February 28, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Heading into the last weekend before the NCAA Indoor Championships and coming off a strong showing at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, the Virginia Tech men's and women's teams each found themselves among the Trackwire Top 25 power rankings this week.

The men, who had been as high as No. 8 on Jan. 31, are No. 13 heading into the Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet on Saturday, March 4. According to trackwire.com, the men's team is projected to score 18 team points at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The team has NCAA automatic qualifiers Mohsen Anani and Spyridon Jullien in the weight throw. Brian Mondschein has also earned a qualifying mark in the pole vault. NCAA provisional qualifiers for the men's team include Matej Muza in the weight throw, Stephen Huntzinger in the shot put and Joe Samaniuk in the pole vault.

The women's team re-enters the power rankings this week tied at No. 25. The team, coming off a fourth-place showing at the ACC Championships, had been in first heading into the final day of the meet. On Jan. 24, Tech was No. 15 in the power rankings. The Hokies are projected to score eight team points at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Senior weight throws competitor Tamara Burns is the only automatic qualifier for the women's team. However, the squad has several provisional qualifiers. The provisional qualifiers include Sherlenia Green in the 400m, Gunild Kreb in the pentathlon, Erin Mahony in the pole vault and Saskia Triesscheijn in the pentathlon.

The Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet will begin at 10 a.m., Saturday, with the women's high jump. Running events get underway at noon with the women's 5,000m run, while the meet concludes with the men's 4x400m relay at 3:05 p.m., in Rector Field House.