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GAINESVILLE, Fla./WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - If day one of "relay weekend" is any indication of how the outdoor season may look for the Hokies, it appears like it will be another good season in Blacksburg. Although only freshman Shannon Morton captured a first-place finish, the depth showed as 18 Hokies placed in the top five of their events, including 13 which fell in the top three, between the Colonial Relays and Pepsi Florida Relays.

After a break in the late afternoon for the Hokies, Morton grabbed Tech's lone victory of the day during the early evening. Running her specialty event for the first time this season, the freshman captured the 1500-meter win and moved up to third all-time at Tech by clocking a time of 4:20.58. The time is less than three seconds shy of Tasmin Fanning's record which was set in 2007.

Morton wasn't the the only Hokie moving up in the record book at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg as early in the afternoon, the 800-meter trio of Amanda Smith, Frances Dowd and Katarina Smiljanec all finished in the top five. Smith came in second in the event, but also third in the record book as she moved past Marie Giles with her time of 2:07.87. She finished behind New Balance runner Kerri Gallagher. Dowd was third while Smiljanec was fifth.

The top of the men's 1500 meters mirrored the Hokie women's 800-meter group as Tech again went 2-3-5. Grant Pollock paced his group at 3:45.85, while Leoule Degafe was in the third and Ryan Hagen came in fifth.

Second-place finishes at the Colonial Relays came from ACC indoor 800-meter champion, Tihut Degfae, who came in at 1:49.99, just under two-tenths of a second off the lead and Brian Welch was just beat out at the line in the 3,000 meters as he crossed in 8:27.72. The women's 3,000 meters saw a pair of Hokies grab top fives as Sarah Rapp finished in 10:06.65 and Alex Watt was just a few seconds back of her teammate in fifth.

The 3,000-meter steeplechase saw a pair of third-place results for the Hokies as Sammy Dow came in at 10:38.84 shortly before Jared Berman finished in 9:12.78 in the men's race.

While the distance squad's depth was on display in Williamsburg, several Hokies produced fireworks in Florida, highlighted by section one of the men's 100 meters. With a field that saw USC's Aaron Brown in lane four, Florida State's Marvin Bracy in lane five and Nike runner Mike Rogers in lane six, Tech's Darrell Wesh found himself on the outside in lane nine. While all of the focus was in the middle lanes, Wesh nearly grabbed the win at the line. Near the back through 50 meters, the junior kicked into another gear and showed off his closing speed to clock in at a blazing time of 10.15 which tied his school record time he set last year. Brown also came in at the same time, but the photo showed the Trojan junior edging out the Hokie at the line by three-thousandths of a second. The 10.15 mark is the third-fastest time recorded this season in the NCAA.

In the evening, the Hokies' newest hammer thrower stepped in the cage for the first time this season and provided a glimpse of things to come. Tomas Kruzliak launched a 227-0 (69.18m) heave on his second attempt which landed him in the second spot in the competition, only behind former two-time Tech national champion, 2012 Olympian and fellow native of Nitra, Slovakia, Marcel Lomnicky who hit a mark of 248-2 (75.64m). Kruzliak's throw is the second-best mark recorded this season.

The final highlight of the night came from Jeff Artis-Gray who despite coming in second slightly reset his school record in the long jump with a leap of 24-11.75 (7.61m) on his second attempt. He was just barely edged out for the win as Lavon Allen of Charleston Southern hit a jump of 25-0 (7.62m).

Rounding out Tech's top-five results in Florida were Martina Schultze in the women's pole vault as she finished fourth at 13-1.5 (4.00m) and Sarah Kadelka in the women's javelin with her fifth-place throw of 153-1 (46.65m). Kadelka increased her previous personal record by six inches, a mark she set two weeks ago at the FSU Relays.

Tomorrow is relay day at both meets and the Hokies will feature in two of them at each meet. Also in Gainesville, the Hokies will have competitors in the men's high jump and pole vault, as well as the women's hammer. In Williamsburg, the women's 4x800 will kick things off for the Hokies at 11:40 a.m., while Annjulie Vester in the hammer and Chris Uhle in the pole vault will get the day started for Tech at 1 p.m., in Florida.

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