Collegiate Times

The Hokies women’s track and field team added yet another title to its accomplishments this season by finishing in first place at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Eastern Regional Championships, held this past weekend in Gainesville, Fla.

The Hokies defeated South Carolina for the team title by a fairly large 89-62 margin, and now the only hurdle remaining in their 2007 campaign is the national meet in Sacramento, Calif.  

“We were happy with the results here, we got everyone that we expected to nationals, and were pleased with a few surprises that also qualified,” said head coach Dave Cianelli. “The coaches have done an extremely good job all season training for the athletes to be peaking at this time.”

As for the team’s preparation for nationals, Cianelli said, “We’ve done the nuts and bolts work already, these final practices will be pretty light, just a final tune up, we want to make sure everyone stays rested and focused. Those will be the areas of emphasis we will place this week.”

Cianelli praised how great of an accomplishment, specifically, the East Region championship is, by explaining the quality of the region.

“The East Region, is one of four regions in the nation. It is comprised of 112 schools, including the entire ACC, Big East, Ivy League, and SEC schools from Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. It is the strongest region largely in part to the sheer number of schools included, and it is very tough from top to bottom,” he said.

Twelve Virginia Tech women and one alternate will likely be making the cross-country trip next week to Sacramento for the NCAA Championships, which will be held June 6-9.
Coach Cianelli expressed his excitement for both the team and the individual girls qualifying for nationals, saying, “these girls really have been working hard since August, and for them to succeed this well at regionals, they really deserve it. Naturally these girls are talented, but their key to success this year has been their incredible determination, and drive to win versus any competition. Throughout the whole year they have been rising to the occasion, and that’s exactly what they did here.”

In addition to the team championship, four women took home individual regional titles. Junior Erin Mahony cleared a personal best of 4.06m to win the pole vault title, while freshman Ashley Early finished in second at the same height but had more faults.
In a prepared statement, Mahony was ecstatic about her personal record, “I feel amazing. I haven’t hit a PR in over a year, and I just did that to win the meet, so I feel great. I wasn’t expecting that at all, and right now I’m just excited about going to nationals.”
A couple more Hokie freshmen, who also made big names for themselves were Kristi Castlin and Queen Harrison. Castlin entered the meet ranked No. 1 in the region and in the nation in her primary event, the 100m hurdles. Castlin did not disappoint, and outlasted teammate Harrison by two tenths of a second to take the title. Her time of 12.91 seconds set a four year old East Region meet record and was also the fastest time ever run by anyone younger than 19 years old, setting a new American Junior record.

Runner up in the 100m, Harrison also competed in the 400m hurdles, her best event, and finished first, setting a new school record and shaving .48 seconds off her old one in the process. Also qualifying for nationals in the 400m hurdles, was junior Sherlenia Green, who finished fourth. In a statement, Harrison said, “I’m honored, and I just want to thank the Lord. My leg was a little tight, so I didn’t get out as fast as I wanted to, but I did my best to make up for it. The end of the race was strong, and I was able to get it done.”
The fourth individual regional title for the Hokies was won by another underclassman, sophomore Brittany Prior. The 2007 ACC Outdoor and Indoor shot-put champion’s best throw trailed by a mere .01m with just two throws remaining. However, Prior was able to dig down deep on her fifth attempt, throwing the 8.8-pound sphere a distance of 16.65m, good enough for the region title.

“It’s quite a feeling. I tried a new technique and I’m glad it’s working out. I’m glad to be going out to Sacramento,” Prior said in a statement. “Regionals is really touchy because you could have three bad throws and foul out, but it feels great to win out here today.”
Rounding out the squad that will depart for nationals on June 4, will be the 4x100 relay team of Green, Castlin, sophomore Patrice Potts, and junior Britni Spruill, who qualified by placing second and lowering the Virginia Tech school record in the process. Potts and Spruill also qualified in the 100m dash, by finishing third and fifth respectively. Spruill additionally qualified in her third event, the 200m dash, by setting a personal best time of 23.43, good enough for fifth place.

Sophomore Tasman Fanning will also be traveling to nationals for the first time in the 1500m, thanks to an at-large bid resulting from her sixth place regional finish and her low times throughout the season. Fanning was very excited at the opportunity to go to nationals as only a sophomore. “It is really exciting to qualify, just for the experience at the higher level of competition. We are excited as a team to see how well we can do versus everyone.” Fanning expressed interest in staying with the program, and “working with the excellent Virginia Tech coaching staff to continue to develop and reach a higher level.”

Previewing the national meet, Coach Cianelli said the competition was hard to predict. “The quality is so high, definitely a step up from regionals. All of the girls will be required to perform at top level if they are going to succeed. It all comes down to who is ready. Cianelli was confident in his team’s chances of success, saying, “I will not be surprised at high finishes from any of the women. Realistically a top-10 finish for the team would be great. At nationals, especially, the individual events will be the primary focus, and the team score will be the byproduct of that.”

The 2007 NCAA Track and Field Championships will get under way, Wednesday, June 6 with the preliminary rounds, and will conclude Saturday, June 9.

Men

The Virginia Tech men also performed very well at the East Regional, finishing ninth in the 58-team field, and will likely send five athletes to nationals.

The pole vaulting event was again good to the Hokies, and three men successfully qualified for the NCAA finals. Seniors Joe Samaniuk and Adam Bingaman qualified, finishing third and fourth respectively, and will each be making their first trip to nationals.

Bingaman was naturally excited after qualifying for nationals, saying, “I’ve always wanted to make at least one, I didn’t do it this year for indoors, and am glad to be making the trip. I was honestly hoping to jump a little higher at regionals, but am still glad to be moving on.”

Adam explained that even though he is out of eligibility at Virginia Tech, he plans on staying with the same coach, and to keep vaulting with a couple other recent graduates, with the simple goal of jumping higher and higher.

2007 Indoor ACC Champion Thorsten Mueller, from Stuttgart, Germany, also qualified in the pole vault with a fifth place finish at a height of 5.06m.

Completing the men’s team that will move on to nationals, are juniors Billy Berlin and Justin Clickett. Berlin advanced by finishing fifth in the 1500m with a time of 3:43.02, just over a second shy of his personal best. Justin qualified in the shot put by finishing third with a throw of 19.02m.

Out of all the athletes qualifying for nationals this year, only the two men’s vaulters will not return next year. Cianelli looks forward to the future as well, expressing his yearly goals simply being to qualify more and more athletes to regionals and nationals.