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BLACKSBURG, Va. – In the last weekend to qualify for nationals, Virginia Tech’s men’s distance medley relay team and Will Mulherin each punched their tickets to Fayetteville, Ark., next week with their performances this weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational inside the Loftus Sports Center in Notre Dame, Ind.

Last night, the three heats in the men’s DMR proved to be a preview for nationals as the top 12 teams all posted lower times than the nation’s top time going into the weekend. The Hokies team of Ryan Hagen, Jeff Artis-Gray, Tihut Degfae and Michael Hammond finished second in their heat with a time of 9:30.83, and 10^th overall.

Today, it was Mulherin’s last chance to extend his Hokie track career one more week with the 3,000 meters. After setting a new school record on Feb. 8 in Seattle, the redshirt senior was able to shave a few seconds off of that time to clock in at 7:52.54 to move into the NCAA’s top 16 times in the event this season.

A day after making it to nationals as a part of the DMR team, Artis-Gray came up with a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles at 7.82.

In Blacksburg, a pair of Hokies set new personal bests today at the VT Final Qualifier in Rector Field House. In the 60 meters, freshmen Tadashi Pinder saved his best for last in the finals, clocking a time of 6.72 to tie for the third-fastest mark all-time in Tech history with Andre Davis. In the pole vault, Chris Uhle cleared 17 feet for the first time in his career with a mark of 17-0.25 (5.19m).

All of Tech’s athletes who have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville will leave during the middle of this week in preparation for the championships on March 8-9. ESPN3 will air the meet live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET, on March 8. Coverage will resume at 8 p.m., the following day.

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