Well, I have been remiss in my coverage and ACC Indoor Championships are almost upon us. Funny how you lose track of time with a 4-month-old.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the season to date.
Virginia Tech Invitational - January 12 and 13
-Women's Long Jump - Victoria Gorlova was the top collegiate athlete taking 2nd.
-Women's Triple Jump - Cierra Pyles took the win.
-Women's Shot Put - Katie Seyfang finished 2nd.
-Women's Weight - Sara Killinen took the win by over 6' with a throw of 73'-7.5" which ranked her first in the nation (this throw is currently standing T-5 in the nation as of 2/9).
-Men's 3000m - Looks like the Hokies entered all of the middle and long distance guys. Alec Fleming was 2nd and freshmen Garrett Winter and Blake Fairbanks finished 3rd and 4th.
-Men's 4x400m - Hokies (Tillmon, JLIV, James, and Taylor) took the win
-Men's High Jump - Bell and Clark are back and finished 2nd and 3rd.
-Men's Triple Jump - Freshman Chidozie Kalu took the win by almost 2'.
-Men's Weight - Khalil Bedoui took the win.
-Men's 300m - JLIV set a new PB of 32.60s followed by Diaby and Harrison.
-Chiara Sisterman was named ACC Women's Rookie of the Week after clearing 13'6.25" which tied her with Journey Gurley for 2nd in the ACC after the meet.
Hokie Invitational - January 19 and 20
-Viktor Idhammar finished 6th in the 1000m with a time of 2:20.55 which gives him the Sweden National Record.
-Victoria Gorlova won the triple jump
-Sara Killinen won the weight through by almost three feet.
-Lindsey Butler was 2nd in the 1000m with a PB of 2:41.00 which is also a new school record and Hannah Ballowe was 4th.
-JLIV entered the 60m and made the final but finished 7th with a time of 6.81. He also won the 200m by almost 3 tenths of a second in 21.06. He did not enter the 400m.
-Hokies went 1,2,3 in the high jump with Bell, Clark and Burke.
-JLIV and Butler were named Men's and Women's ACC Track Performers of the Week.
Penn State National Open - January 26-27
-Conner McClure took 3rd in the Pole Vault Invite at 17'-8.5" which was a new PR and good for 1st in the ACC and 9th in the NCAA at the time. Currently that height is 1st in the ACC but T-17 in the NCAA.
Doc Hale Meet - February 2 and 3
-Barbora Malikova won the 400m in 53.60
-Star Price won the 800m in 2:03.42 which is a new PB
-Lindsey Butler and Ava Hassebrock went 1-2 in the mile.
-Victoria Gorlova set a new PB of 20'-8" to win the long jump and set a new school record. She also won the triple jump by over a foot.
-Kahleje Tillmon won the 60m with a new PB of 6.76.
-JLIV set a new PB of 20.87 in his 200m win. Kennedy Harrison finished 2nd.
-Christian Jackson set a PB and won the 800m in a time of 1:47.51.
-Freshman Ethan Coleman was the top collegiate finisher in the mile with a time of 3:59.21. He was followed by Nicholas Plant, Declan Rymer and Ryan Chevalier.
-Aidan Clark took 2nd in the high jump
-Freshman Maddox Hamm was the first collegiate finisher with a PB of 17'-5.5" in the pole vault.
-Chidozie Kalu took another triple jump win.
-Sean Murphy and Nathaniel Paris went 1-2 in the heptathlon. This awarded Paris the ACC Men's Rookie of the Week.
This weekend the team is spread across the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, the Music City Challenge in Nashville, and the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, AR.
Comments
Thanks for the great summary. They be busy. Seems this weekend results being pretty far away for all three events could tell us a lot prior to championships.
Lot of posts on X with the three events going on
That's a little over 7 yards. She can almost long jump for a first down.
so you're saying she's our new jet sweep option?
I just realized that Star Jones had run a 2:03.42. That's a pretty great time for indoors.
For reference, Allie Wilson just won the 800m at the Milrose Games (professional meet) in 2:01.61.
Quick summary of last weekends events:
Tyson Invitational
-Barbora Malikova finished 9th in the 400m with a seasons best time of 52.99. This makes her the only ACC woman to run a sub-53 this season. Im glad to see her doing more indoor events this season.
-JLIV finished 2nd in the 400m with a time of 45.53 which is good for the current 4th fastest time in the nation and the only ACC athlete to run a sub-46.
