Hokies earn 13 event titles at Roanoke Tune-Up
DMR on the women's side breaks school record
February 16, 2018
ROANOKE, Va. – Thirteen event titles highlighted Virginia Tech track and field at the Roanoke Tune-Up on Friday night, as well as the DMR groups turning in some of the best times in the country inside Kerr-Cregger Field House.
The DMR groups on both sides took first place, as the men, made up of Neil Gourley, Greg Chiles, Patrick Joseph and Vincent Ciattei, posted a time of a 9 minutes, 36.31 seconds, while the women, consisting of Rachel Pocratsky, Arlicia Bush, Laurie Barton and Katie Kennedy, clocked a time of 11:08.48.
Both times rank as some of the nation’s best, with and without conversion times. The women’s time was a school record, topping the previous best time of 11:10.84 (J. Fanning, S. Green, A. Washington and T. Fanning) set in 2007.
The distance group also had two student-athletes compete in the 800 meters, with Owen Buck (1:54.66) placing first and Dave Whitfield (1:55.00) taking second. It marked Buck’s first career title at the collegiate level.
The sprints/hurdles group combined for seven event titles and facility records. The first-place finishers were Brandon Thomas (400 meters), Courtney Blanden (400), Shanel Burr (60-meter hurdles), Keishaun Limehouse (60 hurdles), Caitlan Tate (60), Michael Davenport (200) and Nora McKiver (200). Redshirt senior Lawrence Harris ran unattached and won the 60-meter dash.
“It was quite the tune-up,” sprints/hurdles coach Tim Vaught said. “We had a lot of people set PRs and reset the facility record. Tonight was good for us before going into ACCs next week.”
In the jumps, Ama-Selina Tchume earned her first event title this season in the long jump. James Carver won his first crown in 2018, owning a jump of 1.97 meters (6 ft., 5 in.) in the high jump, then followed it up later in the evening with a first-place mark in the triple jump (14.23 meters; 46 ft., 8 in.).
Next up for Tech will be the ACC Indoor Championships at Clemson from Feb. 22-24.
INDOOR PERSONAL BESTS
M 200
Jared Bane, 21.48
Darius Watkins, 21.65
Joseph Tay
Samuel Denmark
M 400
Nathan Hogye
M 800
Dave Whitfield, 1:55.00
M 60 Hurdles
Alex Davenport
M Triple Jump
James Carver, 14.23m (46’8”)
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