williford moved to American University, where he was reunited with Jeff Jones, who'd coached him at Virginia.

American has won the past two Patriot League titles. In an interview before AU's game with Villanova in the NCAA tournament's first round last month, Jones praised Williams' passion for coaching.

"He didn't come in thinking that, because he'd played, he had all the answers," Jones said. "I think he understands there's a hell of a lot more to coaching than having played or knowing the game. He's really been a student of the profession."

A 6-6 forward, Williford was The Times-Dispatch's player of the year as a John Marshall High senior. He went on to start 83 games for Jones and was a team captain as a senior in 1994-95, when U.Va. advanced to the NCAA tournament's fourth round.

Williford's wife, the former Kwamina Thomas, also is a U.Va. graduate. They have a son, Austin, and are expecting another child.

Twice previously Williford had tried to get an assistant's position at Virginia. Not long after Leitao took over as Virginia's coach in 2005, he offered Williford a job as the team's director of basketball operations. Williford turned it down, because the position would not have allowed him to recruit or to work with players during practices.

In July 2006, Williford was a candidate to fill the vacancy created by the departure of assistant Gene Cross. but Leitao chose Bill Courtney instead.

Bennett's new staff also includes associate head coach Ritchie McKay and Ron Sanchez, who was an assistant under Bennett at Washington State. What Sanchez' role will be at U.Va. isn't clear.



 

Williford accepts spot on Virginia staff
By Whitey Reid
Published: April 10, 2009

New Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett doesn’t waste any time.

On Thursday, he interviewed American University assistant coach Jason Williford for a spot on his staff. On Friday, Bennett hired him, sources told The Daily Progress.

Williford, 35, joins Ritchie McKay and Ron Sanchez on Bennett’s staff. The Virginia alum will give the program a much-needed recruiting presence in the region.

“He’s been up here and knows the D.C. area,” said American forward Brian Gilmore, who played under Williford. “He lived in Richmond growing up, so he knows that area and the 757 area, so he knows Virginia really well.

“He’s a charismatic guy and really gets along with the young guys. I could just see him being a really great recruiter.”

Williford interviewed twice for spots on former Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s staff. The first time he turned down the opportunity to be the director of basketball operations. Two years later, he interviewed for the assistant’s spot that wound up going to Bill Courtney.

Williford, who helped lead American to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in the last two years, worked primarily with the Eagles’ big men. The former Virginia captain will likely continue in that role with current UVa big men Assane Sene, Mike Scott and John Brandenburg, among others.

Williford played at Virginia from 1992-95 and was a captain on the Cavaliers team that reached the Elite Eight his senior year. He has been a Division I assistant coach for nine years, spending the past four at American under former Virginia player and coach Jeff Jones. He spent the previous five seasons as an assistant at Boston University under former UVa assistant Dennis Wolff.

Gilmore believes Bennett made a great hire.

“He has great enthusiasm,” Gilmore said. “He really does a good job with getting guys ready and excited to play. He just has that fire that he had when he played at UVa. He carried that straight over to coaching.

“Any of our guys would tell you like that it’s like he’s still playing. He just has so much excitement. That’s a pretty cool dynamic.”

 

Miscellany from the Capital Classic
Jeff White
Apr 10, 2009

WASHINGTON – Last night found me at American University’s Bender Arena, site of the 36th annual Capital Classic. During the preliminary game, I spoke to American assistant coach Jason Williford and U.Va. recruit Tristan Spurlock, among others.

Williford, a former U.Va. basketball standout, hopes to return to his alma mater. He interviewed Wednesday in Charlottesville with Tony Bennett and may learn today if there’s a spot for him on the Cavaliers’ staff.

Spurlock, a 6-8 forward from Woodbridge, is as media savvy a high school player as you’ll find. Before I talked to him, he sat down on camera for an interview with Channel 29’s hard-working Lindsay Murphy.