-Kennedy Harrison was 28th in the 400m with a seasons best time of 47.55.
-JLIV ran a SB of 20.84 to finish 4th in the 200m
-Hokies also finished 4th in the men's 4x400 with a time of 3:06.82 which is the top time in the ACC so far this season. JLIV smoked the anchor leg in 45.18.
Don Kirby Invite
-Gorlovas's school record was good for 3rd place and puts her 11th in the nation and 1st in the ACC.
-Brandon Burke won the jump off to take 1st in the high jump. Aidan Clark tied for 2nd.
-Nate Paris set a PB and finished 5th in the long jump.
-Gorlova finished 3rd in the triple jump and is the only female athlete to be ranked top 15 in both jump events.
Music City Challenge
-Barbora Stejfova finished 4th in the open weight throw.
-Sara Killinen was 7th in the invite weight throw.
-The womens 600m was a Hokie affair with Star Price, Lindsey Butler, Hannah Ballowe, and Avery Legault finishing 1,2,3,6.
-The men also did well in the 600m with Christian Jackson, Nicholas Plant, Dylan DeCambre, and Ethan Coleman finishing 1,3,7,12.
-Hokies did put an athlete in the 5000m which they often don't. Sarah Leach finished 12th.
-Butler and Price went 1-2 in the 800m.
-Plant set a new PB in the mens 800m to finish 2nd and Jackson finished 5th.
Hokies host the Virginia Tech Challenge in Rector this weekend and will also be sending folks to Boston for the Boston University DMR.
ACC Indoor Championships are going on this weekend. After Day 1, the ladies are tied for 5th and the men are in 4th.
Some highlights:
-Mens 200m - Ali Diaby won his heat to qualify for the final.
-Mens DMR - Hokies finished 7th to snag 2 points.
-Womens DMR - Hokies finished 8th which is good for a point.
-Mens Pole Vault - Connor McClure set a new PR to take the win, Maddox Hamm was third and Joey Badalamenti finished 8th to give the Hokies 19 points.
-Womens Weight Throw- Sara Killinen takes the win and Barbora Stejfova finished 5th.
-Heptathlon- After day 1, Sean Murphy and Nathaniel Paris are in 4th and 5th.
Glancing at some of the start lists, I'm not sure a team title is likely for either the men or the women. But VT should do well in several events.
The women are looking strong in the 800m and the jumps, and the pole vault should be interesting. On a fast track, Judson Lincoln IV (season best 45.53) could challenge Jacory Patterson's 400m ACC Indoor meet record of 45.38.
I agree. There just isn't the ability to stockpile points in a couple key events like they have done in previous years.
I am looking forward to seeing what JLIV does since his times have looked really good this season.
Hokies win both men's and women's 400m titles! I expected JLIV to win the men's but Barbora Malikova ran a PB for the win.
Other highlights:
-mens triple jump- Chidozie Kalu took 3rd and Altan Mitchell was 6th.
-mens high jump- Aidan Clark was 4th and Elijah Bell and Brandon Burke tied for 5th.
-womens long jump- Victoria Gorlova took the win.
As of right now, the men are in 3rd and the women are in 4th.
Nicholas Plant ran a PB to take 2nd in the 800m and Christian Jackson took 3rd. Plant's time might be good enough to sneak him in to NCAAs.
Lindsey Butler and Star Price go 1-2 in the 800m with Butler just outleaning Price at the line.
Freshman Chiara Sistermann wins the pole vault! Hokies also take 4th and 6th for an important 18 points.
Hokies are your 2024 Womens ACC Champs!
Men finished 3rd. Couldn't make up for all of the points UNC racked up in the 3000m.
ACC Championship probably deserves its own post for visibility.
I agree, new post! 3 years in a row correct?
Men finish 3rd with 82 points. UNC wins with 93. FSU takes second with 84
Yeah that DQ Diaby had in the 200m kept the Hokies from 2nd in the men's standings.
He made up for it though with his 3rd leg in the 4x400m.
2 more points for the Hokies in the Commonwealth Clash.
Currently 5.5-5 in favor of the Hoos.
6-6.5, Hoos after we split swimming on Saturday. Women's basketball on 3/3 should bring us even and we will have dominated the winter sports. Unfortunately, spring has typically been a rough season for us in the clash:
Men's Golf
Women's Golf
Men's Tennis
Women's Tennis
Women's Lacrosse
LOLUVa has gotten 5 points for these all but one year when we snagged men's tennis and lacrosse.
