The Virginia Tech Hokies have had a strong athletic year that has included a breakthrough return to the NCAA Tournament in men's basketball, Virginia Tech football win 10 games and the ACC Coastal title for the first time since 2011, Virginia Tech sweeping both ACC Wrestling titles and winning the Men's Indoor Track and Field title, Virginia Tech women's basketball be one of the last three unbeaten including an undefeated non-conference run, and Virginia Tech women's lacrosse achieve its highest ranking in program history.
Virginia Tech Athletics appear to be entering a golden era unlike any other in program history and that continued with a historic achievement this weekend.
Virginia Tech won both the Men's and Women's ACC Outdoor Track and Field titles in what was an unprecedented performance with this being the first time the Hokies swept the outdoor track titles since they joined the ACC along with the Hokies being the first ACC program to achieve this feat since Florida State did so in 2014.
Virginia Tech not only won both the ACC team titles but also had plenty of individual champions starting on the opening Friday with Irena Sediva beating Eva Vivod for the women's javelin title and Peter Seufer winning the men's 10,000 meter crown. Those weren't the only ones to make the podium on the opening Friday with Pavla Kudova and Emma Thor finishing second and third in the women's hammer throw and Abigail Motley finishing third in the women's 10,000 meters with plenty of Hokies earning points on the opening day.
Saturday continued Virginia Tech's strong ACC Championships with freshman Sarah Edwards winning the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase. Meanwhile, Brad Johnson led the Hokies in the men's pole vault with a third place finish as VT continued to position itself well with the women being in the lead and the men entering Sunday tied for third.
Sunday would be a thrilling finish with it coming down right to the end with Virginia Tech winning both ACC titles thanks to strong performance from their men's and women's 1,600 meter relay teams that pushed VT past UVA on the men's side and FSU on the women's side to sweep the ACC titles.
The Hokies also did lots of damage on that Sunday with senior Hanna Green winning the women's 800 and 1,500 meter titles while Drew Piazza won the men's 800 meters and Neil Gourley won the men's 1,500 meters in what was an impressive mid-distance performance for the Hokies with the trio of seniors winning individual ACC titles.
Meanwhile, junior Patrick Joseph made the podium with a second place finish in the men's 800, VT's 400 meter relay teams both finished third along with the women's 1,600 meter relay team finishing second and the men's 1,600 meter relay team finishing third. Rachel Pocratsky had a great Sunday with a second-place finish in the women's 800 while Michael Davenport finished second in the men's 100 and Nora McKiver finished third in the women's 400.
VT swept the podium in the men's 1,500 with Vincent Ciattei and Diego Zarate finishing second and third behind Neil Gourley while Marek Barta finishing second in the men's discus and Eszter Banjok finished third in the triple jump while also breaking VT's school record. Courtney Blanden finished fourth in the women's 400 but her time was fast enough to break the school record previously held by Olympian Queen Harrison who personally congratulated Blanden on breaking her school record.
https://twitter.com/goQueengo/status/863965136234532865
Virginia Tech's performance at the 2017 ACC Track and Field Championships was extremely impressive with Dave Cianelli proving how he's one of the best track and field head coaches in America building the Hokies' track program into one of the best in America across the board. Cianelli has done a tremendous job in his tenure in Blacksburg and while the Hokies are losing some talented seniors including Hanna Green, Irena Sediva, and Neil Gourley; the future is quite bright as the Hokies should continue to contend for track and field titles on both the men's and women's side.
Congrats to the Hokies on this incredible accomplishment in winning the Men's and Women's ACC Outdoor Track and Field titles.
Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail for the latest on the Hokies via Facebook and Twitter plus subscribe to our email updates.
You must login in order to comment on this post.
