Virginia’s Filip Mihaljevic Wins Second National Championship

For the second time in 10 days, a Virginia athlete claimed an individual National Championship.

Track and field standout Filip Mihaljevic took home the NCAA title in the shot put on Wednesday night, making him the back-to-back champ in the event. Mihaljevic joined men’s tennis player Thai-Son Kwiatkowski as a National Championship winner this year after Kwiatkowski captured his title on Monday, May 29.

Mihaljevic earned All-America honors with the championship, joining a growing list of accolades for the field star. Mihaljevic joined women’s swimmer Leah Smith as UVA’s top male and female athletes for the 2016-17 school year at a banquet in early May. He was also named the Southeast Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association earlier this week.

Mihaljevic posted a winning mark of 21.30 meters (69 feet, 10.75 inches), which also set a new record at Virginia and in the ACC overall. That topped his throw that won the 2016 title when he threw 20.71 meters (67 feet, 11.5 inches), which set a school record at the time. Mihaljevic became the first Cavalier to win an NCAA Championship in a field event last season and then matched that feat Wednesday.

”I’m really satisfied with the performance,” Mihaljevic said via UVA track’s Instagram account. “I threw 21.30, ACC record, school record, and I wanted to leave the college in style so I think that was definitely the best way to do it.”

Here is video of Mihaljevic in the event:

Mihaljevic claimed the NCAA Shot Put Championship for the second consecutive year with a throw of 21.30m (69-10.75) #GoHoos #uvatfcc #uvathrows #shotput #hoosrising #ncaatf #acc #record #vavsall #lastthrowbestthrow #goat #croatian #olympian #iaafworldchampionships #backtoback #uva #virginia #throwing

A post shared by Virginia TF/CC (@uva_track) on Jun 7, 2017 at 10:16pm PDT

The shotput victory posted 10 points for the team score at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. UVA’s Oghenakpobo Efekoro finished fourth in the shot put as well to earn first-team All-America honors and score 5 points for the team. Virginia’s Hilmar Jonsson placed fourth in the hammer throw to also earn first-team All-America honors and score 5 points for the team.

Those 20 points already matched last year’s team score for the highest point total in program history at the national meet after only one day of competition. Read more about the first day of action here.