Softball
Baseball
Men's Outdoor Track
Women's Outdoor Track
It would have been nice to have picked up our 2 pts for cross country in the fall and go into spring up 4.
It would be nice to win the clash occasionally, but I really can't care about it. It was a trophy and combination that was made up as something for UVA to be able to win on a somewhat regular basis. After all, UVA has only had the actual trophy 3? years out of the last 25+?
I'd like to win it mostly because if we do so on a regular basis, we're getting pretty good at sports. UVa is a pretty solid measuring stick across all sports. If we win with any consistency, it'll be because our spring sports got better too, which I'd love to see. (Let's go softball!)
Say what you will about conference affiliation and football, ACC membership has been fantastic for our Olympic/non-revenue sports.
You don't have to convince me. I'm a huge ACC fan and apologist. I really hope it can survive some really poor decisions. It's the best place for VT.
Any P5 conference would have been good for the Olympic sports, being a mid major isn't great for athletics overall.
ACC membership has also been great for football and men's basketball.
We won 4 ACC titles and were a perennial top-25 football team for our first 10 years in the conference. And being in the SEC or Big 10 would have had literally no positive effect on our football program the last 10 years.
Men's basketball is even more pronounced. The last 20 years have unquestionably been the most successful 20-year stretch in the history of the basketball program. We've had 3 different coaches who have won regularly, and taken the team to the NCAA tournament (6 NCAA appearances , plus 7 NIT, since 2004). The ACC has been VERY good for VT men's basketball.
You're assuming that the available talent (players and coaches) would have stayed the same. That might not have been the case.
All right, the NCAA Indoor Championship Lists are posted and I was surprised how well represented the ACC was.
The championships are co-hosted by Boston College and the University of Massachusetts Lowell at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston on March 7, 8, and 9. This should be very familiar for the ACC folks that just finished up their conference championships at the same track. Event schedule can be found here.
I was feeling adventuresome today, so I put all of the ACC qualifiers in tabular format and will update them with results. Hokies are in bold naturally. The multisport table will probably look wonky on a cell phone due to all the columns, sorry about that. I'll do a separate comment for the women when I get that typed up.
Men
Track Events
Field Events
Multisport
Connor McClure sets a new PB and will finish 3rd in the pole vault to score 6 team points for the Hokies.
Sean Murphy with a strong showing in day 1 of the heptathlon and currently sitting in 7th.
Women
Track Events
Field Events - Sara Killinen kicks things off for the Hokies tonight at 8 PM in the weight throw.
Multi
Other things I noticed while going through the women's start list.
-Arkansas has the top four seed times in 400m and the only three women to go under 51 seconds. Going out on a limb and picking them to win the 4x400m.
-I didn't realize the ACC was as strong as they are in the pentathlon.
Sara Killinen gets the Hokies on the board with her 8th place finish.
Top 8 is considered All-American right?
I believe so. I think top 8 is first team and 9-16 are 2nd team.
Nick Plant is moving on to the 800m final with a PB 1:47:26.
JLIV moving on to finals
Hokies get two more First Team All Americans and a Second Team All American
ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships start today in Atlanta. They are currently delayed for weather.
Notes on today's events:
Whenever the weather clears, Barbora Stejfova and Sara Killinen will kick things off for the Hokies in the Women's Hammer Throw. Killinen comes in with the top throw in the ACC this season and the 8th best in the nation. I think Stejfova also has a good chance of finishing in a points receiving place.
Sean Murphy is the only Hokie in the men's decathlon that also starts today with the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. They will finish tomorrow with the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m.
Lucas Baroke is the only Hokie in the men's Hammer Throw scheduled to start today at 1 which will almost certainly be pushed to later in the day looking at the giant swath of storms over Georgia. He has a good chance of securing a point scoring finish, but looking at the seasons best throws, I think Duke stacks a lot of points here.
Hokies have six guys in pole vault including ACC record holder Conner McClure. This is a great chance to score a bunch of points.
Prelims for the 200m are scheduled for 6:40 this evening with Tillmon, JLIV, and Diaby competing. Good chance to get multiple Hokies into the finals.
Prelims for the men's 1500m are scheduled for 720 with Coleman, Winter, and Mills.
