Jullien Wins Another National Championship

Spyridon Jullien won his second national
championship of 2005 on Friday, winning the hammer throw at the NCAA Track and
Field Championships held at Sacramento State. Jullien previously won the
national championship in the 35-pound weight throw during the indoor track
season.

Jullien threw the hammer 231’1”, outpacing
second place finisher Mattias Jons of Boise State (225’11”), third place
Nick Owens of North Carolina (222’4”), fourth place Cory Martin of Auburn
(216’9”) and fifth place John Paul Smolenski of Purdue (215’11”).

Jullien, a junior from Greece, is officially
regarded as a non-qualifier by the NCAA, meaning that he would only have three
years of eligibility at Virginia Tech. However, a recent NCAA rule change may
give him the opportunity to return to Tech for the 2005-06 season. If Jullien
completes 80% of his degree requirements by the time his senior year begins,
which he is on track to accomplish, then he will be granted one more year of
eligibility.

If Jullien is granted another year of
eligibility, Virginia Tech could have some more national championships in its
future.

The men’s track and field team finished in 13th
place out of 71 teams in the NCAA Championships at Sacramento State. The 13th
place finish is the highest in Virginia Tech history. The team also finished ten
positions higher than they were predicted, which is a feat shared by a number of
other Virginia Tech athletic teams during their inaugural season in the ACC.

Spyridon Jullien was the highest scorer for the
Hokies, winning the national championship in the hammer throw to earn ten points
for Tech. All-American Brian Mondschein finished in 2nd place in the pole vault,
earning the Hokies eight points. And lastly, All-American Sven Hahn earned three
points by finishing 6th in the shot put.

Besides being the highest finish in school
history, Tech’s 13th place finish gave them the second highest ranking among
ACC schools competing in the National Championships. Only Florida State finished
above the Hokies. The Seminoles tied with BYU for 4th place with 34 points.
Virginia Tech was also very close to finishing even higher. The Hokies finished
just one point behind 12th place UTEP, and two points from tying for 9th place
with Oregon, Auburn and Arizona.

And there’s more good news. Jullien, Mondschein
and Hahn are all listed as juniors on Hokiesports.com. If Jullien is granted
another year of eligibility, and Mondschein and Hahn don’t run into any
roadblocks, the Hokies look like they are going to have another strong men’s
track and field team next season as well.

Virginia Tech dropped from 37th to 49th in the
latest Directors’ Cup rankings released on June 2. It wasn’t a particularly
strong spring for the Tech sports programs that were rated in the latest
rankings. In fact, they put up a bunch of goose eggs.

Women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s
rowing, women’s tennis, men’s volleyball and women’s water polo were added
to the formula for the spring set of rankings, and none of these sports fared
very well for Virginia Tech. In fact, the Hokies don’t even have a men’s
volleyball team, a women’s water polo team, a women’s golf team, or a
women’s rowing team, so Tech
had its back against the wall in this set of rankings from the very beginning.

The Hokies do, however, have a women’s lacrosse
team and a women’s tennis team, and unfortunately for Tech those teams fared
very poorly in their inaugural season in the ACC. The lacrosse team posted a
5-10 overall record and went 0-4 in ACC play. The women’s tennis team didn’t
fare any better, going 7-17 overall and 0-10 in the ACC.

So for the sports included in this set of
rankings, the Hokies didn’t win a single ACC game, and failed to score any
points in the Directors’ Cup race.

Despite the drop-off in late spring, Virginia
Tech still stands a great chance to finish with their best ever finish in the
Directors’ Cup standings. The Hokies’ previous best finish was 63rd, in
1999-00 as well as 2000-01. The most points that Tech has ever scored in one
season was 278.5 in 2000-01. The 2004-05 athletics programs have already passed
that mark, scoring 301.25 points thus far for the season.

Take a look at the Hokies’ past finishes in the
Directors’ Cup:

Not too good overall, but Tech has an opportunity
to make a huge improvement in 2004-05. There are still a few sports to add into
the formula, including the aforementioned men’s track and field team. The
track team’s 13th place finish will help the Hokies out a lot. The softball
team also made the NCAA Tournament, so Tech will get some points from them as
well. With these two sports having strong seasons, the Hokies could find
themselves moving back up when the final rankings are released later this month.
An updated ranking will be released on June 17 (this Friday), with the final
rankings coming out of June 29.

The probation of Virginia Tech football player Brenden
Hill has been extended until June, 2006, and he must perform 75 hours of
community service, for failing to abide by the terms of his probation received
from his pleading no contest to contributing to the delinquency of a minor last
year.

Hill failed a drug test in January, testing positive for
marijuana. He also failed to inform his probation officer for two months that he
had been charged with driving on a suspended license. Both occurrences are
violations of his probation, and he appeared in Montgomery County Circuit Court
last Friday, where Judge Ray Grubbs heard his case and decided to extend his
probation.