I saw some comments below about the 4x400 relays and wanted to comment. I was at the meet and have a son on the team and can add some info (sorry is some of this is obvious to track followers). The boys had no need to race and at that time you risk injury right before the outdoor season. The conference meets are long drawn out contests with athletes competing in prelims and multiple events, so risk of injury becomes higher, especially for sprinters. A key 400 runner (Forrest) was injured in the DMR on Thursday, and no need to risk running other guys that ran well in the 200 finals earlier that day. I doubt they would have placed on the podium, but that is fine. The guys had a great meet and no need to race that final event.

For the women, the team is rebuilding for the 400 events. The runners that ran the 4x400 are 800m and milers - not 400 runners. VT had no runners in the open 400 heats. They needed to score so they ran a team, but was obviously was not fast enough to score points. Those runners had already competed and were not going to run PRs at the end of Saturday. VT tends to spread their talent out, which leaves them lacking in a 4x400 sometimes. Duke's strength is in the 400. I think they had 4 or 5 runners place in the outdoor 400 last year, and they were going to win the 4x400 this year. Just too many other fast teams in the meet to score that 1 point they needed. But co-champs is great and they should be very proud!

Also - I'm not sure this is a new rule or not, but teams can only have 30 athletes for men and women (each) for the conference meet. So they have to be very strategic with who they enter in the conference meets.

Thanks to all Hokies for supporting the teams - these kids are fantastic and they love VT!

- drh