In the women's 1500m, you have Hassebrock, Coe, and Waters. I'm not really expecting any Hokies to make the finals.
Hokie women on the board early with 14 points after Killinen takes 2nd (209'-10") and Stejfova takes 3rd (206'-4") with a new PB in the hammer.
Baroke took 4th place in the Hammer Throw and All ACC 2nd Team
Men's pole vault saw the Hokies finish 2nd, 4th and 6th
These athletes advance to their respective finals.
Men's 200m
Judson Lincoln IV - 20.63Q
KJ Tillmon - 20.83q
Ali Diaby - 21.00q
Women's 1500m
Ava Hassebrock - 4:30.06Q
Men's 1500m
Ethan Mills - 3:44.84q
Seeing posts saying he is bringing home three golds but only seen the 400m posted.
Gorlova wins women's long jump and now a 5 time ACC Champion between indoor and outdoor.
Gorlova is also now a 4x ACC Champion in the Triple Jump.
Whether or not she qualified for the Olympic Trials, she's qualified.
Chiara Sistermann takes third in women's pole vault
Aidan Clark is ACC Champion in the high jump
EJ Bell and Brandon Burke tied for 4th in the Men's High Jump and earn Second Team All ACC
Thanks for keeping up with it. I wasn't able to keep up with it this time like I usually do.
Think I still missed some. Specifically Men's track events.
Good lord, that's a long way.
Final standings:
Men: 2nd
Women: 7th.
NCAA East Regionals start today at the University of Kentucky and a number of Hokies are competing. I'll try to keep up with it and post results as I see them. Top 12 finishers advance to the Championships in Eugene. All steams are on ESPN+
Men
-Pole Vault (Wednesday, 5/24 at 3 PM) - Conner McClure as the #2 seed, Maddox Hamm as the #7 seed, Harrison Rice as the #23 seed, and Joey Badalamenti as the #38 seed. All Hokies are in Flight 2.
-400m (Wednesday, 5/22 at 6:25 PM) - JLIV (Heat 2) as the #3 seed and Kennedy Harrison as the 22 seed (Heat 1). Top 3 from each heat plus next 6 fastest times advance to Friday's quarterfinals.
-800m (Wednesday, 5/22 at 6:50 PM) - Nicholas Plant as the #7 seed (Heat 4) and Dylan DeCambre (Heat 5) as the #46 seed. Top 3 from each heat plus next 6 fastest times advance to Friday's quarterfinals.
-High Jump (Friday, 5/24 at 2 PM) - Aidan Clark as the #5 seed, Brandon Burke as the #22 seed, and Elijah Bell as the #25 seed. All Hokies are in Flight 1.
-4x100m Relay (Friday, 5/24 at 5 PM) - #12 seed with Tillmon, Diaby, Harrison, JLIV, and Green (4 plus alternate) will be in Heat 1. Top 3 from each heat plus next 3 fastest advance. Nail the exchanges gentlemen!
-3000m Steeplechase (Friday, 5/24 at 5:40 PM)- Declan Rymer as the #26 seed (Heat 3). Top 3 from each heat and next three fastest times advance to Eugene.
-Triple Jump (Friday, 5/24 at 6 PM) - Chidozie Kalu as the #12 seed in Flight 4. Lukas Baroke looks to have qualified as the 23 seed, but I don't see him on the start list.
-4x400m Relay (Friday, 5/24 at 845 PM) - Hokies are the #4 seed with Harrison, Tillmon, Diaby, JLIV, Green and Plant (4 plus 2 alternates). Hokies are in Heat 3. Top 3 from each heat plus next 3 fastest times.
-Decathlon - this one takes the top 24 in the US straight to Eugene without having to go to regionals. Sean Murphy just snuck in as the 23 seed.
Women
Edit-Thursday schedule changes due to weather
-Hammer (Thursday, 5/23 at 10 AM) - Sara Killinen as the #4 seed and Barbora Stejfova as the #12 seed. Both in Flight 3.
