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ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships
February 21-23, 2013
Rector Field House
Blacksburg, Va.
Live Results: http://flashresults.com/2013_Meets/indoor/02-21-ACC/
Live stream: theACC.com (Friday & Saturday)
Social media information:
Facebook - http://theacc.co/13ITFEvent
Twitter - @ACCTrackField, #ACCITF

Previewing the meet
• This weekend’s ACC Indoor Track & Field Championship will get underway Thursday, Feb. 21 with events in the heptathlon and pentathlon beginning at 11 a.m.
• Virginia Tech will be hosting the championships for the ninth time. Men’s teams have won the championship eight times when hosting the event on their campus, while it has happened only once on the women’s side (North Carolina 2003). The Virginia Tech men won their first indoor championship in Blacksburg in 2011.
• The Florida State men and Clemson women enter the event as the reigning conference indoor champions. Florida State was 27.5 points clear of Virginia Tech while Clemson ran away with a 79-point victory over the Seminole women.
• The Hokies are the only team outside of Florida State to win an ACC Indoor Championship in the last decade, dethroning the Seminoles in 2010.
• The Clemson women come into the meet having won the past three indoor championships.
• On the men’s side, four teams have been ranked nationally throughout this season. Florida State enters the meet as the top-ranked team at No. 12, their highest ranking of the season. After being preseason No. 17, NC State had been out of the rankings in recent weeks, but jumped back in, coming in at No. 17. Clemson climbed into the rankings last week and currently sits at No. 14. Virginia Tech which had been in the Top 20 all season, slipped out of the rankings this week.
• Only two teams have been in the Top 25 this season on the women’s. Clemson, which held the No. 1 spot throughout the first three weeks of the season sits at No. 4. Florida State is currently unranked, but has been as high as 19.

2012 indoors revisited
• Keyed by a sweep in the men’s weight throw on day two, Virginia Tech held a 2.5-point lead over Virginia and North Carolina. After the 800 meters finished on day two, the Hokies held a 12-point advantage over Florida State as the teams went 1-2 in the event, but minutes later, the Seminoles swept the 200 meters and picked up a win the pole vault, giving them a 15.5-point lead with only two events remaining, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
• At the end of day two on the women’s side, Virginia Tech found themselves in a tie for fifth place at 29 points. At the end of the championship, the Hokies remained in the fifth spot as they added 14 more points to their total to give them 53 in all.

Contenders
• Since 2009, the men have not finished outside of the top three at the championships, scoring 95-plus points in each meet.
• The Hokie men captured their first ACC championship two years ago in Blacksburg, the last year Virginia Tech hosted the indoor championships after it moved to Boston last year. The Hokies won the meet running away, putting up 140 points, 42 ahead of second place Florida State.

Back for another championship
• When Virginia Tech snapped Florida State’s run of eight-straight ACC Indoor titles, three individual winners from that team will suit up for this year’s Hokies; Michael Hammond (mile), Stephan Munz (pole vault) and Alexander Ziegler (weight throw).
• Last season, Tech was without the services of Hammond and Munz during the championship, while Ziegler took second to Tech’s 2012 NCAA Champion Marcel Lomicky.
• A total of 14 athletes who competed on the men’s 2011 indoor team will in uniform this weekend.

Throwing domination
• The men’s weight throw trio of Alexander Ziegler, Denis Mahmic and 2012 NCAA weight throw champion Marcel Lomnicky were able to put stranglehold on the event at the past two ACC championships, sweeping the event in back-to-back years. Only one thrower from another school was even able to hit a mark over 19 meters (62-8).
• Despite the graduation of Lomnicky, the new trio of Ziegler, Mahmic and freshman Tomas Kruzliak look poised to go for the team’s third in a row. Ziegler currently has the top mark in the conference this season, with Kruzliak and Mahmic in second and third. Only one athlete in the conference has crossed the 19-meter mark outside of this year’s Hokie trio.

