BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech track & field program takes a pair of top-30 national rankings into competition this weekend. Tech's women's team is ranked third in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Outdoor Preseason poll released Wednesday, and the men's team is rated 27^th.

As the defending Atlantic Coast Conference outdoor champions, the women's team finished 21^st at last season's national meet and returns 13 student-athletes who own personal-best performances that currently rank in the nation's top 40. The next ACC school listed in the poll is Miami at No. 24.

Behind the strength of seven athletes who have registered national top-55 performances, the men's team is the third ACC team listed in the USTFCCCA poll.

The Hokies continue their outdoor season by sending athletes to three different meets this weekend: the Weems Baskin Memorial Meet, adidas Raleigh Relays, and Liberty Asics Collegiate Invitational.

On Friday at NC State's Raleigh Relays in Paul Derr Track & Field Stadium, freshmen Nick McLaughlin and Mike Miller will run the 400-meter race. A pair of Tech teams will compete in the 4x1,500-meter relay: Devin Cornwall, Ryan Witt, Phil Padilla, and James Scheiner along with the quartet of Chris Padilla, Eddie Judge, Chris Walizer, and Rider Clauss. In the women's 4x1,500-meter relay, Natalie Sherbak, Jessica Fanning, Kelly Clark, and Tasmin Fanning will run for the Hokies. Billy Berlin, Matt Kroetch, Erin Reddan, Zach Thomas, and Kristy Tobin are entered in the 5,000-meter run.

Tech will have three entries in the 1,500-meter run, with Clark, Clauss, and Cornwall set to compete Saturday at the Raleigh Relays. The Hokies will have two more entries in the men's 4x800-meter relay with Scheiner, Chris Padilla, McLaughlin, and Phil Padilla on one team, and Miller, Walizer, Witt and Judge comprising another.

Tech will be represented well in the field events on Saturday at the Weems Baskin Memorial Meet in Columbia, S.C., hosted by the University of South Carolina at the Weems Baskin Track Facility. Three-time All-American Kristen Callan and newcomer Dorotea Habazin will be in the hammer throw, while Erika Schroeder is scheduled to compete the shot put and discus. Justin Clickett will make his 2008 Hokie debut in the shot put along with Igor Misljenovic. Misljenovic will also throw the discus, and Matej Muza will compete in the hammer throw. Tech vaulters Elise Birnbaum, Joe Davis, Jared Jodon, Erin Mahony and Diana Sciambi are slated to compete.

On the track at the Weems Baskin Memorial Meet, Cedric Hudson is scheduled for the long jump and 200-meter dash, while Ebenezer Amagashie is running the 400-meter hurdles.

Megan Fuson, Jackie Merrick, and Jessica Trapeni are set for the 1,500-meter run on Saturday at the Liberty Asics Collegiate Invitational in Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex in Lynchburg, Va. The same trio will also compete in the 800-meter dash. Kyle Guglielmo will run the 800-meter and 1,500-meter events, while Lindsey King and Matt Saunders will compete in the 5,000-meter race.