KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Over a cold and rainy weekend at the Tennessee Relays, Hokies posted a school record, personal bests, and impressive finishes despite swirling winds and dipping temperatures in Knoxville.
After five competitions on Thursday, Jake Spotswood wrapped up his first decathlon for the Hokies on Friday with a new school record of 7,210 points. Boosted by a strong performance in the pole vault, his signature event, Spotswood cleared 5.05m (16' 7") to set an outdoor season best, win the decathlon pole vault, and earn 926 points towards his overall score. Spotswood's decathlon tally not only broke Virginia Tech's school record but helped him finish as the No. 3 collegian at the Tennessee Relays. The senior from Alabama now leads the ACC in the event this season and ranks No. 10 in the NCAA.
Finishing just behind Spotswood in the decathlon was Sean Murphy, who finished the two-day event as the No. 5 collegian with a point total of 7,103. Murphy's score was only 8 points short of his personal best, the former Virginia Tech school record, and sees him move into No. 2 in the ACC this season.
After weather forced several scratches across the weekend, Hokies battled in the Tennessee Relays' invitational events. Antonio Lopez Segura opened his 2022 outdoor campaign in thrilling fashion, holding off a surging pack of runners to win the 1500m invite by a hundredth of a second. In the 800m invite, Seb Anthony roared back with 100 meters remaining to move from eighth place to second.
Saturday's action in Knoxville featured three seldom-ran distance relays, the 4x1500m and both the men's and women's distance medley relays. In the 4x1500m, the men's team of Azaan Dawson, Declan Rymer, Dave Whitfield, and Viktor Idhammar stormed to a victory with a time of 15:52.88, the fourth-fastest ever ran in Virginia Tech history. A staple of the Hokies' indoor season but rarely held outdoors, the DMRs offered an opportunity for the distance teams to pass the baton around outdoors. In the men's edition of the event, Antonio Lopez Segura, Eldon Phillips, Tyler Leeser, and Ben Fleming clocked 9:42.38 to finish in second, their time now ranked No. 3 in the Hokies' record book. On the women's side, Chase Kappeler, Star Price, Maxana Grubb, and Hannah Ballowe also finished in second place, clocking 11:41.02 for the No. 8 time in Virginia Tech history.
Up next for Virginia Tech track & field is another weekend of spread-out competition, as the sprinters and throwers travel to South Carolina for the Gamecock Invitational and a group of women's pole vaulters flies out to Walnut, Calif. for the USATF Golden Games at the Mt. SAC Relays.