Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – On a night when nine Hokies moved up in the Virginia Tech record books, it was the mile that took center stage at the VT Challenge inside Rector Field House.
With six competitors in the field who have ran a sub-four-minute in their careers, it proved to be an entertaining race. Former six-time All-American from Ohio State, Jeff See won the race, just missing the facility record at 3:58.36. With a gutsy final lap, Will Mulherin closed the gap on See, but finished in second at 4:00.21. His time moved him up to second all-time at Tech in the mile, while also recording the fastest mile for a Hokie in Rector. Running in the second mile heat, Leoule Degfae finished second in the event at 4:07.69, moving up to ninth all-time.
Overall, the Hokies picked up 19 top-five finishes on day one.
Tech took four of the top five spots in the meet’s first event, the women’s 600 meters. Amanda Smith paced the field with a time of 1:31.56 to move up to second all-time at Tech, while Frances Dowd finished in third at 1:32.85. Shannon Morton (1:34.85) and Shalonda Mitchell (1:35.44) weren’t too far behind Dowd. Each moved up into the school’s top ten in the event.
The men went after the record book just as the women did, with three Hokies finishing in the top four. All three recorded times that rank in the top five at Tech. Tihut Degfae lowed his personal best to 1:19.32 which is currently second by eight hudredths of a second. Martin Dally (1:20.11) and Kevin DeWillie (1:20.22) just off of their teammate’s pace.
Moving up to fourth all-time in school history in the 3000 meters was Sarah Rapp who clocked in 9:31.56, shaving more than 10 seconds off of her previous personal best. On the men’s side, Jason Cusack paced a group of three Hokies to top-five finishes as he came in second with season-best time of 8:19.37.
In the women’s mile, Tech went 1-3-4 as Sammy Dow won the race with a time of 4:53.63, just seconds ahead of teammates Paige Kvartunas and Katarina Smiljanec.
The Hokies also had a good showing in the weight throw as Tomas Kruzliak and Denis Mahmic took the top two spots. For Kruzliak, it was the first win of his young career after hitting a mark of 66-5.75 (20.26m) to out-dual his teammate.
The Hokies will return to Rector Field House tomorrow for day two of the VT Challenge. Action will get started at 11 a.m., with the women’s high jump and pole vault. Running events will begin at 1 p.m. with the women’s 800 meters.