Virginia’s DMR squad finishes 6th at NCAAs

Virginia coach Jason Vigilante was hoping for a pair of All-American performances Friday night at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
He got one of them, and it was a pretty good one.
Virginia’s distance medley relay squad of Andrew Jesien, Meikle Paschal, Lance Roller and Sintayehu Taye earned All-American honors with a sixth place finish and a time of 9:36.89, finishing just behind such track and field powerhouses as Oregon, Arkansas, California and Texas.
Oregon won with the next three following in order in front of fifth place BYU.
It was the first-ever All-American honor for the four athletes.
Virginia’s team qualified just last week at the Alex Wilson Invitational, and had the No. 4 time in the nation coming into Friday night’s race. Virginia is one of just 14 programs to ever run under nine minutes and 30 seconds in the event.
The DMR at the Indoor Championships was unlike many others. A total of 18 teams posted qualifying times, leaving the NCAA with two finals heats of nine teams each. It was also one of the most competitive, tightest fields ever. In 2008, 10 seconds separated the 12 teams that qualified in the event. This year, just 4.5 seconds separated the top 18, leaving the margin for error in a nine and a half minute race pretty slim.
Virginia’s freshman tandem of Roller and Taye ran two legs of the 4,000-meter race. Neither are strangers to the sport’s larger stages as they were both high school All-Americans, but Vigilante was still wary about them getting caught up in the moment. 
“It’s what you make it and hopefully our two first year guys won’t realize the gravity of where they are until it’s over,” Vigilante said before the meet. “I’m not too unnerved having two freshmen because we’ll finish off with a very savvy fourth year guy. I have complete confidence that he’ll perform.”
That senior is Jesien, a Bethesda, Md. product and an ACC champion in outdoor in the 1500-meters.
“To have a good DMR it shows the depth of a team’s roster,” Vigilante said. “It’s my favorite event in track and field. I’m really delighted we’re representing Virginia in this event.”
Virginia’s other participant in the Indoor Championships was Yemi Ayeni. The senior throw specialist checked in at 12th in the shotput with a throw of 17.66 meters, behind a number of luminaries. It was the highest finish for an ACC thrower, besting Steve Marcelle of Georgia Tech. 
“I think the best thing about Yemi is that he’s a cool customer,” Vigilante said. “You never get any impression that he feels any nerves. He’s just a regular guy. When the time comes he’s just going to come out and throw the shotput.”