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“I am so excited for her,” Lananna said, “She is off the charts. Even at my experienced years, I still get really fired up and excited when kids do the stuff they might not have thought they could do. That’s how I define success. She is so humble and really appreciates everything, every day. I’m glad for her.

Immediately after Meyer’s race, UVA graduate student Andrenette Knight of Morant Bay, Jamaica, finished third in the 400-meter hurdles to take the bronze medal in that competition. She ran a time of 55.81. It was Knight’s fourth time competing in the event at the NCAA Championships and was the first time she had reached the event finals.

“Angie is fantastic competitor,” Lananna said. “She did a great job from the prelims to here. That was a great 400-hurdles field and to finish third is terrific.”

Graduate student Andrenette Knight took home the bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles. (Contributed photo)

Both Meyer and Knight earned first-team All-America honors for their performances.

Thanks to their finishes, UVA picked up 16 total points and tied for 16th place in the final team standings. That is the best finish by a Cavalier squad since 1983.

During the four-day meet, the Cavaliers saw five other competitors earn first-team All-America honors thank to top-eight finishes, and five more garnered second-team All-America accolades.

The men’s team was led by the third- and fifth-place finishes of freshmen Claudio Romero and Jacob Lemmon, respectively, in the discus throw. Romero’s top throw of 61.36 meters (201’ 4”) came on his fifth attempt. Lemmon, who was ranked No. 15 in the nation in the discus prior to the postseason competition, threw for 57.78 meters (189’ 7”) on his first attempt in the circle and that held up to get him fifth place.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, sophomore Derek Johnson used a school-record performance to place seventh, with a time of 8:32.95. That was almost four seconds better than his previous best time. It was the best showing by a Cavalier in the event since Jan Foster was sixth in 2007.

In the triple jump, Owayne Owens was 15th. His top mark was 15.77 meters (51’ 9”).  It was the first outdoor championship for all four of the Cavalier men.

Jada Seaman picked up a pair of second-team All-American honors. She was ninth in the long jump (6.36 meters / 20’ 10.5”) and part of �鶹�ƽ�� 4×100-meter relay team that placed 16th with a time of 44.21. That squad also included Anna Jefferson, Kayla Bonnick and Halley Hazzard. They were the first 4×100 team to represent Virginia at the NCAA Championship meet.

“I am very pleased with our week,” Lananna said. “We had some good performances. As I said the other night, the improvement we saw in Derek this year was off the charts. He was a 9:14 steeplechaser; now he’s run 8:32 and is knocking on the door of qualifying for the Olympic trials. It’s unbelievable. It’s great and we’re just getting started.”