Versatility creates points
• Since joining the Hokies in 2011, the Hokies have relied on Jeff Artis-Gray score as many points as possible in as many ways as possible. In two ACC indoor championships, the senior has combined to score 26 in four different events. Six points have come in the 4x400 relay, while the rest have come in the 60m hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
• This year, the senior has the opportunity to again pile up points for Tech as he will be competing in the aforementioned four events.

Searching for lucky number three
• Seniors Michael Hammond and Alexander Ziegler will both be going for their third individual ACC Indoor Championship this weekend in their main events. Hammond captured the mile title in consecutive years (2010 & 2011), while Ziegler did the same in the weight throw.
• For each, this season will be their last chance at earning an ACC crown as their eligibility is up after the indoor season.

We already have one
• The Hokie men have one championship to their credit this year as the men’s cross country team earned their first-ever championship. Four of Tech’s top five finishers at the ACC Cross Country Championship will be running this weekend in the mile, 3000 meters, 5000 meters and the distance medley relay.

Record Breakers
• Combined, the men’s and women’s teams have broken five school records this season.
• Jeff Artis-Gray (60m hurdles) and Jonathan McCants (300m) each reset their school records on the first weekend of action at the VT Invitational.
• A week later, Ronnie Black topped his previous record in the high jump.
• Last weekend, Will Mulherin reset his 3000-meter record, while Martina Schultze broke Victoria von Eynatten’s record in the pole vault which was set last year.

Throwing at the top
• With a runner-up finish in 2011 and a pair of third-place finishes at nationals in the weight throw, Alexander Ziegler opened up his final season at the Hokie Invitational by setting the nation’s standard. His heave of 70-9.25 (21.57m) was more than a foot further than the next best mark in the NCAA. Still, the throw was nearly five feet short of his personal best of 75-7.25 (23.04m).
• A week later, he upped his season-best mark to 71-7.5 (21.83m)which currently ranked third in the NCAA.

Jumping to new heights
• Already in possession of Tech’s indoor and outdoor high jump records, Ronnie Black has no where to go but up, distancing himself from the others on the list. The senior did just that on Jan. 26, increasing his record two more inches to 7-4.25 (2.24m).

Vaulting into the record books
• Two-time All-American Martina Schultze has won three straight pole vault competitions this year, topping out at a school-record mark of 14-4.5 (4.38m) on her first attempt at the VT Elite Meet. The sophomore’s vault currently ranks as the third best in the country.

Distancing themselves from history
• With Ryan Hagen’s addition to the school’s top 10 list in the 3000m, the current Hokies roster boasts all but three of the top times.
• Will Mulherin owns the school record at 7:55.64, more than 10 seconds clear of second . Michael Hammond, Thomas Curtin, Brayden Burleigh, Leoule Degfae, Jared Berman and Hagen are all within six seconds of one another.
• Mulherin reset his school record at the Husky Classic on Feb. 9.

Quick learning curve
• Despite never having competed in the weight throw prior to coming to Tech from Slovakia, Tomas Kruzliak heaved the 35-lb. weight just over 65 feet it his first competition. He has since eclipsed 67 feet to rank 15th nationally.

Record-breaking start
• Seniors Jeff Artis-Gray and Jonathan McCants opened up their seasons at VT Invitational by topping their already school record marks in the 60m hurdles and 300m.
• After finishing his prelim in the 60m hurdles in 7.87, Artis-Gray shaved a tenth of a second off of his time in the finals to come in at 7.77, 0.04 seconds faster than the school record he set at the VT Elite Meet in 2012.
• Jonathan McCants capped off night one of the VT Invitational by clocking a time of 33.58 in the 300m, nearly five tenths of second faster than his previous school record of 34.05 which he set at the Hokie Invitational in 2012.

Bowerman watch
• After finishing last season as a semifinalist for the prestigious Bowerman Award, Tech thrower Alexander Ziegler was named to the Preseason Watch List prior to the 2013 season.
• The senior from Dischingen, Germany has been piling up accolades since setting foot on campus in 2010, earning All-America honors and medaling in all six seasons while becoming the second athlete in Tech history to win back-to-back NCAA titles in the hammer throw, and the fourth Tech athlete to earn multiple national championships.

