March 8, 2010
Ten Hokies selected to NCAA Championships
Eight men, two women will represent Tech at national meet

BLACKSBURG, Va. Ten members of the Virginia Tech track and field squads earned berths to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, the NCAA announced on Monday. Eight Hokie men and two Tech women will compete in the national meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 12-13.

Seniors Queen Harrison and Kristi Castlin will be partaking in their final indoor NCAA meet this weekend. Harrison and Castlin were both selected in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, where they own impressive times. Harrison ran a national top time of 7.94 en route to an ACC title in the event two weeks ago, while Castlin holds a season-best clocking of 8.08, which stands in fourth in the country.

On the men’s side, the Hokies represented very well in the field events. Three Hokies secured trips to Fayetteville in the pole vault. Juniors Hunter Hall, who captured the ACC championship in the event, and Jared Jodon, as well as senior Yavgeniy Olhovsky will all compete in the pole vault this weekend. Hall and Jodon cleared career-bests 17-09.25 and 17-08.50, respectively, this season, while Olhovsky comes into the meet with a season-best mark of 17-07.75.

In the throws events, freshman Alexander Ziegler and sophomore Marcel Lomnicky are entered in the men’s weight throw, while senior Igor Misljenovic claimed a bid to the NCAA Championships in the men’s shot put in his final indoor season. Ziegler launched a 73-10.25, which sits third in the U.S., to win the ACC weight throw title, while Lomnicky tossed a season-best 69-08.25 at the VT Elite Meet earlier this year. Lomnicky’s mark is fifth-best in the nation. Misljenovic, who continually improved as the season went along, threw a personal-best toss of 61-04.25 at the ACC Championships to work his way into the NCAA field in the shot put. The Zagreb, Croatia native finished second in the event at the conference meet.

Sophomore Hasheem Halim rounds out the Hokie field athletes, using a school-record jump at the ACC meet to notch a bid into the NCAA Championships’ men’s triple jump. In his final attempt of the competition, the Lilburn, Ga., native leaped a runner-up effort of 52-08.25 to set the Tech standard and put himself in position to receive a berth into the national meet. Halim’s mark resides in 10th in the country.

Representing the men’s sprints, sophomore Keith Ricks ran a 6.65 in the men’s 60-meter dash in his first meet of the year, the Hokie Invitational. The time proved strong enough to get Ricks to the national meet, as it ranks 11th in the nation.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships kick off on Friday, March 12 and will conclude on Saturday, March 13. The first Hokie to compete at the meet will be Misljenovic in the men’s shot put, scheduled to begin on Friday at 2:45 p.m. Results will be available on hokiesports.com.

For updates on Virginia Tech track & field, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Track).

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