In our conversation, Spurlock touched on a variety of subjects. His official visit to Virginia starts this evening, and it’s of utmost importance to Bennett. Spurlock was very close to Dave Leitao and hasn’t ruled out asking for a release from his letter of intent. My sense is that Spurlock would prefer to honor his commitment, but he needs to be convinced that he can thrive in Bennett’s offense.

Here are some of Spurlock’s comments:

*On his experience in another all-star game, the Charm City Challenge in Baltimore, where he won the dunk contest last weekend:

“The Charm City was fun. I did better in practice than I actually did in the game. I couldn’t get anything to fall for me, but the dunk contest was fun. I got a chance to really show everybody my athletic ability. I actually jumped over one of the judges.”

*On his reaction to the news last month that Leitao and U.Va. had parted ways:

“It was huge for me, because I’ve known him since I was a freshman. You know somebody for four years of your life, and all of the sudden, just boom, [he’s gone]. But that’s not the case. I still speak to him occasionally. He likes to check up on me, make sure I’m doing OK. But for me it was a huge shock. It was huge.”

*On Leitao’s advice as Spurlock considers playing for Bennett and U.Va.:

“He’s been very supportive of me. I honestly thought that he was going to come and be like, ‘No.’ But he’s been, ‘Hey, whatever’s best for you and your family is best for you and your family, and I’m going to give you support whether you don’t or do go.’ He has a lot of support for me as a player, he knows what I can do, and that’s really big for me.“

*On his meeting last week with Bennett at the Spurlocks’ home:

“I think Coach Bennett is a great person. From everybody I’ve heard that he’s a great guy, and you don’t really get to see it till you meet him. He’s a great guy, and I appreciate him for coming that night, which was very huge for me and will be huge in my decision. Just for me it’s more so getting to figure out what his system is going to be, what he wants to run and [whether] he wants to really get after it on offense … I really want to see what his system looks like and meet the coaches. I’ve spoken to a couple of them – Coach [Ritchie] McKay, Coach [Ron] Sanchez – I want to just meet them and get familiar with them. I already know all the players. I speak to them weekly, so that’s not a problem. They’re still the same. Charlottesville’s still the same, so that’s not the issue.“

*On whether Bennett showed videotape of his Washington State teams to Spurlock:

“He didn’t show me any tape, but my dad’s really big on facts, and he had a lot of facts and questions. And [Bennett] answered all of them to be best of his ability. For me, he pretty much said he didn’t have enough talent to really get after it and run. So if you don’t have talent to run, you can’t run and expect everything to work.”

*On whether he’s trying to sell John Marshall High junior Travis McKie on joining him at Virginia:

“Travis is like my little brother … Every time we speak it always ends with that conversation. But lately we haven’t been talking about basketball. We’ve just been talking about working out. The summer’s really big for him. I told him he’s going to need to have a real big summer if he wants to be a McDonald’s All-American, which he can be. I’m just excited about that.”

*On whether he feels better about U.Va. now than on the day when Leitao resigned undere pressure:

“Big time. When you don’t know how who your coach is going to be, and there’s a lot of speculation, it’s kind of nerve-wracking. For me, I got all that settled, and I just worked out. I worked out like nobody’s business. I woke up at 5 a.m., shot about 300 jumpers and then went right back at it at 4:30 [p.m.] and got another 200 in. Just different things like that.”

*On his timetable for deciding whether he’ll stick with U.Va. or open his recruitment back up:

“Tuesday at the latest. I want to make sure everything’s good to go. Because I’m a senior. I got 24 days of school left. So I’m really try to get all of this settled and really knocked out of the box.”

Tech, U.Va. signees shine in D.C.
By Jeff White
Published: April 11, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The on-court chemistry between Erick Green and Tristan Spurlock was impossible to miss Thursday night at American University's Bender Arena.

Here was Spurlock feeding Green for a midrange jump shot. There was Green lobbing an alley-oop pass to Spurlock for a behind-the-head dunk. Ninety seconds later, there was Green stealing the ball and passing ahead to Spurlock for a breakaway slam.

