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BLACKSBURG, Va. – Senior Keith Ricks set the school record in the 60-meter dash as the Virginia Tech men’s and women’s track & field teams opened 2012 on Friday with the first day of the VT Invitational at Rector Field House.

Ricks started the season with a bang as he won his preliminary heat in the 60 meters in 6.71 seconds. Then in the final, Ricks ran a school-record and personal best 6.64 to win the event. He beat his own school record from 2010 by one-tenth of a second.

Junior Natalie Woodford set a personal best and moved into a tie for fourth place on the all-time performance list at Tech in the 500m with a seventh place finish of 1:14.27.

In the women’s mile, sophomore Paige Kvartunas and senior Sammy Dow finished 1-2 in heat three, leading a pack of Hokies. Kvartunas finished in 5:10.81, good for fifth place overall, while Dow was sixth in 5:11.26. Sophomore Alex Watt also posted a top-10 finish in ninth overall (5:13.99).

Junior Ryan Hagen, running unattached, finished second in the men’s mile in 4:15.15. He was followed by freshman Brayden Burleigh, also unattached, in eighth (4:20.92) and redshirt senior Ryan Witt in ninth (4:21.97). Sophomore Frances Dowd won heat three of the women’s 1000 meters and finished sixth overall in 2:58.71, while redshirt freshman Elizabeth Powell was third in the unseeded section of the women’s pole vault (11-5.75, 3.50m). Junior Jameice DeCoster made her Tech debut and finished ninth in the 300 meters in 39.71.

Tech returns to action tomorrow for day two of the VT Invitational. Field events start at 11 a.m. with the men’s high jump and women’s seeded pole vault. Running events start at 12:15 p.m. with the women’s 5000 meters.

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