Hokie ClubAUSTIN, Texas – The preseason honors keep coming in for Virginia Tech track and field, as redshirt seniors Neil Gourley and Patrick Joseph have been named preseason indoor All-Americans by flotrack.org in the distance events.
Gourley, a native of Scotland, has already earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships four times wearing the maroon and orange. The mid-distance runner specializes in the mile and 1,500 meters, while running on the DMR team as well. Gourley has been All-ACC eight times in his career, and owns the school record in the indoor 1,000-meter run.
Jospeh has had a standout career since arriving to Blacksburg in 2014, boasting four All-America honors and five All-ACC selections. The Leesburg, Virginia native in 2017 earned USTFCCCA Southeast Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year following his 800 first-place run at the ACC Indoor Championships. Joseph owns the fastest indoor 800 time in Tech history, clocking a time of 1 minute, 46.23 seconds last season.
Last week flotrack.com announced that pole vaulters Rachel Baxter, Lisa Gunnarsson and Torben Laidig were named preseason indoor All-Americans, too. Baxter and Gunnarsson were two of only eight freshmen to make the prestigious list.
The 2018 season begins this Saturday as the Hokies’ track and field team heads up to State College, Pennsylvania, to compete at the Nittany Lion Challenge hosted by Penn State.