They clearly enjoyed playing together at the 36th annual Capital Classic. Too bad Green and Spurlock are likely to be rivals for the next four seasons.

Green, a 6-4 point guard from Winchester, signed with Virginia Tech in November. Spurlock, a 6-8 forward from Woodbridge, signed with the University of Virginia.

"I told him he couldn't talk to me for long, because the cameras might see us," Spurlock, a senior at Word of Life Christian Academy, said with a smile after he and Green helped the Capital All-Stars whip the U.S. All-Stars 129-98.

"We were just out there having fun," said Green, who attends Paul VI Catholic High. "I didn't know he could jump that high."

The U.S. All-Stars included Petersburg High's Cadarian Raines, a 6-9, 220-pound senior who'll join Green at Tech. In 19 minutes, Raines contributed nine points, two rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal. He was only 1 for 4 from the line but made 4 of 7 attempts from the floor.

"I can't wait to play with him next year," Green said.

For his part, Green totaled 10 points (on 5-for-7 shooting), three assists, three rebounds and a game-high four steals in only 16 minutes.

"That's my specialty," said Green, who as a junior helped Millbrook High win the state Group AA title. "I love to play defense."

During one first-half sequence, Green swiped the ball from an opponent and dribbled in for a layup, only to see Raines answer with an emphatic dunk.

"I think I did pretty good out there," Raines said.

Spurlock left AU in high spirits, too. At another all-star game, the Charm City Challenge in Towson, Md., he'd struggled last weekend, making only 2 of 11 shots from the floor. In the Capital Classic, Spurlock was 5 for 10. He was 4 for 6 from the line and also had four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

"It felt great," said Spurlock, who was named to the all-tournament team. "Charm City felt like the hoop was as small as my fist. I couldn't get anything to drop."

Spurlock's official visit to U.Va. began yesterday, and there's much at stake for new coach Tony Bennett. Spurlock signed to play for Dave Leitao, who resigned under pressure last month, and Spurlock needs to be convinced that Virginia is still a good fit for him.

By Tuesday, Spurlock expects to have decided whether he's sticking with U.Va. or opening his recruitment back up. He likes what he's seen of Bennett, who visited the Spurlock family April 2 in Woodbridge, but has questions about U.Va.'s new offense.

Raines' teammates Thursday night included another player who's had an eventful recruitment. Lamont "MoMo" Jones, a guard from Oak Hill Academy, orally committed to Virginia Tech during the season. Jones didn't sign a letter of intent, however, and he's now looking at other schools, including Southern California, Maryland, UCLA and Memphis.

Tech is "a great program," Jones said after scoring 18 points in the Capital Classic. "Don't get me wrong. Coach [Seth] Greenberg is a great coach. They have great players. Malcolm Delaney is a great player, but I have to do what's best for me. I can't do it because it's best for the coach or it's best for the players. I have to do it because it's best for me."



 

UVa staff still in transition
Interest heating up for Rockbridge County OL
By Doug Doughty

“I can’t really say what colors I’m wearing right now,” said Jason Williford, caught on his way into Washington’s Gonzaga High School on Friday morning.

“All I know is that I’m recruiting.”

Technically, Williford was recruiting on behalf of American University, although he would not be talking to any of the underclassmen he would be watching at an “open gym.”

Williford, who played at Virginia from 1991-1995, was interviewed Wednesday by new UVa head coach Tony Bennett and associate head coach Ritchie McKay for a position on Bennett’s first staff.

As a candidate, Williford said he hopes to hear something from Virginia by Saturday. “I feel like I’m in decent shape,” he said.

As an alumnus, he had one word for UVa’s choice of Bennett: “Great.”

Then, he went on.

“I thought it was awesome,” Williford said. “In basketball circles, we all know how respected he is, but I just found him really genuine.”

But, then, what’s he going to say?

It was the third time Williford has been interviewed for openings at Virginia but who knows if the third time will be the charm? Bennett probably has heard that he would be well-served in recruiting to hire an assistant with in-state ties, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he should hire a former Virginia player.

