Hokies sweep DMR titles at ACC Indoor ChampionshipsHokies sweep DMR titles at ACC Indoor Championships
Track & Field

Hokies sweep DMR titles at ACC Indoor Championships

ACC Indoor Championships Results

CLEMSON, S.C. – Two DMR titles and numerous personal bests in the heptathlon highlighted Virginia Tech track and field on the first day of the ACC Indoor Championships inside the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex on Thursday.

To close the night, the women’s DMR of Rachel Pocratsky, Arlicia Bush, Shannon Quinn and Sarah Edwards put together a school-record time of 10 minutes, 57.60 seconds to win.

It marked the first time since the 2005 indoor season that Tech won the DMR on the women’s side. The Hokies' time also reset the school record from last weekend at the Roanoke Tune-Up, and broke Clemson’s facility record.

“I’m really proud of that group of girls, we couldn’t have executed it better,” distance coach Ben Thomas shared. “We had a lot of girls in that position, being in an ACC Championship in a super-loud arena for the first time, and they responded like they have always been here – it’s real impressive. It’s a good start and they are excited about tomorrow.”

The Tigers’ facility record on the men’s side took a dent as well, as the DMR of Daniel Jaskowak, Brandon Thomas, Thierry Siewe Yanga and Neil Gourley turned in a time of 9:38.31 to place first, giving Tech the ACC Indoor DMR title for the second straight season.

“I’m really going to miss this senior group of guys, they’ve been incredible. It was a nice mix of guys, we had a true freshman in it with Thierry Siewe Yanga, and we just decided to put him in that crew and that third leg is really crucial. Daniel Jaskowak has been a little dinged up, but he led off and kept us in contention. With Thierry getting it to Neil right with everybody else, we knew we would be in good shape.

“We had to beat the first team’s time too because they ran pretty fast, so for Neil to have the savvy to know that he not only had to beat the heat’s time but the time before was impressive. Just a special group showed up tonight. I’m super proud and we have more work to do tomorrow.”

To start the day, the heptathlon kicked off with the 60-meter dash, and redshirt freshman Jaelyn Demory led a trio of Hokies by placing fourth with a personal-best time of 7.06 seconds.

The long jump in the heptathlon was led by freshman Matthew Manilli, who posted a second-place finish with a mark of 7.15 meters (23 feet, 5.5 inches). Demory, who is competing in the mutli-events for the first time in his career, improved his lifetime best by more than two feet with a jump of 6.83 meters (22 ft., 5 in.).

“I was really, really proud of the guys in the 60 meters,” jumps/mutli-events coach Paul Zalewski commented. “Mackenzie Muldoon came out and had a PR, he hadn’t PR’d in quite a while in the event, so it was a great way to start the meet. Demory came out with a PR and Manilli came out with a time pretty close to his PR. So, I was very happy with the first event, and it rolled, all of those guys took that momentum into the long jump.

“Again, Manilli jumped a pretty big PR, 7.15 meters. Demory came out with a massive PR with a 22’5”, which was a little farther than I expected him to jump. And then Mack was right there with his PR being 6.87 meters and he jumped 6.79 meters, so really close to where he needed to be. Everybody was at or above of what I needed them to be through the firs two events.

Muldoon led the charge in the shot put, throwing a mark of 11.40 meters (37 ft., 5 in.) to place eighth. Then he went and placed sixth in the high jump. In the same event, Manilli turned in a personal best of 1.95 meters (6 ft., 4.75 in.) to place second for the second time on the day.

“Shot put was a little bit shaky, it is kind of one of those events that we lost some things there, but it wasn’t bad. Mack was solid, Jaelyn threw pretty well and Matt was a little bit under of what I needed him to be. But then the guys came out in the high jump and took care of business.

“Jaelyn jumped exactly where I needed him to, Muldoon jumped where I needed him to and Manilli put a three-inch PR out there to jump fantastic. We are doing really, really well, the guys are doing a great job. They are feeling good and are excited. I’m excited to see what tomorrow holds for them.”

Manilli sits in fourth place (2,884 points), Muldoon in eighth (2,809) and Demory (2,737) in 10th in the heptathlon standings with three events left.

In the team standings, the men are No. 1 with 10 points and the women are No. 3 with 10 points.

STAT OF THE DAY

• Since 1976, when the ACC had its first indoor track and field championships on the men's side, only five schools have won the indoor men DMR in back-to-back years with the Hokies joining the prestigious list. The last time a school pulled off the feat was in 2011 and 2012 by NC State.

TWEET OF THE DAY

UP NEXT

• Next up for Tech will be Day 2 of the ACC Indoor Championships at Clemson, starting at 10 a.m. ET with the heptathlon's 60-meter hurdles. The ACC Network Extra will live stream the day, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET with the 400 meters preliminaries and concluding with the 5,000 meters finals.

INDOOR PERSONAL BESTS

M 60
Jaelyn Demory, 7.06
Mackenzie Muldoon, 7.25

M Long Jump
Matthew Manilli, 7.15m (23’5.5”)
Jaelyn Demory, 6.83m (22’5”)

M Shot Put
Jaelyn Demory, 11.07m (36’4”)

M High Jump
Matthew Manilli, 1.95m (6’4.75”)
Jaelyn Demory, 1.71m (5’7.25”)