Hokie ClubNEW ORLEANS – After a month into the season, the Virginia Tech men’s track and field team finds itself ranked No. 9 in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Indoor Computer Rankings, as announced by the organization Monday afternoon.
Tech is the highest-ranked team from the ACC for the fourth straight poll, joining No. 19 Syracuse and No. 22 Florida State.
Texas Tech jumped up three spots to break up the SEC party in the top five. Florida remains No. 1, Texas Tech No. 2, Georgia No. 3, Texas A&M No. 4 and Alabama No. 5. The SEC has the most teams ranked in the Top 25, owning seven spots, while the ACC is tied for the third most with three.
Tech moved up seven spots from last week’s poll when it was No. 16. The women moved up four spots, coming at No. 37 – the highest ranking in the ACC.
This past weekend at the Akron, Camel City and Rod McCravy invites, sophomore Sara Freix and redshirt sophomore Jack Joyce both placed first in the 3,000 meters on Friday and sixteen top-five finishes on Saturday headlined Week 4 of the season.
The men currently own nine times and marks that rank in the top-50 nationally in the traditional events. The mile headlines the group, as Vincent Ciattei, Patrick Joseph, Neil Gourley and Diego Zarate’s times sit No. 6, 7, 8 and 25 in the country. The pole vault group is represented by Deakin Volz (No. 7), Joel Leon Benitez (No. 16) and Torben Laidig (No. 41), while Keishaun Limehouse is No. 29 in 60-meter hurdles and Mackenzie Muldoon is No. 49 in the heptathlon.
The Hokies will be back at it this weekend, splitting up and going to three meets. The pole vault group will head west to Arkansas, the distance group will go to Vanderbilt and the sprints/hurdles and jumps/multi-events groups and select throwers will make the trek south to Clemson.