The Virginia Tech men’s track and field team finished second with 130 points at the Atlantic Coast Conference championships this past weekend at Clemson University.
The women’s team finished sixth.
“I was very proud how everyone competed especially on the final day, because that’s when we scored the majority of our points,” said head coach Dave Cianelli.
The men’s team also finished second during February’s indoor championship.
Cianelli said it’s the highest the men’s team has placed in the Outdoor Championship.
The men’s team finished 8.5 points behind Florida State for the title.
“There were four teams that were within 20 points of each other,” Cianelli said.
Sophomore Marcel Lomnicky won the hammer throw title for the second year in a row. He set an ACC-meet record with his throw of 235-07 meters. Lomnicky is the first Hokie to win back-to-back ACC titles since Spyridon Jullien in 2003-05.
“I’m pretty happy about winning the title again after last year,” Lomnicky said. “But I was pretty happy about throwing the ACC meet record too, but I really wanted to throw farther. I felt really good, I’m kind of disappointed about my performance but I did pretty well.”
Lomnicky was not the only successful Hokie in the hammer throw. Senior Matej Muza finished second while freshmen Alexander Ziegler and Denis Mahmic finished fourth and seventh, respectively.
The team of Lomnicky, Muza, Zieglar and Mahmic earned 25 points toward the overall men’s point value.
Nineteen more points were added to the total team total thanks to another great performance by the pole-vaulters.
Senior Yavgeniy Olhovsky won his second straight and third overall ACC title after clearing 18-00.50. Juniors Hunter Hall and Jared Jodon finished third and sixth respectively.
“We have built depth in those areas (throwers and pole vaulters) with a lot of quality athletes,” Cianelli said.
On the track, sophomore Will Mulherin won the 5,000-meter race, earning his second consecutive ACC title. Mulherin was disqualified in the 3,000 meter at the indoor ACC championship for allegedly pushing an opposing runner during the event. The win helped make up for the mishap in February.
“I think he along with the coaching staff and his teammates were really happy to see him pull off that win considering what happened in indoors in the 3,000,” Cianelli said. “I think he felt a sense of redemption.”
Sophomore Keith Ricks contributed 24 points overall to the total team value as well. This included his performance in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, which he finished second and seventh in, respectively. Ricks also took second and third place individually in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash respectively.
“I think that’s the first time we had someone in the top three in the conference in each of those events,” Cianelli said.
Sophomore Michael Hammond won the men’s mile and finished second in the 1,500 meter.
On the women’s side, senior Queen Harrison continued her magical season by winning the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.44 seconds — a new ACC record, but the time did not stand because of the wind acting as an aid to the competitors.
“I’ve been doing a lot of training since freshman year so I think I kind of put an exclamation point on the end of my ACC career,” Harrison said.
“Even with the wind she had the fastest time I had ever seen before,” Cianelli said.
Senior Kristi Castlin joined Harrison on the podium, earning second in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 12.59 seconds.
Harrison continued her dominance at the meet by winning the 400-meter hurdles while setting yet another ACC record with a time of 54.66. Senior Asia Washington finished fourth with a time of 57.71.
Harrison’s performance in the two events places her as one of the top competitors in the world now, according to Cianelli.
“She had the best double (the 100 and 400 meter hurdles) by a collegiate (runner) ever in history,” Cianelli said. “As longs as she’s able to maintain her health she’s going to be one of the best in the world. I really do believe that.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 21 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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