-Pole Vault (Thursday, 5/23 at
630 PMNoon) - Chiara Sistermann as the #9 seed, Journey Gurley as the #12 seed, Kennedy Drish as the #29 seed, and Erin Kelleher as the #43 seed. All Hokies are in Flight 2.-Shot Put (Thursday, 5/23 at
630 PM330 PM) - Katrin Brzyszkowska as the #12 seed in Flight 4.-1500m (Thursday, 5/23 at
630 PM330 PM) - Lindsey Butler as the #4 seed in Heat 1. Top 5 in each heat and next four fastest times advance to Saturday.-800m (Thursday, 5/23 at
750 PM450 PM) - Star Price as the #14 seed in Heat 2. Top 3 from each heat plus next 6 fastest advance to Saturday.-3000m Steeplechase (Saturday, 5/25 at 540 PM) - Mary Kate McGranahan as the 41 seed in Heat 3. Top 3 from each heat and next 3 fastest advance to Eugene.
just after noon, in a weather delay now.
A bit of a tough day for the pole vaulters. Only Conner McClure will move on to Eugene.
JLIV won his heat in the 400m with the fastest time of the day to advance to Friday. Kennedy Harrison did not advance.
Nicholas Plant finished 3rd in his heat to move on to Friday.
Women's pole vault has been postponed until , I think, Friday at 10 am.
Lindsey Butler advances to Saturday in the 1500m.
Katrin Brzyszkowska sits in 8th and will move on to Eugene in the shot put.
Star Price advances to Saturday in the 800m
Chiara Sistermann and Journey Gurley move on to Eugene in pole Vault.
Elijah Bell and Brandon Burke qualify in men's high Jump.
4x100 finished 16th and will not advance
Chidozie Kalu qualified in triple jump.
JLIV finished 2nd overall in the 400 to move on
Nicholas Plant finished 8th overall in the 800m to move on.
7th in the 4x400 to move on.
Didn't see it last night but the 44.55 that JLIV ran in the 400 is the new ACC record. He also smoked the other guys in his heat.
His 44.55 is good for 16th fastest in the world right now - 5th best among Americans. Three of the Americans ahead of him include 2022 World Champion Michael Norman, 2021 Olympic 400m hurdle silver medalist Rai Benjamin and 2023 US National Champion Bryce Deadman. JLIV is in absolute elite company.
I'd give Lincoln a good chance of winning the NCAA title next week if it weren't for the fact that the fastest 400m runner in the world this year is Christopher Morales-Williams from UGA.
You know when I was looking at the seed times I had to look twice at the time for Morales-Williams because it was just so much faster than everyone else.
Lindsey Butler moves on in the 1500m.
Didn't get a chance to watch, but I'm not sure what happened to Star Price who had a DNF in the 800.
Championships start today in Eugene and go through Saturday.
Men's Day 1 (6/5) coverage starts tonight at 730 PM ET on ESPN2, women's Day 1 (6/6) coverage starts at 830 PM ET on ESPN2, Men's Day 2 (6/7) starts at 9 PM on ESPN2 and Women's Day 2 (6/8) starts at 530 PM on ESPN.
Men's Day 1
-Decathlon (100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m) - Sean Murphy kicks off the Hokies at 330 PM ET. I don't know if there is any streaming coverage of the decathlon.
-Pole Vault - Conner McClure - 8 PM ET
-400m Semi Final - JLIV in Heat 3 - 9 PM ET. Top 2 in each heat plus next 3 best times advance to the final.
-800m Semi Final - Nicholas Plant in Heat 2 - 9:14 PM ET. Top 2 in each heat plus next 3 best times advance to the final.
-4x400m Relay Semi Final Heat 2 - 10:48 PM ET. Top 2 in each heat plus next 3 best times advance to the final.
Women's Day 1 and Decathlon Day 2
-Decathlon - Sean Murphy with 110m Hurdles, Discus, Pole Vault, Javelin and 1500m starting at 4:30 PM ET
-1500m Semi Final - Lindsey Butler (Heat 1) at 8:46 PM ET. Top 5 in each heat plus next 2 best times
-Pole Vault - Journey Gurley and Chiara Sistermann at 9 PM ET
-Shot Put - Katrin Brzyszkowska at 10:40 ET
Men's Day 2
-High Jump - Brendon Burke and Elijah Bell - 830 PM ET
-1500m Final - 912 PM ET
-Triple Jump - Chidozie Kalu - 920 PM ET
-400m Final - 1002 PM ET
-4x400 Final - 1121 PM ET
Women's Day 2
-1500m Final - 541 PM ET
JLIV finished 3rd in his heat but qualified for the final on time.
Nicholas Plant finished 4th in his heat but was fast enough to qualify on time.
