Hokie ClubWrapping up four meets on Saturday, the Virginia Tech track and field teams saw distance runners Sara Freix and Rachel Pocratsky and pole vaulter Deakin Volz win event titles, while many sprinters tallied season-best times.
At the War Eagle Classic on the campus of Auburn, the 4x100-meter relays on both sides put together season-best times, as the women's relay clocked a time of 45.13 seconds to place third and the men's group posted a time of 40.73. Ama-Selina Tchume, Courtney Blanden, Arlicia Bush and Kennedy Dennis ran for the women and Lawrence Harris, Samuel Denmark, Joseph Tay and Michael Davenport ran for the men.
Senior Shanel Burr qualified for the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, with a time of 13.91. The Georgia native went on to place second in the finals among collegiate competitors.
In the 100-meter dash, Dennis, a freshman, took fourth place. In the same event, Harris, redshirt senior, registered a fourth-place finish with a time of 10.65.
The 400 meters event saw two Hokies place in the top five, with Blanden finishing third with a time of 53.98 and Bush recording a personal-record time of 54.25 to place fifth. Both times for the pair were season bests.
Blanden stayed hot the rest of the day, turning in another season-best time. The North Carolina native placed fifth against unattached athletes and first overall among college athletes in the 200 meters, registering a time of 23.40. Dennis ran the 10th-fastest 200 in school history, with a personal-best outdoor time of 23.95.
On the men's side in the 200, Davenport improved his top time this season, sprinting in a time of 21.19 to place eighth. Harris ran a personal-best time of 21.36.
To finish the day for the sprints, Austin Kolko, who ran at the Duke Invitational, tallied a season-best time of 53.62 in the 400-meter hurdles to place eighth.
Sophomore James Holt tallied a mark of 6.89 meters (22 feet, 7.25 inches), just 0.01 meters from tying his personal best, in the long jump to place sixth.
"It was a pretty good day," sprints/hurdles coach Tim Vaught shared. "I feel like some people are going in the right direction. It was great to see our 4x1 relays post season bests, without arguably each team's best runner competing today. Joseph Tay stepped up and filled in, was good to see him do that running the third leg.
"Courtney had it today and is starting to turn the corner, with posting season-best times in the 200 and 400. And so did Mike in the 200, he is capable of doing some things soon. With Austin running a season-best and top-eight time in the conference in the 400 hurdles, that can be big for us in the future, too.
"But overall it was a good trip. We came down here to improve and we did that, especially with the relays."
Volz won his second meet in a row, winning last weekend's event title at the Tennessee Relays, this time with a mark of 5.50 meters (18 feet, 0.5 inches) at the Duke Invitational. Freshman Rachel Baxter also competed in the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.20 meters (13 feet, 9.25 inches) to place fifth at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Pocratsky led a contingent of Hokies in the 800 meters at the Duke Invitational, crossing the finish line in 2:04.00, while Laurie Barton placed eighth with a time of 2:07.94 and Katie Kennedy finished ninth in 2:08.35. It was the first time running the 800 for all three of the student-athletes this outdoor season.
Redshirt senior Vincent Ciattei led the way in the 800 on the men's side, guiding three other Hokies to placing in the top 15 out of 90 competitors. Ciattei, who is coming off of winning the ACC Indoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, placed sixth (1:48.29), Diego Zarate collected eighth (1:48.81), Bashir Mosavel-Lo took 11th (1:49.49) and Owen Buck finished 14th (1:50.47).
In the 5,000 meters, redshirt sophomores Peter Seufer and Jack Joyce set new PRs and finished second and fifth. Seufer recorded a time of 13:53.35, resetting the fourth-best time in program history, while Joyce went 14:06.72 to take the 10th-best time in Tech's history.
Freix and Lauren Berman ran the seventh- and eighth-fastest times in program history in the same event, finishing first and second with times of 16:11.93 and 16:12.55.
At the Beach Invitational, redshirt senior Lindsay Herra set a new PR for the second day in a row. The Illinois native threw a top mark of 50.48 meters (165 feet, 7 inches) in the discus. Senior Marek Barta tossed a mark of 58.90 meters (193 feet, 3 inches) in the discus.
The Hokies will get back to action next weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the home of the Razorbacks, at the Arkansas Invitational.