Hokie ClubNEW ORLEANS – After two weekends of competition have come to a close, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its second Indoor Computer Top 25 Rankings of the 2018 season on Monday afternoon with Virginia Tech’s track and field team on the men’s side coming in at No. 12.
Tech moved down four spots from the preseason rankings on Jan. 10 when it was ranked No. 8.
Tech is the highest ranked from the ACC, joining No. 21 Virginia, No. 23 Florida State and No. 25 Syracuse.
Ten first-place finishes have taken place thus far for the Hokies in the 2018 campaign. At the Nittany Lion Challenge, Tech’s first meet, the 4x400-meter relay squad of Courtney Blanden, Caitlan Tate, Nora McKiver and Arlicia Bush, and five Hokies took first place in their respected events, including Stefanie Aeschlimann (triple jump), Blanden (300 meters), Lisa Gunnarsson (pole vault) Keishaun Limehouse (60-meter hurdles) and Deakin Volz (pole vault).
This past weekend at the Keydet Invitational, Laurie Barton (800 meters), Patrick Joseph (3,000) and Rachel Pocratsky (mile) all took first place, while Gunnarsson placed first in the pole vault at the Gladstein Invitational.
The men currently own nine times and marks that rank in the top 50 nationally, with Greg Chiles No. 33 in the 200 meters and No. 40 in the 400, Daniel Jaskowak No. 32 in the mile, Joseph No. 25, Vincent Ciattei No. 34 and Neil Gourley No. 47 in the 3,000, Limehouse No. 25 in the 60 hurdles and Volz No. 8 and Joel Leon Benitez No. 11 in the pole vault.
The Hokies will be back at it this weekend, splitting up and going to two meets. The pole vault and jumps/multi-events groups will head south to Clemson for the Bob Pollack Invitational, while the distance group will go to Liberty for the Liberty Twilight.