Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech track and field teams boast 10 athletes who qualified in four different events for this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships held at Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Stadium on March 10-11.
Tech’s men enter the meet ranked No. 7, jumping 14 spots in this week’s United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 25 Poll. Patrick Joseph, Drew Piazza, Neil Gourley, Deakin Volz and Torben Laidig will compete for the Hokies’ men’s squad along with the distance medley relay team, which also qualified for the event with a time of 9:31.15 set at the Music City Challenge.
Joseph and Piazza will participate in the men’s 800, as the Hokie duo went 1-2 in the event at the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. Piazza had set the school record in the preliminary race the previous day, but Joseph broke it in the finals with a time of 1:46.23 – a time that also marked an ACC Championships record. Joseph’s time ranks No. 2 nationally, while Piazza’s mark of 1:46.42 is tied for fourth overall on the national list.
Additionally, Gourley cleared the qualifying mark in the mile at the Camel City Invitational with a time of 4:01.14. Of note, Gourley ranks 11th in the nation heading into next week’s championships.
Pole vautlers Volz and Laidig rank second and fifth in the nation, respectively. Volz reset the program and ACC record to 5.66 meters (18 ft., 6.75 in.) at the Virginia Tech Challenge held in February, while Laidig, a two-time ACC champion, finished with a meet-record vault of 5.55 meters (18 ft., 2.5 in.) to win gold at the ACC Championships last weekend.
Hanna Green, a senior from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, will represent the women’s team in the 800-meter run. Green, a three-time ACC champion in the event, recorded a career-best time of 2:02.28 at this year’s championship to rank fourth nationally. In addition to a new ACC Championship meet record, Green also reset her own program record of 2:03.18 set in the prelims at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
ESPN3 will provide live streaming Friday, March 10 at 6:25 p.m. ET and Saturday, March 11 at 4:55 p.m. Of note, a condensed television replay will air on Sunday, March 12 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
The NCAA Championships are the final event of the 2017 indoor season before transitioning to the outdoor season on March 24-25 at the Weems Baskins Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina.