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BLACKSBURG – Rising sophomore Deakin Volz of the Virginia Tech men’s track and field team advanced to the pole vault final at the 2016 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World U20 Championships on Thursday, at Zawisza Stadium located in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

A native of Bloomington, Indiana, Volz finished seventh in his respected heat and tied for 10th place overall, jumping a height of 5.20 meters (17-3/4) to qualify for the pole vault final. The top 12 performers advanced to the final. The final round will be held on Saturday, and competition is set to begin at 11:10 a.m. ET.

Australia’s Kurtis Marschall vaulted the top-qualifying mark of 5.30 meters to advance, while Great Britain’s Adam Hague and Iraq’s Muntadher Falih Abdulwahid tied for second place at 5.20 meters.

To qualify for the World Championships, Volz finished second in the pole vault at the 2016 USA Junior Outdoor Championships. He vaulted a height of 5.45 meters (17-10^1/2) and was only five centimeters short of gold medalist Christopher Nilsen, an incoming freshman at the University of South Dakota next fall.

Of note, Volz’s classmate, Diego Zarate, placed seventh in his respected heat of the 1,500-meter race and did not advance to the final. His time of 3:47.95 placed him 19th out of 41 runners in the qualifying round on Tuesday.

Complete results from today’s pole vault event can be found at www.iaaf.org.

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