Virginia Tech excels at the Big Orange Invitational

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Virginia Tech track & field's sprints and hurdles, jumps and multis, throws and pole vault event squads competed at the Big Orange Invitational over May 2-3.

Mariana Pestana opened action for the Hokies with her second consecutive event win in the throw, reaching a mark of 63.40m, with Barbora Stejfova following in second place at 58.54m.

Lukas Baroke opened men's action with his 63.85m hammer throw, capturing his first event win of the season and third finish in the top three on the year.

In the men's discus, Vlad Puchko dominated the field with his 62.90m distance, winning the event by 1.76m, falling just .25m short of his program record of 63.15m, set just three weeks ago.

Ben Conacher set a massive personal-best of 5.61m (18'4.75") in the men's pole vault to capture the event win, the fourth of his career, and the No. 4 all-time slot in Virginia Tech's history.  His mark of 5.61m places him No. 3 in the NCAA this season and first overall in the east region.

Maddox Hamm and Conner McClure each escalated their season-best marks at the invtational.  Hamm reached a height of 5.44m for the NCAA No. 17 mark this season and No. 9 in the each region while McClure posted 5.34m for the NCAA No. 33 mark and No. 15 in the east.

Katie Seyfang dominated in the shot put, winning the event for the third time this season with a personal-best mark of 16.85m.  The mark is No. 10 in the east, No. 22 in the NCAA and No. 4 all-time for Virginia Tech.

RESULTS