April 24, 2010
Harrison wins Penn Relays' Women's Individual Athlete of the Meet
Three school records fall on Saturday

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Senior Queen Harrison earned the Penn Relays Women’s Individual Athlete of the Meet award, and three school records fell in the Virginia Tech track and field squads’ final day of the Penn Relays on Saturday in Philadelphia, Pa.

After wind negated two school-record times in the women’s 100-meter hurdles for Harrison in last night’s prelims and at the ACC Championships last weekend, finally the Richmond, Va., native ran a school-record time in the race that was wind-legal on Saturday. Harrison clocked a 12.61 in the event to win the Penn Relays title. The time broke Harrison’s old school record of 12.65, set at the Florida Relays earlier this season, and also set a Penn Relays record, breaking the previous mark of 12.70 set in 2000. With the stellar effort, the Penn Relays named Harrison Women’s Individual Athlete of the Meet. Senior Kristi Castlin finished third in the event with an impressive time of 12.94.

More fireworks came on the day when sophomore Will Mulherin won the Olympic Development section of the men’s mile run in a Tech-record 4:00.93. Mulherin bested the previous Tech standard of 4:02.47, run by former Hokie Billy Berlin during the 2009 indoor season. The Yorktown, Va., native defeated 13 of the best runners in the nation, including seven sponsored athletes.

Another school record fell in the 4x800-meter relay. Junior Chris Walizer, sophomore Michael Hammond, junior Ryan Witt and junior Nick McLaughlin combined for a time of 7:22.19, shattering the former school standard of 7:26.98, set last year by juniorEddie Judge, Berlin, senior Jeff Miller and Witt. The quartet placed sixth in the event on Saturday.

Other finishers of note for the Hokies include sophomore Keith Ricks, who placed seventh in the men’s 100-meter dash with a time of 10.66, and junior Jared Jodon, who cleared 17-00.75 for fifth place in the men’s pole vault. Though the women’s 4x400-meter relay squad qualified for the finals of the event, the Hokies did not compete in the race on Saturday.

A contingent of the Hokie squads not competing at the Penn Relays will travel to High Point, N.C., tomorrow for the Vertklasse Meet. 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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