Hokie ClubCLEMSON, S.C. – After the second day of competition at the ACC Outdoor Championships in Clemson, S.C., the Virginia Tech men’s track and field squad sits in seventh place with 21 points, while the women’s team resides in 12th holding five points, with many Hokies set to race in the finals on Saturday.
A day after winning the men’s discus throw, senior Igor Misljenovic added a second All-ACC performance to his resume with a third-place finish in the shot put on Friday. The Zagreb, Croatia, native tossed a 58-09.25, less than two inches off of his career-best. Last night, Misljenovic won Tech’s first men’s discus conference title since 1997 with a throw of 182-02. Along with last night’s championship, Misljenovic added 16 points to the men’s team score in the meet.
Sophomore Sammy Dow scored the Hokie women’s first points of the Championships with a fourth-place showing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In the first steeplechase of her career, Dow ran a 10:35.01 and added five points to the Tech team total. In the men’s steeplechase freshman Jared Berman and sophomore Jason Cusack finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Berman posted a time of 9:04.60, while Cusack ran a time of 9:08.28.
Seniors Queen Harrison and Kristi Castlin both moved on to Saturday’s finals in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Harrison ran a time of 12.82, matching Castlin’s ACC meet record, while Castlin timed in at 12.84. Harrison and Castlin’s standards fell one heat later, as Miami’s Ti’erra Brown broke the record with the fastest time in the prelims of 12.74.
Harrison will also compete in the women’s 400-meter dash finals along with senior Asia Washington after the duo ran respective times of 56.89 and 57.81. Harrison’s time of ranked second overall in the prelims, while Washington registered the third-best time in the field.
In other sprints action, sophomore Keith Ricks qualified for the finals in the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. The Suffolk, Va., native ran a 10.39, the fastest time in heat one and the third-fastest overall time in the 100-meter prelims, and clocked the fourth-fastest time of 21.18 in the prelims of the 200-meters. In the women’s 200-meter dash, Castlin ran a career-best 23.78 to qualify for the finals. Sophomore Ogechi Nwaneri will compete in the women’s 100-meter finals after posting the sixth-fastest time of 11.60 in the prelims.
Two Hokies will be competing in the men’s 1,500-meter run, as sophomore Michael Hammond ran the fastest time in the prelims, while junior Chris Walizer tallied the seventh-best time in the prelims to advance to the finals tomorrow. Hammond, who won the men’s mile at the indoor ACC meet, clocked a time of 3:51.12, and Walizer recorded a time of 3:52.11. On the women’s side, sophomore Lauren Lemieux clocked a 4:34.19 to finish third in the second heat of the women’s 1,500-meters, nabbing an automatic spot in the finals of the race.
Junior Ryan Witt will look to repeat as ACC 800-meter champion tomorrow after winning the event last year. Witt clocked the fifth-fastest time in the prelims, finishing in 1:52.09. Accompanying Witt in the finals of the 800-meter will be junior Nick McLaughlin who posted a time of 1:51.24, the third-best mark overall.
The ACC Championships conclude tomorrow, with action beginning at 11 a.m. with the women’s pole vault and wrapping up at 6:50 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay. Results will be available on hokiesports.com.