Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 9 No. 3 | January 2017

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34 Inside Hokie Sports
RETURNERS
Emily Miller,
Kacia Vines
NEWCOMER
Eszter Bajnok
OVERVIEW
The women’s team lacked depth in the jumps last season. Vines
competed in the long jump several times during the outdoor season,
but competed in the 400-meter dash at both ACC meets and probably
serves as a better fit in that event than in the jumps.
Miller competed in the high jump on a couple of occasions during
the outdoor season, winning the event at the Highlander Invitational
and coming in fifth at the Hurricane Invitational. She may be more of a
multi-event specialist, though, with the potential to score points in the
pentathlon and heptathlon.
The one to keep an eye on in this small group is Bajnok, who was
the Hungarian Junior Female Athlete of the Year in 2016. She placed
seventh in the long jump at the IAAF World U-20 Championships
in July and holds the Hungarian junior record in both the long and
triple jumps. She could be a contender for a medal at both ACC meets
this season.
JUMPS COACH PAUL ZALEWSKI’S TAKE
“Eszter had a phenomenal high school career with a lot of great
honors and accomplishments for her home country, so we are really
looking forward to her having a huge impact on the women’s side.
The talent that I have seen out of her and what she has been able to
accomplish up until this point is unbelievable, but we also have to take
what she has done and add in some of the things that we do here. That
might be a little different than what she is used to. I think the sky is the
limit for her. There is a lot of upside still.”
RETURNERS
Jared Bane, Samuel Denmark, Corey Hackett-Greene,
Dante Price, Austin Kolko, Jack Strollo, Alexander
Merritt, Aaron Simpson, Darius Watkins
NEWCOMERS
Greg Chiles, Matthew Baker, Brandon Thomas,
Michael Davenport
OVERVIEW
Sprints and hurdles coach Tim Vaught continues the process of
rebuilding the sprints/hurdles areas on both the men’s and women’s
teams. On the men’s side, he returns a talented sprinter in Watkins,
who scored points at the ACC outdoor meet this past season by
finishing seventh in the 200 and serving as part of the 4x100-meter
relay team that was seventh. He should score points at both ACC meets
this season.
Vaught hopes two transfers—Chiles and Hackett-Greene—have
major impacts this season. Chiles competed in the 400 and
400-meter hurdles at South Carolina, and he participated in two
SEC championships meets, giving the Hokies big-time experience.
Hackett-Greene transferred to Tech from Coastal Carolina in 2015
and competed for the Hokies during the indoor season last winter
(he took a redshirt year during the outdoor campaign). He won the 400
at the Big South meet as a freshman.
There are a lot of pieces in this group. Hopefully, several emerge to
add to what appears to be an already strong men’s team.
SPRINTS/HURDLES COACH TIM VAUGHT’S TAKE
“The men’s team (overall) won the conference championship last
year. They are on a high, and they want to keep going. My group is a
small group, and we added more sprinters this year. It has given us
extra motivation to be able to go back to the conference meet and have
a big impact on the conference championship this year.”
season preview track & field
WOMEN’S
JUMPS
MEN’S
SPRINTS/
HURDLES