NCAA East Regional Championships

Live Stats

 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Three members of the Virginia Tech track & field team qualified for the national meet by winning their respective events Friday at the NCAA East Regional Championships on Florida State's Mike Long Track in Tallahassee, Fla. The two-day event will determine the field for the NCAA Championships.

The sixth-ranked women's team started the defense of it regional championship by scoring 28 points during the first day of the meet to tie for the lead in the team standings with Penn State. After day one of last season's meet, the women's team was fifth with 10 points before surging to the title. The No. 42 men's team is currently tied for eighth with 10 points.

"We had a very good day today," Director of Track & Field Dave Cianelli said. "We almost had everyone qualify [for tomorrow's finals] who we expected. It wasn't perfect, but we were still very solid."

Tech took the top two spots in the women's pole vault with identical 2008 outdoor season-best heights of 13'3.75" (4.06m) under hot conditions. The duo managed to earn 18 points in the meet and qualify for next month's NCAA Championships. Senior Erin Mahony repeated as NCAA East Regional champion after being awarded first place and 10 points because she needed fewer attempts to clear the height. ACC Indoor champion Kelly Phillips took second place for eight more points, and sophomore Elise Birnbaum tied for 14^th place at a height of 12'0" (3.66m).

"It was very hot today," Cianelli said. "[Mahony] and [Phillips] obviously did a great job of competing. Their great conditioning allowed them to be successful because they weren't weakening down the stretch. They were both ranked in the top four of the region heading into the meet so it shows how successful they've been all season."

ACC Outdoor champion Justin Clickett won the shot put with an effort of 62'5" (18.91m) in his second-to-last attempt of the final flight to earn 10 points, leading the Hokie men's team on the opening day of the meet. Clickett's mark was just 3.5' (.20m) short of his personal best.

"Again in very hot conditions," Cianelli said. "[Clickett] really worked hard and stayed focused for the entire event. He came up with his best performance in the fifth round, and that proved to be the difference and ended up giving him the title."

Two-time All-American Tasmin Fanning won the 5,000-meter race with a time of 16:11.42 to cap the Hokies' day with 10 more points for the women's team. She entered the meet rated fourth in the nation in the event and will now travel to Des Moines, Iowa for the NCAA Championships, which begin June 11.

"Tasmin kept in good position the entire race," Cianelli said. "She was right with [Frances Koons of Villanova] heading into the last lap and then just finished the race well."

The Hokies also succeeded in preliminary action throughout the day, qualifying for tomorrow's final heats in five events.

Tech's conference runner-up 4x100-meter relay of Sherlenia Green, Kristi Castlin, Queen Harrison and Britni Spruill ran a season-best time of 44.56 seconds for fourth place overall in the first heat of the preliminaries. The relay beat its previous season-best time by .09 seconds. Tomorrow's final race will begin at 4 p.m.

Harrison and Castlin were both among the top four overall finishers in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles. ACC runner-up Harrison currently stands as the top overall finisher in a time of 12.86 seconds with a 1.4 mile-per-hour wind, just .03 seconds off her personal-record pace. Castlin, the defending NCAA East Regional champion, finished first in the fifth heat and was fourth overall with a time of 13.47 seconds against a -1.2 mile-per-hour wind. Green was 20^th overall with a time of 14.08 seconds with a -1.7 mile-per-hour wind. Harrison and Castlin are scheduled to compete in the final race tomorrow at 4:45 p.m.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Harrison, the ACC's all-time record holder in the event, holds the top spot heading into tomorrow's final heat at 5:40 p.m. Harrison recorded a time of 56.24 seconds, which was 1.4 seconds faster than the next closest competitor. Green, the 2007 ACC outdoor champion will join Harrison in the finals and currently stands in seventh place with a season-best time of 58.29 seconds. Asia Washington just missed qualifying for the finals with a ninth-place time of 58.73 seconds.

ACC runner-up and 2007 national meet qualifier Billy Berlin made it to the final in the men's 1,500-meter event, and now sits sixth overall with a time of 3:48.33, entering tomorrow's final race at 4:30 p.m.

Spruill, a reigning All-American in the 200-meter dash, is now in seventh place overall after completing the race in 23.785 seconds against a -0.5 mile-per-hour wind. The final heat will take place at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

"We are going to have to battle to be successful tomorrow," Cianelli said. "I like where we are and we'll see how things go. It should be a real dogfight on the women's side between [Virginia Tech], Penn State and Florida."

In other action, senior Jessica Fanning placed 22^nd in the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:31.24 in the first heat of the preliminaries. Spruill was the 17^th finisher in the 100-meter dash preliminaries at a time of 11.84 seconds with a 1.1 mile-per-hour wind.

The NCAA Track & Field Regional Championships continue tomorrow at Mike Long Track. Matej Muza owns the nation's fifth-best mark this season and leads off the day for the Hokies in the men's hammer throw at 10 a.m. Live stats can be found at

http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2008/NCAAEast08/Results/.