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NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Virginia Tech men’s indoor track & field squad opens the 2016 season with a program-best ranking of No. 4 as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Wednesday.

“It’s nice to be recognized as one of the top programs in the nation preseason,” head coach Dave Cianelli said. “The proof will be in March at the NCAA championships of how good we actually are.”

The Hokies are the top-ranked of two ACC teams in the men's Top 25 preseason poll with Cavaliers of Virginia in the 18th spot. Virginia Tech received 96.00 points behind No. 1 Florida with 141.12 points, No. 2 Texas at 124.29 points and No. 3 Oregon earning 98.75 points. Alabama rounds out the top five with 77.67 points. All scores were determined by USTFCCCA computers based on preseason event rankings and results from recent NCAA indoor track & field seasons.

Last season, the men’s indoor team won the ACC Championships for the third time. Tech went on to finish 28th at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Four Hokies captured their event title at the ACC Championships: Thomas Curtain (3,000 meters), Chris Uhle (pole vault), Manuel Ziegler (triple jump), and Patrick Joseph (mile). Three of the aforementioned reigning champions return to the squad for the 2016 season with the exception of Uhle who graduated.

Additionally, the men’s squad returns three first team indoor All-Americans in addition to six All-American second team and honorable mention athletes.

The Hokies open the 2016 season next weekend on Jan. 15 and 16, serving as host to the Virginia Tech Invitational at Rector Field House.

The USTFCCCA's full release can be found here.

For updates on Virginia Tech track & field, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_Track