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BLACKSBURG, Va. – Freshman All-American Martina Schultze set the school record in the pole vault at the 85th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays as the Virginia Tech men’s and women’s track & field teams also competed at NC State’s Raleigh Relays and Georgia Tech’s Yellow Jacket Invitational Saturday.
Schultze vaulted to the school record with a clearance of 13-11.25 (4.25m) and finished fourth overall in the women’s pole vault at the Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. After taking two attempts to clear the opening bar of 4.00m, Schultze notched first attempt clearances at 4.15m and 4.25m, before bowing out at 4.35m.
In the men’s pole vault at Texas, redshirt senior All-Americans Hunter Hall and Joe Davis each cleared 17-4.5 (5.30m). Hall finished tied for sixth and Davis set an outdoor PR en route to his eighth place finish.
At the Yellow Jacket Invitational at George C. Griffin Track in Atlanta, the Hokies swept the 4x400 meter relays as the men’s team of junior Jonathan McCants, junior Jeff Artis-Gray, senior Eric Hoepker and senior All-American Keith Ricks won in 3:10.74. The quartet just missed the school record of 3:10.48 set in 1999, but still posted the second fastest 4x4 time in Tech history.
The women’s 4x400 meter relay squad of junior Yvonne Amegashie, senior Aunye Boone, junior Jameice DeCoster and junior Natalie Woodford were victorious in 3:41.20. The Hokie women also won the 4x100 meter relay as freshman Ciara Simms, DeCoster, Boone and senior Ogechi Nwaneri notched a season best 45.57.
Junior All-American Ronnie Black opened his outdoor campaign with a win in the high jump, clearing 6-11 (2.11m). Sophomore Darrell Wesh was second in the 200 meters, running a personal best time of 21.14, good for a tie for fourth place all-time at Tech.
In the women’s 200 meters, Tech finished 2-3-5, with Nwaneri earning runner-up honors in a season best 23.92. Simms was third (24.06) and Amegashie was fifth in a personal best 24.37.
Freshman Leah Nugent placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles in a season best 13.88, good for sixth at Tech. Nugent was also sixth in the 400 meter hurdles (1:01.92).
DeCoster and Woodford each ran season bests of 55.84 in the 400 meters to finish third and fourth, respectively. Artis-Gray was third in the 400 meter hurdles in personal best 53.70 and senior Eric Hoepker was 10th in the 400 meters with a PR of 48.01.
Sophomore decathlete Scott Campbell turned in a PR in the long jump with a leap of 22-9.75 (6.95m) and finished fifth. Senior All-American Hasheem Halim was fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 49-2.5 (15.00m).
At the Raleigh Relays at Paul Derr Track, the Hokies took both 4x800 meter relays as the women’s ‘A’ relay team of freshman Katarina Smiljanec, freshman Amanda Smith, freshman Sarah Rapp and junior All-American Frances Dowd won by nearly 10 seconds, running the third fastest 4x8 time in Tech history of 8:54.59. The men’s ‘A’ relay team of senior Chris Walizer, freshman Kevin DeWillie, redshirt freshman Kevin Dowd and junior Tihut Degfae won in 7:31.55, good for sixth all-time at Tech.
Also in Raleigh, Ryan Witt, competing unattached, won the 800 meters in 1:50.50.
Next weekend, the Hokies will split the squad between the Florida Relays and William & Mary’s Colonial Relays.
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