That said, Williford’s most recent coaching stop has put him just across the Potomac River from Virginia, so he’s been recruiting in the state. He won’t have to ask anybody how to get to Richmond.

I spoke to McKay on Friday and asked about the process of selecting Virginia’s new staff. He said he would defer to Bennett on that issue but confirmed that Ron Sanchez will be following Bennett from Washington State.

Sanchez was at Washington State for six seasons, the first three as director of basketball operations under Dick Bennett, Tony’s dad. He has been an assistant coach for the past three seasons, with duties that consisted “primarily [of] recruiting and scheduling games,” according to the Cougars’ media guide.

Nobody has said whether Sanchez will be an assistant at Virginia or go back to the “director of basketball operations” role, but his hometown is listed as the Bronx, N.Y., which gives him more of an East Coast background than Washington State’s other coaches.

THE ACC SPORTS JOURNAL, in this week’s online edition, has picked Virginia Tech for fourth place in the ACC next year behind Duke, Clemson and North Carolina.

“Obviously, they don’t know much about basketball,” said Hokies’ coach Seth Greenberg, located on his way out the door at the Portsmouth Invitational. “How could they pick us ahead of Florida State?”

Hey, Florida State was picked seventh. Georgia Tech, this year’s cellar-dweller, was picked fifth. Maryland also was picked ahead of the ‘Noles.

Several weeks ago, Notebook Plus was devoted to the ACC underclassmen who might make themselves available for the NBA draft, specifically the Wake Forest threesome of James Johnson, Jeff Teague and Al-Farouq Aminu.

However, as I was contemplating what I had written on the drive north from Atlanta, it occurred to me that Florida State 7-footer Solomon Alabi, a redshirt freshman, might go higher than almost any other ACC underclassmen if he decided to come out.

Media gadfly Jeff White is questioning the selection of Virginia as a preseason choice for 12th place. While I don’t think that Tony Bennett’s first Cavalier team will be NCAA Tournament material, let’s not forget that a crummy, 10-19 UVa team did not finish this past season.

Georgia Tech was behind the Cavaliers.

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY offensive lineman Caleb Farris has been offered a scholarship by Virginia Tech, according to HokieHaven.com, the rivals.com site devoted to the Hokies.

Farris, a 6-foot-4, 315-pounder, was rated 23rd among the state’s top prospects for 2010 by The Roanoke Times. Another rivals.com site, CavsCorner.com, said that Farris will be in Charlottesville for a Virginia practice Saturday and that it probably would take a Cavaliers’ offer to keep UVa in the picture.

According to the rivals.com sites, Farris has grown up as a Hokies’ fan. He reportedly is a good student who will take a look at Harvard while on a trip to Boston College later in the spring or early summer.

In my last conversation with Dr. John Ballein of the Tech football operation, the Hokies are looking at signing between 17 and 22 player for the entering class of 2010. Jamie Oakes of CavsCorner.com is projecting Virginia’s class at between 14 and 20.

My bet is that Virginia and Virginia Tech will be closer to the upper limits than the lower limits and one or both may go over the first projections. In looking at the state in general, it looks as if there will be more than 50 Division I-A signees from Virginia for the second year in a row.
 

Wahoos Look to End Long Drought vs. Duke
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 04/10/2009

Over the last half-decade or so, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team has accomplished some remarkable feats—an undefeated national championship, two other trips to Memorial Day weekend, an ACC title, several No. 1 rankings in the polls. One thing the Cavaliers have not accomplished has been to defeat Duke—this weekend’s opponent. The Cavaliers have dropped five in a row to the Blue Devils dating back to 2005. No current player on the Virginia roster has ever come out victorious in this match-up. The string of losses has certainly made it easier on head coach Dom Starsia to get his team ready for the clash with the nation’s eighth-ranked squad.

“There are particular instances like this one where I don’t have to come up with any artificial motivational techniques in order to get them to pay attention,” he said. “I can usually tell early in the week whether or not they’re paying close attention to what’s going on and I have sensed that this week. So even though it’s late in season and we’ve played a lot of lacrosse, we’ve been in a lot of big moments, you feel like this game has got their attention.”

