Collegiate Times

The Virginia Tech track and field team competes in the Virginia Tech Elite meet. Tech’s pole vaulting is one of the most successful teams.

Year in and year out, the Virginia Tech men’s and women’s track teams have been two of the most successful within the Hokies athletics programs.

Within the track team itself, pole vaulting in particular has had some of the greatest success over the last several years. Both teams have had several athletes over the years qualify for the NCAA National Invitational.

Much of the success can be attributed to pole vault coach Bob Phillips. Phillips, an alumnus of Tech, has coached the team for 29 years. He jumped for Tech from 1977-78 and was a four-time NCAA national qualifier. He was also named an All-American in 1980.

Phillips believes that the consistency of the coaching staff has helped make the program an elite one.

“I think it’s like football or any other sport, once you get a program rolling, it makes it easier to recruit and keep the program rolling,” Phillips said. “I think just like in football that consistency of the coaching staff, I’ve been here a long time, there’s not a lot of turnover in the turnover. Coach Cianelli has been here for 11 years. The tradition gets passed down from one group of kids to the next.”

Right now, the men’s and women’s teams are in two very different spots in the program. The men’s team is thriving, as the track and field team had a preseason ranking of No. 7 in the nation and is trying to reach the No. 5 spot by the end of the season.

“Hopefully we can fulfill (the preseason hype) and finish in the top five in the nation,” said Yavgeniy Olhovsky, a senior on the team. “It would be a big step forward for us to finish (strong).”

Olhosvky has led the team in jumping over the last few seasons. He is hoping to return back to the NCAA National Championship where he has represented the Hokies each of his previous three seasons.

Along with Olhosvky, senior Joe Davis is also consistently one of the top performers on the men’s side. So far this indoor season, he’s already set two personal records.

“I had two lifetime (personal records) already, and I think it’s just attributed to me being healthy this fall,” Davis said. “It’s like the first time I’ve had a healthy fall since my freshman year and I PR’d three times my freshman year. It’s kind of exciting seeing the results from the past few falls.”

The women’s team is in the middle of a rebuilding stage. Redshirt seniors Caitlin Thornley and Kelly Phillips are the veterans of the team that has three freshmen and sophomores.

Thornley and Phillips appreciate their role as mentors to the younger jumpers this season.

“It’s cool in a way because you see the people that come in, and you think it’s cool because these people were interested in the school because of what we did,” Thornley said. “It’s also cool to help see other things that other things and help in the coaching process and be able to give your 2 cents and try to make the future better. There’s a sense of pride of being an alumni of this program.”

Both Thornley and Phillips have faced tough injuries in their careers. Phillips has had two surgeries on her right wrist and Thornley had surgery on her shoulder this summer after she stretched out her capsule and tore her labrum.

Phillips has already proved she is healthy this indoor season after qualifying for indoor nationals in this past weekend’s meet.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are small and close knit. Each pole vaulter wants to see one another succeed individually while also helping the team out.

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 10 issue of the Collegiate Times.