BLACKSBURG – Tech track & field has added a new meet to its 2022 outdoor schedule, as pole vaulters Rachel Baxter, Julia Fixsen, and volunteer assistant coach Bridget Williams are headed to Walnut, Calif. this weekend to compete in the USATF Golden Games at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Held at Hilmer Lodge Stadium and hosted by Mt. San Antonio College, the Mt. SAC Relays have featured Olympic champions, world champions, and record-setting performances throughout its 62-year history. With hundreds of athletes from all levels of competition heading to Mt. SAC, USATF has partnered with the meet to hold invitational events featuring the world's best athletes on Saturday, April 16.
Featured as the second of 12 meets on the USATF's Journey to Gold, the Golden Games are also classified as a 2022 World Athletics Continental Tour gold event. Baxter, Fixsen, and Williams will join eight more of the top women's vaulters in the world on Saturday at 5:10 PM ET, with coverage broadcast live on CNBC.
Fixsen will make her second appearance of the outdoor season, following her huge outdoor personal best of 4.45m (14' 7.25") that she set at the Texas Relays. Fixsen's mark currently ranks third in the NCAA and second in the ACC this year. Baxter, the 2022 indoor NCAA pole vault champion, will make her outdoor season debut at Hilmer Lodge Stadium after unlucky weather has postponed the start to the national champion's outdoor campaign. The California native, who boasted the top indoor vault in 2022 with an ACC-record clearance of 4.62m (15' 1.75"), will compete just over half an hour from her hometown. Williams will join the two Hokies student athletes in the competition after finishing third at the USATF Indoor Championships and setting a current world lead in the event at the Texas Relays with her clearance of 4.70m (15' 5").
As the outdoor season rolls on, the Hokies are improving marks and times every weekend. While Baxter and Fixsen compete at Mt. SAC the throwers and sprinters head to South Carolina for the Gamecock Invitational, setting up a hugely enticing Saturday of action for Tech track & field.