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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Virginia Tech hit the road Friday, competing at the Penn State National meet. Joe Davis earned Tech a win in the pole vault and five others advanced to the semifinals of their respective events.

In the men’s 60-meter hurdles, all three Tech participants advanced to the semifinals with Jeff Artis-Gray (8th, 8.10) leading the way, followed by Keare Smith (12th, 8.13) and Ebenezer Amegashie (16th, 8.16). Smith narrowly missed advancing to the finals, placing two hundreths of a second behind the cutoff, taking ninth at 8.03. Funmi Alabi advanced to the semifinals in the 60-meter dash, placing 10th in the prelims (7.54) but just missed making the finals, placing ninth in the semis (7.53). On the men’s side, Keith Ricks also advanced to the semifinals with a prelim time of 6.84, good for a ninth-place finish, but finished just shy of the top-eight in the semifinals (10th, 6.81).

In the field events, Hasheem Halim finished 19th in the long jump with a season-best distance of 22-2.5 (6.77m). Joe Davis won his second pole vault competition of the season, earning a win in the Friday’s invitational flight with a personal-best 17-4.5 (5.30m). This moves him up to seventh all-time at Tech in the pole vault. The Hokies completed the sweep of the top three spots with Jared Jodon finishing second (17-0.75, 5.20m) while competing unattached, and Hunter Hall placing third (16-8.75, 5.10m).

The Hokies conclude competition Saturday, with running events set to begin at 10 a.m. and field events one hour later.

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