Hokie ClubRALEIGH, N.C. – It was an eventful weekend for the Virginia Tech track and field program and that culminated today as eight Hokies walked away from this weekend’s ACC Track and Field Championships with individual titles, six coming from today's events. After winning last year’s team championship, the men came in second place with 138 points, 11 points out of first.
“I knew it could be close, but I knew we were thinner than we were indoors,” Director of Track and Field Dave Cianelli said. “I thought we had pretty much a perfect meet, Florida State just had a little more depth than we had. I’m really proud of our team and the way they competed and all of the outstanding performances that we had. Even though we came up short, that’s just the way it is. We had a couple people that were dinged up and not here, but that’s the sport. You can say that for pretty much any team. For the guys that we had here, we really had an outstanding meet.
“We had a great run here and we’re leaving after giving everything we had. I just don’t feel like we could have done much more than we did.”
It didn’t take long into the day for Tech to get rolling. After Chris Uhle took second for his first All-ACC honors in the men’s pole vault, fellow sophomore Annjulie Vester began her quest to defend her hammer throw crown, and it didn’t take long.
The native of Homburg, Germany, set the tone with a new personal record heave of 202-1 (61.61m) on her first throw. She became only the third woman in ACC history to win back-to-back hammer throw titles, while also becoming the third Hokie of the weekend to successfully defend their crown after Martina Schultze won the women’s pole vault title on Thursday and Matthias Treff won his third javelin title in a row.
Vester’s win gave Virginia Tech its sixth women’s hammer title, three more than North Carolina for the most all-time in the conference.
Grant Pollock came up with the Hokies second win of the day in the 1500 meters with a new personal best time of 3:44.18. Sitting in the middle of the pack half way through the race, the junior began to make his move. Pollock just had more left at the end, out-sprinting his competitors to the line. It was only Tech’s second ACC gold medal ever in the men’s 1500 meters and first since 2009.
Over in the men’s hammer throw, the Hokies were in cruise control as Tomas Kruzliak and Denis Mahmic went 1-2 in the event. With the gold medal in hand, Kruzliak unloaded his best throw of meet at 232-5 (70.84m). For the freshman, it was his longest throw of the season and he became the first hammer thrower to surpass the 70-meter mark in the NCAA this season.
The Hokies have now run their streak of dominance in the hammer throw at the ACC Championships to five years as they have not allowed another school to lay claim to either the men’s or women’s title since 2008.
Denis Mahmic closed out his ACC career with silver after his second throw came in at 208-2 (63.46m). The senior closes out his ACC career six all-conference honors.
Ronnie Black kept things rolling in the high jump. The senior passed on the first four heights before clearing the bar on the first two heights he attempted. Things got a little interesting though for him on his next two heights after missing on his first two attempts at 7-1½ (2.17m) and 7-2½ (7.20m), Black was forced to make clutch jumps to stay in the hunt for his first ACC high jump crown.
At 7-3¾ (2.23m) Black and Maryland’s John Hill each cleared on their first attempts, but neither could do better than that. It was determined that a jump off would decide the winner. After each missed at the first two heights, Hill missed at 7-2½, while Black was able to sail over bar for the win.
As the high jump was going on, the Hokies had a good showing in the finals of the men’s 100 meters. With the lead heading into the final stretch of the sprint, Darrell Wesh was passed just before the finish line. The junior broke his own school with the time of 10.14, coming up two-hundredths of a second out of the spot which was taken by Florida State’s Dentarius Locke. Freshman Tadashi Pinder finished in seventh at 10.56.
Wesh had a short memory though as he and Locke went back at in the 200 meters later in the evening, but this time, Wesh was on the winning end of another photo finish as clocked in at 20.70, three-hundredths of a second a head of Locke to give the Hokies their first win ever in the men’s 200 meters at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
He wasn’t the only Hokie in the race though as Jonathan McCants just missed the medal stand as he came in fourth at 20.99. Pinder found himself in seventh for the second time on the day as he crossed in 21.67.
Thomas Curtin, the reigning indoor champion in the 5,000 meters, brought back flashbacks of the 2013 indoor championship in Blacksburg with his come-from-behind win on the final stretch as he closed at 13:58.77, the first time he has run under 14 minutes.
Leading the pack for much of the race, the sophomore lost his lead late in the race and still trailed with 200 meters remaining. Curtin once again, dug deep and found something left heading into the final 100 meters. He shot past the two runners in front of him to remain at the top of ACC’s 5,000-meter mountain. The win also continued the legacy that former-Hokie Will Mulherin created as the two have now combined to win four of the last five outdoor titles in the event.
Needing big points in the event to cut into Florida State’s lead in the team race, Leoule Degfae finished in seventh place at 14:09.90, but it wasn’t enough as the Hokies were 11 points shy of the lead heading in the 4x400 relay. The men finished the meet in second with 138 points while the women were seventh with 56 points.
Also coming away with All-ACC honors for third-place finishes today were Jeff Artis-Gray in the 100-meter hurdles, Leah Nugent in the 400-meter hurdles and Tihut Degfae in the 800 meters. The men’s 4x100 relay team of Wesh, Pinder, Jonathan McCants and Garrett Smith.
Others coming away with top-five finishes were Shannon Morton in the 1,500 meters, Nugent in the 100-meter hurdles, Yvonne Amegashie in the 400 meters, and Amanda Smith in the 800 meters.
“There were great performances all around, both from the men and women,” Cianelli said. “Everyone that won titles this weekend really had to work for them because this conference is so good, and it’s getting better. To get eight conference titles, I’m really happy about that. Now we’ll regroup here and get ready for the regional meet next month.”