Last hurrah
• Jason Cusack, Eric Hoepker, Michael Hammond, Will Mulherin and Alexander Ziegler’s clocks are ticking on the collegiate careers. The quintet have just under two months remaining before their eligibility is up after the indoor season.

Separating from the pack
• Seniors Jeff Artis-Gray and Michael Hammond have the opportunity to separate themselves from all others in the Tech record book as both are currently tied with former Hokies Gary Cobb, Keith Ricks and Ryan Witt for holding the most records in the men’s program.
• Hammond has only the indoor season to separate himself from the pack, while Artis-Gray has both indoors and outdoors.

German connection
• Currently, the Hokies have seven athletes from Germany competing in four different events. Matthias Treff and transfer Sabine Kopplin in the javelin, Alexander Ziegler and Annjulie Vester in the weight throw/hammer throw, Stephan Munz and Martina Schultze in the pole vault, and Benny Unger in the hurdles.

Back in Blacksburg
• After winning the pole vault at the 2011 ACC Indoor Championships in his first-ever event for the Hokies, Stephan Munz was back in Germany last year to complete his undergraduate degree. The Goeppingen native is now back at Tech as a graduate student this year while he continues his Hokie career.

High-flying German
• In her first year at Tech, pole vaulter Martina Schultze made an immediate impact as she earned All-America honors during both seasons and went one-two at the indoor and outdoor ACC Championships with teammate Victoria von Eynatten. Schultze claimed gold at outdoors with Von Eynatten coming out on top at indoors.

A small world
• Associate head coach and throws coach Greg Jack is looking to strike gold for a second time in Nitra, a city 4,700 miles away from Blacksburg, this time in hammer thrower Tomas Kruzliak. The Slovakian hails from the same city as former Hokie and two-time national champion Marcel Lomnicky.

Running into the record books
• Before the indoor season even kicks off, senior Will Mulherin has already supplanted himself as one of the top distance runners in Tech history. During the fall, he became the first two-time All-American cross country runner in Tech history while leading his team to the program’s first ACC Championship as he won the individual crown.
• Last year, he became the first runner in ACC history to win three champions in the 5,000 meters at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
• Against one of the top fields outside of nationals, Mulherin re-broke his school record in the 3000 meters in Seattle with a time of 7:55.64.

Summer success in Mexico
• Junior sprinter Darrell Wesh earned a gold medal last summer at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Guanajuato, Mexico as he teamed with Charles Silmon, Marcus Rowland and Keenan Brock in the 4x100m relay. Wesh ran the lead leg for the group that ran a time of 38.94, besting teams from the Bahamas (39.65) and Jamaica (39.67).

Seeing double
• When you hear or see the name Degfae, know that it could be either Leoule (Lee) or Tihut (Tee). Since Leoule joined his brother at Tech after transferring from Tennessee after one year, the two have competed together during only two seasons at Tech, once on the cross country team in 2011 and the other was the 2012 outdoor season.
• Leoule redshirted the entire 2011 season after joining the Hokies and Tihut redshirted the 2011 indoor season.

All-American siblings
• By finishing fourth in the 100 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Darrell Wesh joined his older sister Marlena as an All-American in the Wesh family.
• A senior at Clemson, Marlena is a four-time All-American and competed for Haiti in the 2012 Olympic Games.

Elite level
• Redshirt junior Frances Dowd won the NCAA Elite 89 Award last season, an honor presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA Championships. She finished 15th in the 800m (2:09.38) at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Sticking to the East
• With only two trips to the West Coast on their travel schedule this year, the makeup of this year’s Hokies show that the team tends to remain east of the Mississippi. The furthest athlete west of Blacksburg is from Huntsville, Ala., and 59 of the team’s 94 athletes are from the state of Virginia.

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