Sean Murphy is sitting in 15th after Decathlon day 1.
Looks like Conner McClure finished in a 5way tie for 8th in pole vault.
I thought Plant looked pretty strong in the 800m.
JLIV looked a bit tired to me in his 400m. He also looked disappointed afterwards, so hopefully there was something tactically that he can improve on Friday. I doubt he can beat Christopher Morales-Williams to win the whole thing, but if he can run his best race, finishing top 3 or 4 is realistic possibility.
Hokies did not advance in the 4x400
Lindsey Butler qualified on time in the 1500m.
Sean Murphy finished 21st in the decathlon.
Chiara Sistermann tied her PB to finish 14th in pole vault. Journey Gurley was 19th.
Katrin Bryzszkowska finished 20th in shot put.
JLIV finished 5th in the 400.
Brandon Burke finished tied for 11 and Elijah Bell finished 20th in the high jump.
Nicholas Plant finished 8th in the 800m.
Chidozie Kalu finished 16th in the triple jump.
Lindsey Butler finished 7th in the 1500m to close out the meet for the Hokies.
Perhaps one of these years Random VT track team wins the natty... you know, one great sprinter or things break correctly. Maybe one day. You all should root for that, so I will shut up on the topic. A man can dream. Every other school does it.
I get that this is somewhat tongue in cheek but I would argue that it is really hard to win a T&F natty. You have to have several events that your team is absolutely stacked in to hoard points.
As an example on the women's side going back to 1982, only 12 schools have won the outdoor title.
On the men's side, I could easily find records going back to 1921 and there are still only 26 schools that have won outright or shared the title.
yeah maybe we won't stumble upon one in track and maybe we missed the baseball window in 2015-16 when UVA and coastal carolina won them back to back. Or 2024 when UVA is going to win again... I digress. One day we may stumble upon one like all of the other P5 schools have.
There has never been a better time to buy a Natty, and may not be a better one later. Pick any sport with a relatively low number of key players needed that also has very little NIL interest/money and go buy a team. Maybe Ladies golf or tennis?
Women's rowing, has worked well for uva
All for it. If Coastal, Rice, Stanford- every year, Maryland-most years, Auburn golf this year did it the old fashioned way, certainly we can buy some ladies golfers and win one
There's a kid from Blacksburg (Jr this year) that will be a freshman on the Auburn golf team in 2 years.
I'd guess most good townie athletes want to get out of town for college. VT is suffocating for the locals. It's great when someone like Cole Beck wants to stay. Lanto Griffin wanted to stay, but golf team wouldn't take him. There was the Ellenbogan girl that starred at Duke golf, but was before VT's women's program.
"At Auburn, we win championships the old fashioned way. We BUY them." LMAO!
Buy all ten Penn St wrestlers? Just throw them stupid football money ($1M each? $2M?) for a single year, get a title for <$20M total?
While that would work, based only on interest here I think wrestling would be more expensive to buy than golf or tennis, though tennis is loaded with international players that cannot yet be legally paid. Make a loophole there and be the first to use it and you could likely buy it cheap. Though you could risk losing scholarships for tennis.
Edit - (This was meant to be a response to DC just above)
Track and Field has definitely been one of VT's best sports the past 10-15 years, so it's a good candidate to finally break through.
It would take a core of about 4 or 5 elite athletes across multiple disciplines (sprints/jumps/throws/distance) placing in the top 3 or 4 of their events, with a couple of high-placing relays thrown in as well, to win a national title. Tech has had a few of those athletes, but they've been spread out over several years.
It would be tough to see us competing with the likes of the current elite schools (Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas Tech...maybe throw in Oregon, Kentucky and Georgia), but we're probably in the next tier with teams like Clemson, USC, Texas and Florida State.
With the coach that built this retiring here's hoping they can keep it going without him.
That's a HUGE point. You would hope they could sustain the recent success, but as Beamer's retirement showed, that's no certain thing. Dave Cianelli is a Mount Rushmorian legend among VT coaches.
I'd love to see VT T&F compete for national titles. But as a former member of the track team (my best event was scrub walk-on who had no business in a college program), I'm honestly just thrilled to see some of the studs competing for Virginia Tech the last few years. Just to mention a few, Lindsey Butler has been an ACC and NCAA champion in the 800m, Julia Fixsen won an NCAA title last year in the pole vault. Nick Plant is in the 800m finals tomorrow, and Judson Lincoln is in the 400m finals. I believe Lincoln in particular has a chance to place high. Even if the team isn't in the mix for a title, Virginia Tech represents well all the way to nationals.
