Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Several Virginia Tech track and field athletes improved provisional-qualifying times on Saturday at the Final Qualifier at the Rector Field House in Blacksburg, Va., and increased their chances at earning a bid to the NCAA Track and Field Championships, held in College Station, Texas on March 13-14.
Perhaps the most pivotal performance of the day came from junior Asia Washington in the women’s 400-meter dash. The Piscataway, N.J., native won the ACC Championships’ 400-meters on Feb. 28 with a time of 54.18, and improved upon the time on Saturday, running a personal-best 53.66. The time ranks 11th in the nation in the 400-meter dash coming into the weekend. Washington took second in the race.
Two other strong showings came via freshman sprinters. In the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles, newcomer Leslie Aririguzo clocked an 8.34, bettering her previous provisional time of 8.43. Aunye Boone, the anchor leg of the provisionally qualified 4x400-meter relay squad, provisionally qualified in the 200-meters with a time of 23.87. Boone placed second in the event.
In field action, sophomore Kelly Phillips raised her provisional height in the women’s pole vault an inch to 13-02.50, while sophomore Dorotea Habazin tossed a career-best 65-03.50 to further her provisional throw by over a foot. Phillips throw ranks 28th in the country, while Habazin’s effort puts her in the top ten nationally, coming into the weekend.
On the men’s side, sophomore Hunter Hall continued his impressive indoor campaign by clearing 17-07.75, increasing his provisional mark by an inch. Hall is in strong contention to join teammate Yavgeniy Olhovsky, already automatically qualified in the pole vault, at the national meet next week. Junior Jared Jodon, who cleared 17-00 on Saturday, owns a provisional mark of 17-01 in the pole vault, making three Hokies qualified in the event.
Freshman Keith Ricks provisionally qualified in the 60-meter dash, clocking a 6.73 to hit the provisional mark. Ricks improved his personal best by five-tenths of a second, after running a 6.78 at the VT Challenge on Feb. 20.
The Hokie men’s distance group competed well at the Final Qualifier. Sophomores Nick McLaughlin and Keiran Lee finished one-two in the 800-meter run. McLaughlin and Lee ran a 1:53.51 and a 1:53.61, respectively, in the race. Senior James Scheiner, competing for the final time in Rector Field House, won the mile run with a time of 4:10.37.
Last night, the distance medley relay squad set a school record and earned an automatic-qualifying time of 9:30.21 at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The quartet of sophomore Eddie Judge, freshman Nick Vaughn, sophomore Ryan Witt and senior Billy Berlin shattered the former school record of 9:37.98, set in 2001, and the automatic mark of 9:34.00.
Altogether, Tech currently has 23 athletes either automatically or provisionally qualified for the national meet. The Hokie men have 10 athletes qualified in five events, while 13 Hokies are qualified in 10 events on the women’s side. The NCAA will announce the men’s and women’s track and field bids on Monday by 7 p.m. Coverage will be available on hokiesports.com.