LYNCHBURG, Va. – At the Hokies' last meet of the season before championships begin, Tech athletes put on a show with five event wins, major updates to the record book, and plenty of personal bests.
Kennedy Harrison's first open 400m since the end of March was a good one, as the sophomore blitzed around Liberty's Matthes-Hopkins Track in just 45.87 seconds, becoming the second Hokie ever to run under 46 seconds in the event. Harrison's time set a new facility record at Liberty and leads the ACC with just over a week to go until the conference championships.
Joining Harrison with an outstanding 400m for the Hokies was Tyreke Sapp, who set a new lifetime best with his second-place time of 46.19 seconds. The redshirt senior from New Orleans now boasts the third-best time in Virginia Tech history and ranks No. 3 in the ACC this season.
In the 1500m, Antonio Lopez Segura earned the win on the men's side with a new lifetime best by nearly six seconds. The Spainiard ran 3:39.89 to get the win and moves into 5th in the ACC this season, his time also placing him at No. 5 in the Hokies' record book. Just behind Lopez Segura was Ben Fleming, whose PR of 3:41.25 earned him second place, 12th in the ACC this year, and No. 9 all-time at Virginia Tech.
Tech athletes swept the men's and women's 800m at the Liberty Twilight, as Eldon Phillips won the men's edition with a huge personal best of 1:49.66. Phillips was joined by Tyler Leeser in third and Viktor Idhammar in fourth as each set career bests in the event. On the women's side, Leigha Torino blazed to a season's best over 800m, earning the win with her time of 2:08.67.
Earlier in the afternoon freshman Layla Anderson punched in two massive personal bests within an hour. First in the finals of the 100m hurdles, Anderson took second with her PR of 13.83 seconds (+3.1w). Then, with an even more impressive result, the Portsmouth, Va. native earned the victory in the 200m with a huge personal best of 23.67 seconds, moving her into ninth in Virginia Tech history.
In the women's 1500m, Grace Boone led the way for Tech with her second-place finish. The junior punched in a huge career best of 4:21.67, besting her previous record by nearly four seconds.
Next up for the Hokies will be the ACC Outdoor Championships in Durham, N.C. The three-day conference championship meet will run from Thursday, May 12 to Saturday, May 14 as Tech chases more ACC titles.