Hokie ClubEUGENE, Ore. – Virginia Tech runner Hanna Green concluded her terrific career by winning a silver medal Saturday in the 800-meter run on the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Hayward Field.
Behind Green, senior Irena Sediva and freshman Emma Thor, the Virginia Tech women’s track and field team recorded an 11th-place at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing with 19 points. It marked the Hokies’ best NCAA outdoor finish since 2010 and the second-best NCAA outdoor finish in program history.
Green, a senior from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, stayed with a small cluster of runners at the front for the entire race. Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers started pulling away in the final 200 meters, but Green passed BYU’s Shea Hollingsworth in the final turn and then held off Oregon’s Brooke Feldmeier, coming in second with a time of 2 minutes, 1.32 seconds – just missing her school record by 15 hundredths of a second.
Rogers won the gold medal with a time of 2:00.02. Green finished as a runner-up to Rogers on three occasions during her career.
“Raevyn is a good challenge, and I like being challenged,” Green said. “It wouldn’t be any fun, I guess, to come in and win every race.
“I’m pretty happy. The NCAA title is something I’ve always wanted, but I really can’t complain about how it’s [her career] gone. I’m just happy to have had the chance to be here and run at the NCAA Championships.”
As a result of her silver-medal performance, Green became a first-team All-American for the second time this season. During the indoor campaign, she also finished second to Rogers at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Green concluded her career as a six-time All-American, including five first-team honors. She also won six ACC gold medals in her career and holds school records in the 800 (both indoor and outdoor), the 600 (indoor), and the 1,500 (outdoor). In addition, she was a part of the 4x400-meter relay team that set the school record earlier this season.
“She had a nice finish,” Tech distance coach Ben Thomas said. “In the end, you’re up against the collegiate record holder, and you want to close that gap – and she’s closed it a little.
“You know, Hanna Green was never a state champion in high school. She was a 2:16 half-miler. To come from that and be a three-time NCAA runner-up … that’s pretty amazing. That just doesn’t happen. But she just never beats herself, and that started early on. She’s just a rare talent mentally and physically, and we’re going to miss her.”
In the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Tech freshman Sarah Edwards came in 10th with a time of 10:12.45. The Bellingham, Massachusetts native concluded a terrific debut season in which she won an ACC championship, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and earned second-team All-America honors.
“If you had told me that Sarah was going to make the NCAA final and finish in the top 10 in the nation … she went through a lot to get here,” Thomas said. “With every freshman, there is a learning curve. She has a middle-distance background, so to step up and do the steeplechase, which requires so much endurance … she’s got really good in a short period of time. This experience is going to pay big dividends for her. I’m super proud of her.”
The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships concluded the 2016-17 track season.