Last season’s regular-season game has certainly gotten the Cavaliers’ attention. In that game they fought back to tie the score at nine only to see the Blue Devils rattle off the game’s final 10 goals and post a convincing 19-9 win.

“This one’s kind of circled on my calendar, definitely,” said midfielder Shamel Bratton, “because last year that was just kind of the biggest butt whipping I’ve ever taken, losing by 10 goals. I am really going to come out hard against these guys.”

Virginia has had three thrilling 1-goal games in a row, while the 8-3 Blue Devils had a bye last week. But Starsia would not be surprised to see another close affair.

“I don’t see either team burying the other team so to speak,” he said. “I think we’ve got two talented lacrosse teams and there’s going to be a lot of enthusiasm on both sides. I think it promises to be a hard fought, close game. We’re probably more familiar with the Duke program than any other over the last 3-4 years.”

Starsia sees the Blue Devils as more balanced on both ends of the field when compared to his team’s last two opponents—Maryland and North Carolina.

“They’re the best athletic team on defense that we’ve seen in some time,” he said. “On the offensive end ... they have some very talented guys.”

At the defensive end, Duke has been outstanding allowing just 7.30 goals per game in the last seven contests. Senior goalie Rob Schroeder allows an average of 7.75 goals per game and has a .485 save percentage. Providing the last line of defense in front of Schroeder is a trio of experienced defensemen—senior Ryan McFadyen, junior Parker McKee and sophomore Mike Manley, the ACC’s Rookie of the Year last season.

While the offense isn’t as potent as the previous few years that featured Matt Danowski and Zack Greer, the Blue Devils can still score goals. Senior attackman Ned Crotty is the quarterback of the offense and leads the nation with 30 assists; he has scored 11 goals. Max Quinzani has found the back of the net 29 times after scoring 61 goals last season. The midfield of Brad Ross, Steve Schoeffel and Justin Turri has combined to score 35 goals and add 16 assists.

“They contest everything, especially in the middle of the field,” said senior attackman Danny Glading about Duke this week. “Every ground ball in the middle of the field is going to be a battle. When you think you’ve got the ball cleared, they come up your back with two or three poles. They’re a really aggressive team that gets out and rides really hard the whole day. It’s going to be a challenge for us. We’ve got to be willing to take the extra step on our exchanges and working hard all over the place.”

While the Cavaliers are aware of their lack of success in recent years, they have been focused throughout the week to the task at hand.

“We’ve had a great week work wise (in practice),” said midfielder Max Pomper. “I think there’s been a great sense of urgency every time we step on the practice field or go in the weight room or the film room. We want this one real badly.”

With his years of coaching experience, Starsia knows that the past is no indication of the future.

I don’t think one way or the other, it guarantees the result of what’s going to happen on Saturday,” he said. “We’ve got two good teams and the team that makes the plays is going to win. At some point we’re going to beat Duke again and hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.”


 

Timms, Cavs try to stop Devils
By Whitey Reid
Published: April 11, 2009

It wouldn’t be surprising to go into Mike Timms’ house and find a voodoo doll with a Duke Blue Devils jersey on it.

Timms has been in the Virginia lacrosse program since 2004. During that time, UVa has gone 0-5 against Duke.

Think the fifth-year senior is fired up about this afternoon’s showdown against the Blue Devils in Durham?

“I’ve had this one personally marked on my calendar all season,” said Timms, a 6-foot-5, 229-pound defenseman.

Ditto for Timms’ teammates.

“Nobody on this team has beat them,” said Virginia senior Matt Kelly. “It’s definitely something we keep in the back of our minds.

“We put the same amount of time in during practice every week, but knowing that we haven’t beat Duke and knowing this is a big game, I think everyone is a little more aware.”

