EUGENE, Ore. - Virginia Tech rising junior Queen Harrison made Virginia Tech track and field history on Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Trials, taking second in the 400-meter hurdles to earn a spot on the Olympic Team in the Beijing Games from August 8-24.

Harrison becomes the first individual from the track and field program to represent any country at any Olympic games. The Richmond, Va., native is also the first Tech female to become an Olympian in any sport and just the second Hokie ever to do so, joining men's basketball player Bimbo Coles, who represented America in 1988. A pair of former Tech women's basketball players, Ieva Kublina (Latvia) and Nare Diawara (Mali), will also make their Olympic debuts for their respective nations in Beijing.

Harrison, who had to withdraw from the NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month due to a hamstring injury, bounced back to finish second at the Olympic Trials with a time of 54.60 seconds to punch her ticket to China. Tiffany Ross-Williams of Reebok won the race in 54.03 seconds. Harrison turned in times of 57.16 seconds in Friday's preliminary and 56.04 seconds in Saturday's semifinal to advance to Sunday's final.

"It's amazing," Tech director of track and field Dave Cianelli said immediately after the race. "Especially after what happened at NCAAs, we didn't even know if she'd be able to run. She wasn't even at 100 percent, and it was just incredible."

Full schedules and results of the Olympic Trials are available here: http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/OlympicTrials-TF/schedule.asp