BLACKSBURG – After 11 first-place finishes in the opening weekend of the season, the Virginia Tech track and field team returns to action Friday, as Tech plays hosts to the Hokie Invitational.
The two-day invitational will begin at 4 p.m. ET on Friday and will commence again on Saturday at 11 a.m. Admission will be free for all fans and parking is available in the lots surrounding Rector Field House.
Tech got off to a fast start in the first meet of the season last weekend at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Four newcomers took first place in their respective events, including Nykah Smith (200 meters), Jacory Patterson (300 meters), Miles Green (500 meters) and Tyson Jones (shot put), while returners Kennedy Dennis (300 meters), Arlicia Bush (500 meters), Rachel Pocratsky (1,000 meters), Sara Freix (mile), Rachel Baxter (pole vault), Bashir Mosavel-Lo (1,000 meters) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Bush, Dennis, Smith and Imagine Patterson hit the ground running with first-place finishes of their own.
Patterson and Dennis led the sprints group to a phenomenal start to the season. Dennis set a new school record in the 300 with her time of 37.88 seconds and moved to second all-time in the 60 with her time of 7.29, both of which are top-10 marks nationally. Her amazing day was only topped by Patterson, who set a new school record in the 300, finishing the race in a time of 32.49. That time was the second-fastest time ever by a collegiate athlete, the ninth-fastest ever by an American and broke the U20 world junior indoor record.
Due to his performance last weekend, Patterson was the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Men's Division I National Athlete of the Week, and he also named Co-ACC Performer of the Week in men's track.
The pole vault group also had an outstanding weekend, as Deakin Volz and Baxter both earned top-five marks nationally with their vaults of 5.52 meters (18 feet, 1.25 inches) and 4.32 meters (14 feet, 2 inches), respectively.
The Hokies will be playing host to fellow ACC schools Wake Forest, NC State, Pitt and Duke, along with 10 other well-known programs in Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina A&T, East Carolina, Radford, Liberty, Charlotte, Elon, Winthrop and Roanoke College.