I honestly think that its one of the more puzzling things in college athletics- a school the size, resources and fan support of VT- a member of the acc for 20 years now- has never won a championship in any sport. It really is remarkable of you think about it. We've had our chances. Made it to the WCWS in 2008 and didn't score a run IIRC? - wow, obviously 99 football, 2023 womens hoops. But simply astonishing to me
I really don't think it's all that perplexing. Typically midmajors have to get super lucky to win a title and we've been midmajors for all of last century.
Our resources are some of the worst in the ACC. We are behind a lot of teams in revenue.
Our only real comp is UofL in a midmajor to P5. They have only won basketball and did so 2 times as a mid major. They did so with two fairly big names on basketball coaching with Denny Crum being Wooden's top assistant and Rick Pitino already having a championship at Ky. Are we going to hire Billy Donavon? To try and win?
We are a school that is in a remote part of the state that doesn't have a ton of big money donors.
I think if you're talking championships OK states 53 mens championships and 0 women's is way odder.
In the past 20 years, Only VT, Pitt and Louisville as you have mentioned have not won titles as ACC members- Louisville did win in hoops title- 1 year before they joined the ACC. Every other school has won a national championship- So I simply don't buy the resources, revenue thing. We are top half of the league in both categories. If Wake can win multiple titles, we surely could win one.
I am actually more impressed (and surprised) that so many other ACC schools have won a national title in the last 20 years than I am disappointed VT isn't one of them. But you're right, that's not the type of exclusive club you want to be a part of.
I also agree that it's probably not simply a resources issue. My impression is that VT is actually quite competitive in a lot of non-revenue sports. But if we do want to prioritize winning a national title, how do we do it? Maybe identify a couple of sports that have the best shot and focus more on those? And if it's not a money issue, how do we even do that?
We could ask our new conference mates Stanford- who win one nearly every year in something... or even our buddies 2 hours up the road in Charlottesville that win them regularly.
Everyone else had a 50 year head start on building P5 programs. We didn't have a 50m pool when we started in the ACC.
The baseball field didn't get a proper stadium around it until 2008.
The on campus golf course wasn't good due to age of the front 9 though they started playing at the links course close to the time we went to the ACC.
We've had to constantly update our softball facilities to get to D1 level starting with a 700 sear expansion tripling the size of the stadium in 2007.
In 2004, the rest of the ACC had D1 athletes and facilities across the board and VT did not.
We are still last in revenue for public ACC schools.
We have terrible weather for outdoor sports, it's windy and rainy most days.
Wake forest won at women's golf which VT didn't have until 10 years ago. They have been good at golf for a while and had multiple individual championships and are arguably in one of the best states for golf. They had built that program for decades.
All of this is true. What is also true is that every other P5 school has a title except for VT and Kansas State. What is also true is that Costal Carolina and Rice have won baseball national championships. Syracuse, Temple, Rutgers, Miami, BC, WVU were all in the big east football conference with us, and all have nattys. Rutgers and WVU dubious sure- but that's my point- they won in SOMETHING.
To be pedantic, UCF doesn't have a championship and are P5/P4
All those schools in the BE with us were also in the BE for all sports (except temple that last title was in 1988 in a sport we don't play)
Our sports we A10 and Metro league, not even the BE until 2000. So yes mid majors have won like Coastal Carolina and Rice(who has big time donors) they also got lucky as mid major winners are outliers.
UCF has been P5 for one year.
that's why it's me being pedantic
UCF claims a football natty.
I mean the NCAA guidelines say they have one too
You cant forget that for much of our history we were more in line with vmi than p5 schools. Even when we started being a more standard university we were not putting tons of sports out there. You reference the other acc programs and stanford... Stanford has 36 varsity sports, we have 22 and many of those are recent. Those extra sports are also more obscure and less competitive, leading to more natty opportunities. They have 20 water polo natties and 37 Tennis natties.
Was the Bass fishing not counted?
Club sports don't count
We also have rugby, baseball and lacrosse championships in club sports. We're really good as of late when no money is involved.
Edit: looked up lacrosse and were now a d2 team. we're moving up, so it's no longer a club sport.