Making the game more intriguing is the fact that No. 1-ranked Virginia (12-0, 2-0 ACC) hasn’t lost all season, and No. 8 Duke (8-3, 1-1) has had two weeks to prepare for today.

The battle is reminiscent of the one that was supposed to have taken place back in 2006 but was canceled in the wake of the Duke lacrosse scandal, when Blue Devils players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were accused of raping a stripper at a party. The investigation, which culiminated with the players’ charges being dropped, led Duke president Richard Brodhead to cancel the end of the season.

“It would have been a hell of a game,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose squad went on to win the NCAA championship that season.

Timms and Kelly have no explanation for Duke’s dominance over them in recent years — other than that the Blue Devils have been really good.

“It’s not like we’ve just been unlucky or have played really bad,” Timms said. “Give credit to them, but we’ve also had some opportunities where we could have won, but didn’t take advantage.”

In last year’s regular-season meeting at Klockner Stadium, Duke reeled off 10 straight goals en route to a 19-9 win. A few weeks later in the ACC championship game, the Blue Devils beat Virginia, 11-9.

This season, Duke doesn’t have All-American Zack Greer. But, in a way, the Blue Devils are even more dangerous, according to Timms.

“They’re strong all over the field,” Timms said. “In the past, they’ve had the big superstar names. This year, there’s not that one guy. They’re pretty solid and athletic everywhere.”

Despite being undefeated, Timms doesn’t believe Virginia, coming off an overtime win over North Carolina at Giants Stadium last weekend, has come close to playing to its potential.

“We haven’t really had a game where both offensively and defensively we’ve been at our best,” he said. “When we can do that, we’re a team that’s hard to beat. We’re waiting for a time when we can do that.”

Nothing would give Starsia greater pleasure than seeing Timms get his long-awaited win over the Dookies.

“I would tell you, with all frankness, that we’re going to do everything we can to make that happen,” Starsia said. “I think everyone in our program is aware of that fact and we’d like to try and help Michael out if we can.”

 

Men’s Tennis Rolls to 6-1 Win at Wake Forest
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 04/10/2009

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team secured its outright claim to the 2009 ACC regular season championship with a 6-1 win over No. 25 Wake Forest Friday afternoon at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center. The Cavaliers improve to 25-0 and 10-0 in the conference, while the Demon Deacons fall to 17-8 overall and 7-3 in the ACC.

“This was a great win for us against a very good Wake Forest team on the road,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “We are getting better with each match. Today’s match was a reflection of the strong week of practice we had. We are looking forward to completing our regular season tomorrow at NC State.”

The Cavaliers took the 1-0 lead by sweeping the three doubles matches. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) topped Iain Atkinson and Carlos Salmon 8-2 at the No. 2 position. Virginia clinched the opening point when Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) upset the No.1 ranked team in the nation, Cory Parr and Steve Forman, 8-6 at the top position. Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) completed the doubles sweep with an 8-6 win at No, 3 over David Hopkins and Jonathan Wolff.

Virginia extended its lead to 2-0 early in singles play as Singh cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Forman at the No. 2 position. Courtney extended the Cavaliers’ lead to 3-0 with his 6-2, 6-3 win over Atkinson at No. 5 singles. Shabaz clinched the victory for Virginia with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Wolff at No. 3 singles. Singer added a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jason Morganstern at No. 6 singles and Barrick downed Hopkins 7-6, 6-0 to make the score 6-0. Wake Forest recorded its only win of the day at No. 1, where Parr edged Inglot in a third-set match tiebreaker. In the breaker, Parr had three match pointsm up 9-6, before Inglot won four straight points to have a match point of his own at 10-9. Parr won the final three points to take the breaker 12-10.

The win was Virginia’s 41st consecutive win over an ACC opponent (regular season and tournament).The Cavaliers have now won at least a share of the ACC regular season title every season since 2004.

The Cavaliers conclude their regular season on Saturday as they visit NC State. With a victory, Virginia would complete their third consecutive undefeated ACC regular season and accomplish the feat for the fourth time in the past five years.

