GREENWOOD, Ind. – Vincent Ciattei and Torben Laidig of Virginia Tech track and field have been named to the 2018 Google Cloud Track and Field and Cross Country Division I Academic All-America Team, as voted on by members of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The All-America Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. Laidig earned first-team and Ciattei earned second-team, and the pair is the only representatives out of the ACC to be named on the first two teams.
Ciattei two weeks ago earned a silver medal in the 1,500-meter race at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, earning first-team All-America honors in Eugene, Oregon. He also took home the silver medal in the men's mile with a school-record and personal-best time of 3 minutes, 58.36 seconds, and then won gold as a part of the distance medley relay team that finished with a time of 9:30.76 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. It marked Tech's first-ever national title in a distance event.
The Maryland native also won the mile at the ACC Indoor Championships and the 1,500 at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
An engineering sciences and mechanics major, Ciattei is an eight-time honoree on the Virginia Tech Dean's List. He has been named to the AD Honor Roll for five straight years, the ACC Academic Honor Roll for four years and the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team the last two years.
A six-time All-American and seven-time All-ACC selection, Laidig has earned a gold medal twice and silver five times in the pole vault at the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships combined. He placed second at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships, third at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships and took sixth at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships, earning first-team All-America honors at all three meets.
The Germany native graduated this spring semester with over 150 hours, double majoring in biochemistry and biology. He has been a member of Virginia Tech's Dean List eight times, including six of those eight semesters with a 4.0 GPA, and a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll for four straight years. He has been a member of the ACC All-Academic Team the last four years and a member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team last two years.
Ciattei will compete later today at the USATF Outdoor Championships held in Des Moines, Iowa. He will run in the 1,500-meter race at 4:55 p.m. ET on the campus of Drake.
