February 17, 2007

VT Challenge

Complete Results

 

BLACKSBURG, Va. - It was an afternoon of personal-bests for the Hokies' track and field team on Saturday at their own Virginia Tech Challenge, a meet featuring over 20 schools that served as Tech's final tune-up before next weekend's ACC Indoor Championships.

The mile run kicked the day off for the Hokies at a blistering pace. Tasmin Fanning won the women's race in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:40.66, which was just .20 seconds shy of the school record, and .66 seconds shy of Tech's first NCAA automatic qualifying mark of the season. The time also ranks as the second-best in the ACC, and seventh-best in the nation this season. Jessica Fanning (4^th - 4:50.26), Natalie Sherbak (6^th - 4:53.33) and Kelly Clark (7^th - 4:56.80) also eclipsed the five-minute mark.

In the men's race, Billy Berlin finished second in a personal-best time of 4:06.74, breaking the 20-year-old Virginia Tech record of 4:08.1 set by Gary Cobb in 1987. James Scheiner nearly bested that mark as well, finishing seventh in 4:08.60. Rider Clauss followed in 14^th in 4:15, and Devin Cornwall recorded a personal best of 4:16.12 to finish 16^th.

Personal bests were also recorded in several field events. Idikoro Eradiri provisionally qualified for the NCAAs with an ACC season-best and new school-record leap of 15.80m (51'10"). His second-place jump goes down as the 10^th-best mark in the nation this season. Joe Gates also recorded a personal-best with his 10^th-place jump of 14.15m (46'5.25").

In the women's pole vault, Abbey McGrath took first place with a career-best 3.97m (13'0.25"). Erin Mahony followed in second with the same height due to more misses, and each now appears on Tech's list of NCAA provisional qualifiers. Caitlin Thornley tied for third with a personal-best of here own, vaulting 3.82m (12'6.25").

In the weight throw, Kristen Callan improved on her previous NCAA provisional mark with a first-place toss of 19.94m (65'5"), which is also good for second-best in the ACC this season. On the men's side, Justin Clickett added his name to the list of Tech's provisional qualifiers with a personal-best heave of 19.62m (64'4.5") to finish as the top collegiate (second overall). Matej Muza followed in fourth with a distance of 19.47m (63'10.5").

Other top Tech finishers included Lisa MacPherson in the women's 3000m (9^th - 10:31.10), Fiona Gentles in the women's 800m (9^th - 2:16.22), Brian Markley in the men's 800m (11^th - 1:56.28), Jenn Dietz in the women's 5000m (13^th - 19:07.82), Bryan McVey in the men's section three 3000m (9:33.70), and Mike Fitzgerald in the men's 400m (27^th - 50.32).

Virginia Tech will now prepare for the ACC Championships, which are scheduled to take place at Clemson University Feb. 22-24.