No. 1 Virginia 6, No. 25 Wake Forest 1

Doubles
1. #14 Inglot/Shabaz (UVa) def. #1 Parr/Forman (WF) 8-6
2. #6 Barrick/Singh (UVa) def. Atkinson/Salmon (WF) 8-2
3. Singer/Courtney (UVa) def. Wolff/Hopkins (WF) 8-6

Singles
1. #21 Cory Parr (WF) def. #17 Dominic Inglot (UVa) 7-6(2), 2-6, 12-10
2. #25 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Steve Forman (WF) 6-2, 6-2
3. #20 Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. Jonathan Wolff (WF) 6-3, 6-3
4. #73 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. David Hopkins (WF) 7-6(4), 6-0
5. Drew Courtney (UVa) def. Iain Atkinson (WF) 6-2, 6-3
6. #82 Lee Singer (UVa) def. Jason Morganstern (WF) 6-4, 6-3

Order of Finish
Doubles: 2,1,3
Singles: 2,5,3,6,4,1

 

UVa runners hit their marks
By Ryan Yemen
Published: April 11, 2009

As UVa track and field coach Jason Vigilante looks to establish the Cavaliers as one of the premier players in the sport, middle-distance running has been an area of intense focus.

On Friday evening, in front of a large, vocal crowd, three UVa runners qualified for the NCAA regional meet by running the mile in less than 4:06 in the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational at Lannigan Field.

Senior Andrew Jesien put forth the top time of the evening by finishing the event in 4:02.18. Teamates Emil Heineking and Sintayehu Taye followed just behind with times of 4:04.80 and 4:05.38, respectively.

“This being early April, their times are very impressive,” Vigilante said. “As the weather gets better the times are going to get better and better.”

Jesien spent the first two and a half laps of the race trailing in the back, but burst out to the front of the pack in the last lap.

“I’m usually one of the guys that comes around in the last turn and starts ripping it, and go for the win,” Jesien said. “I’m a racer, so I’m competitive. I’m trying to win the races I’m in.”

All runners started by chasing a pair of pacesetters for the first two laps.

After the pacesetters dropped back, Heineking jumped out to good lead in the third lap.

Heineking’s push out front prompted Jesien and Taye to pick up the pace by the end of the third lap as the three runners tried to stay close together as a group.

“Emil just went for it and that really helped me out,” Jesien said. “It was pretty selfless just going for it and it really pulled me along. It was a good race.”

While it’s still early in the season, all three runners have hopes of breaking the four-minute mark, the gold standard of the mile, later on this year.

Of course, aside from the prerequisites — intense training and general athleticism — there is a science to running the race in four minutes.

“Depending on the different competitors, there are a couple of different ways to run the mile,” Jesien said. “You can try and run away from everyone, beat them all out from out in front, or you can wait and bide your time and take it in the last lap or so.”

According to Jesien, the latter is a lot more plausible than the former.

“You can’t usually run away from everyone in the front in college unless your just head and shoulders better than everyone,” Jesien said. “If you’re leading it takes a lot more energy than just waiting and focusing on someone’s back.”

One of Vigilante’s primary goals as a coach is to have one of his runners post a sub-4:00 time in the near future, and while that didn’t quite happen Friday night, another of Vigilante’s other objectives — drawing attention to his program — proved successful considering the crowd that gathered for just one race.

“I’d just like to say how appreciative I am of the Charlottesville community,” Jesien said. “All the people that came out were enthusiastic and positive and supportive.

“Despite not running a 4-minute mile, I think this meant a lot to the University and the track program and these guys [who ran the race], they’re never going to forget all these people that came out and cheered for them. To me I’m sincerely inspired to make this program something that everyone can follow.”

Vigilante’s runners certainly appreciated the support from the bleachers, particularly in the third and fourth turns of the track.

“One of the goals to was just to come out here and enjoy it, take in the crowd,” Taye said. “They helped a lot. Every time we came around, you could hear the yelling and everyone just kind of took off when they heard the cheering. It was kind of weird.”