Hokie ClubCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Three Hokies won individual titles as the Virginia Tech men are in first and the women stand second after day two of the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Lannigan Field on the campus of the University of Virginia. Redshirt senior All-American Hunter Hall led a Hokie sweep in the men’s pole vault, while freshman All-American Martina Schultze (women’s pole vault) and junior Jason Cusack (3000 meter steeplechase) also won titles for Tech Friday. In addition, senior All-American Keith Ricks (100 meters) and senior Sammy Dow (3000 meter steeplechase) set school records.
In the team standings after eight events scored, the men are first with 82 points, 30 points clear of second place Florida State (52). Virginia (40), Duke (39) and North Carolina (23) round out the top-5. The women stand second with 39 points after eight events, 16 points behind Duke. Clemson (37) is in third, followed by Virginia (35) and Florida State (34).
The Hokies swept the podium in the men’s pole vault and went 1-2-3-7, as Hall won with an outdoor personal best tying mark of 17-8.5 (5.40m), which ranks in the top-10 in Division I entering the weekend. Hall, who also took attempts at a school record mark of 18-3 (5.56m), won the Hokies fourth straight outdoor ACC crown in the men’s pole vault. In fact, Tech has won six of the past eight ACC titles in the event outdoors.
Redshirt senior All-American Joe Davis was second as he tied his outdoor PR of 17-4.5 (5.30m) and senior Mike Miller notched a huge PR, clearing the same height as Davis. All three men for Tech beat the previous Lannigan Field record. Freshman Chris Uhle added two more points for the Hokies as he cleared a season best of 16-8.75 (5.10m).
Tech went 1-2 in the women’s pole vault as Schultze reset her own school record and set the Lanngian Field record with a clearance of 14-1.25 (4.30m). She becomes the first Tech woman to win the outdoor ACC title in the pole vault since 2008 and first woman in Tech history to go over 14 feet outdoors. Schultze’s fellow All-American and classmate Victoria von Eynatten was runner-up at 13-1.5 (4.00m). Schultze’s win in the pole vault gave Tech a sweep of the event at the conference meet in 2012 as von Eynatten won the indoor conference crown.
Out of the six podium spots in between the men's and women's pole vault Friday, Tech claimed five.
Also in the women’s pole vault, redshirt sophomore Leigh Allin and redshirt freshman Lyndsey Saunders tied for ninth at 11-11.75 (3.65m), with Saunders notching a big outdoor personal best.
In the men’s 3000 meter steeplechase, Cusack took the early lead and kept it the entire race as he held off a late charge from NC State’s Brian Himelright to win in a season best time of 8:55.36. Cusack is Tech’s first steeplechase winner - male or female - at the ACC Championship Meet.
Dow was fourth in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase as she reset her own school record by nearly eight seconds with a time of 10:07.99, which puts her in the top-10 nationally entering the weekend and is a provisional qualifying time for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Junior Jeff Artis-Gray finished runner-up in the long jump with a mark of 24-8.5 (7.53m) and senior All-American triple jumper Hasheem Halim was fifth at 24-4.25 (7.42m).
Freshman Valentina Muzaric finished third in the women’s shot put with a mark of 52-11 (16.13m) to earn her first career All-ACC honor. Another freshman, Luka Mustafic, was fourth in the men’s shot with a season best throw of 57-11.75 (17.67m).
Sophomore Scott Campbell finished eighth in the decathlon as he tallied a personal best score of 6,268 points. Campbell began the day by running a personal best time in the 110 meter hurdles (15.81), good for 754 points. He then posted a personal best mark of 105-6 (32.15m) in the discus throw and a height of 12-5.5 (3.80m) in the pole vault, which earned him 507 and 562 points, respectively. Campbell concluded the day with the javelin throw (133-0, 40.53m) and 1500 meters (4:51.93) to score 450 and 607 points.
In Friday’s preliminary rounds, Ricks reset his own school record in the 100 meters as he won heat two with a time of 10.21, while sophomore Darrell Wesh clocked a personal best 10.27 as both men qualified through to tomorrow’s final. Ricks (20.80) and Wesh (21.26) also advanced in the 200 meters, along with junior Jonathan McCants, who clocked an outdoor PR of 21.41.
Tech advanced three men through to tomorrow’s finals of the men’s 1500 meters as senior All-American Michael Hammond (3:47.16) and senior Chris Walizer (3:47.79) went 1-2 in heat two and redshirt freshman Grant Pollock (3:47.73) was second in heat one. Sophomore Paige Kvartunas advanced in the women’s 1500m with a PR of 4:30.47.
Artis-Gray ran a personal best 14.09 in the men’s 110 meter hurdles, which qualified him to tomorrow’s final. That time is the fourth fastest in Tech history. Freshman Leah Nugent claimed the final qualifying spot in the women’s 100 meter hurdles with a personal best run of 13.83 and also advanced in the 400 meter hurdles (1:00.29).
Freshman Ciara Simms (11.77) and Ogechi Nwaneri (11.79) each advanced in the women’s 100 meters, while Nwaneri also grabbed the final spot in tomorrow’s 200 meter final (24.20). Junior Yvonne Amegashie ran 54.55 in the women’s 400 meters to qualify for the final.
In the men’s 800 meters, junior Tihut Degfae claimed the final qualifying spot with a time of 1:50.08.
In anticipation of weather tomorrow afternoon, all events have been moved up two hours, so field events will now begin at 10 a.m. and running events at 11:30 a.m.
Fans can get all the information for the 2012 ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at: http://bit.ly/2012ACCOTF