Hokies earn 13 event titles at Roanoke Tune-Up

Roanoke Tune-Up Results

ROANOKE, Va. – Thirteen event titles highlighted Virginia Tech track and field at the Roanoke Tune-Up on Friday night, as well as the DMR groups turning in some of the best times in the country inside Kerr-Cregger Field House.

The DMR groups on both sides took first place, as the men, made up of Neil Gourley, Greg Chiles, Patrick Joseph and Vincent Ciattei, posted a time of a 9 minutes, 36.31 seconds, while the women, consisting of Rachel Pocratsky, Arlicia Bush, Laurie Barton and Katie Kennedy, clocked a time of 11:08.48.

Both times rank as some of the nation’s best, with and without conversion times. The women’s time was a school record, topping the previous best time of 11:10.84 (J. Fanning, S. Green, A. Washington and T. Fanning) set in 2007.

The distance group also had two student-athletes compete in the 800 meters, with Owen Buck (1:54.66) placing first and Dave Whitfield (1:55.00) taking second. It marked Buck’s first career title at the collegiate level.

The sprints/hurdles group combined for seven event titles and facility records. The first-place finishers were Brandon Thomas (400 meters), Courtney Blanden (400), Shanel Burr (60-meter hurdles), Keishaun Limehouse (60 hurdles), Caitlan Tate (60), Michael Davenport (200) and Nora McKiver (200). Redshirt senior Lawrence Harris ran unattached and won the 60-meter dash.

“It was quite the tune-up,” sprints/hurdles coach Tim Vaught said. “We had a lot of people set PRs and reset the facility record. Tonight was good for us before going into ACCs next week.”

In the jumps, Ama-Selina Tchume earned her first event title this season in the long jump. James Carver won his first crown in 2018, owning a jump of 1.97 meters (6 ft., 5 in.) in the high jump, then followed it up later in the evening with a first-place mark in the triple jump (14.23 meters; 46 ft., 8 in.).

Next up for Tech will be the ACC Indoor Championships at Clemson from Feb. 22-24.

INDOOR PERSONAL BESTS

M 200
Jared Bane, 21.48
Darius Watkins, 21.65
Joseph Tay
Samuel Denmark

M 400
Nathan Hogye

M 800
Dave Whitfield, 1:55.00

M 60 Hurdles
Alex Davenport

M Triple Jump
James Carver, 14.23m (46’8”)