Track Teams Head to Sacramento

The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships begin today in
Sacramento, CA, and there are a large number of Hokies competing. After winning
the NCAA Eastern Regionals, the Women’s Track & Field team is shooting for a
larger prize, while the men’s team is also sending several members to
Sacramento.

The following is a table listing all of Virginia Tech’s participants in the
NCAA National Championships, their event, their finish at the Eastern Regionals,
and their national rank. We’ll start with the women’s team.

Also participating, but not listed in the table, is the 4x100m relay team. It
consists of Britni Spruill, Patrice Potts, Kristi Castlin and Sherlenia Green.
They finished 2nd in the Eastern Regional, and they are ranked 11th nationally.

After easily winning the Eastern Regionals, the women’s team will take four
participants who finished 1st in their respective events to the NCAA
Championships. Two more finished in 2nd place in the Regionals, and another came
in 3rd. And of course, the 4x100m relay team finished 2nd. Five team members are
ranked in the top 10 nationally in their event, and Kristi Castlin is ranked #1
in the 100m hurdles.

In fact, Castlin holds the American Junior record in the 100m hurdles with a
time of 12.91 seconds. The old record of 12.95 seconds was set by Candy Young in
1979. She is also 4th on the all-time list in the word, an amazing feat for a
freshman.

As you can see from the table above, there are no seniors on the Women’s
Track and Field team that qualified for the NCAA Championships. The team has
already accomplished a lot this year, and they have a chance to do bigger and
better things in the future.

The men’s team will also be taking several participants to Sacramento.

Obviously the men’s team is very good in the Pole Vault, with Adam Bingaman,
Thorsten Mueller and Joe Samaniuk qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Justin
Clickett will participate in the shot put, while Billy Berlin will compete in
the only running event for the men’s team.

The NCAA Championships begin today, June 6, and run through Saturday, June 9.