Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech track & field teams opened up 2013 with a successful night on day one of the VT Invitational at Rector Field House. In all the Hokies earned four wins and broke a pair of school records.
“Jeff Artis-Gray in the hurdles and Jonathan McCants in the 300, both breaking their school records were outstanding performances,” Director of Track & Field Dave Cianelli said. “Will (Mulherin) winning the mile and our guys in the 1000, Hammond, Hagen, Degfae and Dally, all looked really strong. Also, Leah (Nugent) tying her PR and winning the hurdles was outstanding. We didn’t compete a lot of people tonight, but I felt it was a good start.”
Tech’s first win of the night came on the legs of redshirt senior Will Mulherin as he claimed the mile with a time of 4:13.36. Jason Cusack was under a second behind him at 4:14.25 in fourth. Leoule Degfae, Ryan Kuhns and George Carter also finished in the top 10 in eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
Jeff Artis-Gray nearly gave Tech its second win of the night in the finals of the 60m hurdles. The senior re-broke his own school record with a time of 7.77, but he was edged out right at the end by Vincent Wyatt of Radford. It didn’t take long for the Hokies to get their win as Leah Nugent took the women’s 60m hurdles just minutes later by tying her personal best at 8.49.
The Hokies claimed the top four spots in the 1000m with Michael Hammond picking up the win with a new personal best at 2:25.35. His previous best in the event was 2:27.31 which he set in 2009. Ryan Hagen (2:26.55), Tihut Degfae (2:27.85) and Martin Dally (2:28.21) were just behind him in second, third and fourth.
To cap off the night on the track, senior Jonathan McCants broke his school record in the 300m, winning the race with a time of 33.58.
Tech freshman Grace Giampietro won the unseeded pole vault hitting her best mark of the season at 11-5.75 (3.50m). Also earning a top mark in her event as an unattached athlete was sophomore Ciara Simms who clocked in at 7.45 in the prelims of the 60m. The time turned out to be a tenth of a second better than the winner of the finals.