Hokies claim five event titles at Liberty Twilight

Tech wraps up regular season in Lynchburg, Virginia

May 2, 2018

Liberty Twilight Relays

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Picking up five event titles on Wednesday, the Virginia Tech track and field teams saw sprinters Shanel Burr, Kennedy Dennis, Nora McKiver, the men’s 4x100-meter relay team and thrower Collin McKenny place first in their respective events at the Liberty Twilight at Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.

In the short sprints, redshirt senior Lawrence Harris clocked the sixth-fastest time in program history in the 100-meter dash, posting a time of 10.39 seconds to place first in the preliminaries. Samuel Denmark qualified as well and went on to place second among collegiate athletes with a personal-best time of 10.47 in the finals. Matthew Baker ran the second-fastest 200 of his career, placing ninth with a time of 21.72.

Harris and Denmark teamed up with sophomores Joseph Tay and Michael Davenport on the 4x100-meter relay team, and the quartet posted the second-fastest time of the season in 40.26 to place first.

On the women’s side in the 100, Dennis ran the third-fastest time in school history, recording a time of 11.56 to win it. Fellow freshman Caitlan Tate took second. Burr crossed the finish line in 13.76 in the 100-meter hurdles, marking her first event title of the outdoor season.

“Law is coming on strong right now, with his PR in the 100,” sprints/hurdles coach Tim Vaught said. “It was great to see Sam breakthrough today in the 100 and then he went on to run a heck of a leg on the 4x1. Joseph PR’d as well in the 100 and is getting faster and faster each meet.”

“Kennedy worked on some things and got back to that 11.5 range and Shanel competed well with beating the competition in the 100 hurdles. But overall, it was a good day.”

McKenny tossed a mark of 45.40 meters (148 feet, 11 inches) in the discus, earning his first event title of the season as well.

On the men’s side in the pole vault, Deakin Volz placed second with a mark of 5.32 meters (17 feet, 5.5 inches), Torben Laidig took fourth clearing the same height, Joel Leon Benitez finished in fifth with a mark of 5.22 meters (17 feet, 1.5 inches) and James Steck went over the bar at 4.62 meters (15 feet, 1.75 inches) for his first mark of the season to place 10^th.

Redshirt senior Olivia Privitera placed fourth in the pole vault, clearing a height of 3.67 meters (12 feet, 0.5 inches).

Turning in a personal-best mark of 6.99 meters (22 feet, 11.25 inches), James Holt placed fourth in the long jump.

The Hokies will rest this weekend before gearing up for the ACC Outdoor Championships from May 10-12 in Miami, Florida.

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