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BLACKSBURG, Va. – Sophomore Frances Dowd reset her own school record in the 800 meters at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational Saturday, while the Hokies hosted the VT Final Qualifier at Rector Field House back home in Blacksburg.

Running at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center, Dowd reset her own school record in the 800 meters by over two seconds, running a time of 2:05.18. She had previously set the Tech record of 2:07.22 at the SPIRE Division I Invitational last month. Dowd greatly improved her position on the NCAA performance list and will now have to wait and see if her time ranks high enough to qualify for next weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championship. Also at Notre Dame, redshirt senior Ryan Witt (1:49.36) and senior Chris Walizer (1:50.26) competed in the 800 meters. Walizer set a personal best and moved to seventh on Tech’s all-time performance list.

At the Virginia Tech Final Qualifier, freshman Ciara Simms won the women’s 60 meter dash in 7.37, which puts her No. 4 all-time at Tech in the event. Simms was also runner-up in the 200 meters in 24.02, which puts her sixth at Tech. In the men’s 60 meters, sophomore Darrell Wesh ran a PR of 6.71 in the semifinal round, which ranks second all-time at Tech. Senior Ogechi Nwaneri was fourth in the 60 meters in 7.52.

Redshirt senior Eddie Judge won the men’s mile in 4:07.48 and redshirt freshman Grant Pollock ran a PR of 4:07.72 to finish second. In addition, redshirt freshman Kevin Dowd was fourth in a personal best 4:09.46 and junior Jared Berman was seventh in 4:11.85. In the women’s mile, junior Sammy Dow led Tech with a third place finish in a personal best 4:51.73, which ranks No. 7 all-time at Tech. Sophomore Paige Kvartunas was fourth (4:53.75) and freshman Sarah Rapp was eighth (4:57.53).

Junior Yvonne Amegashie was runner-up in the women’s 400 meters in a PR of 54.39, good for 4th all-time at Tech. Junior Jonathan McCants was third in the men’s 400 meters in 48.76 and senior Eric Hoepker was fourth in a personal best 48.89. Freshman Walter Mitchell ran PR of 22.03 in the 200 meters to earn second place.

Junior All-American Denis Mahmic finished second in the weight throw with a personal best throw of 67-5.25 (20.55m) and junior Corey Fuller placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 49-7.75 (15.13m).

In the men’s unseeded pole vault, Tech went 1-2-4. Freshman Chris Uhle and senior Mike Miller each cleared 16-2.5, (4.94m), with Uhle winning on misses. Redshirt freshman Matt Hoogland was fourth with a PR of 15-8.5 (4.79m). Redshirt freshman Lyndsey Saunders and redshirt sophomore Leigh Allin each cleared 11-11.25 (3.64m) in the unseeded women’s pole vault to finish second and third respectively. Redshirt freshman Elizabeth Powell was fifth at 11-5.25 (3.49m).

Freshman Leah Nugent ran PR of 8.49 in the semifinals of the women’s 60 meter hurdles and finished fourth in the final in 8.52. In the men’s 60 meter hurdles, junior Jeff Artis-Gray was fourth in the final in 7.89, after running a 7.82 in the semifinal round. Sophomore Scott Campbell ran a personal best 8.60 in the first round of the 60 meter hurdles.

Sophomore Shaowei Tu was runner-up in the men’s 800 meters in a personal best 1:54.57 and freshman Kevin DeWillie was seventh in 1:56.74.

Sonya Friend-Uhl, competing unattached, set a women’s masters world record in 40-44 age group in the mile run with a time of 4:44.81. The previous record, according to USA Track & Field, was 4:47.26 by Alisa Harvey in 2007.

The NCAA will announce the list of qualified student-athletes for the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship on Monday evening. Currently, Tech has three student-athletes, freshman Victoria von Eynatten (pole vault), senior Marcel Lomnicky (weight throw) and junior Alexander Ziegler (weight throw), automatically qualified for the championship. The Hokies also have several other student-athletes in good position for a bid to the championship based on their standing on the national performance list.

The NCAA Meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, March 9-10, at the Jacksons Indoor Track at the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho.

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