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inside.hokiesports.com
9
by
Jimmy
Robertson
Green quietly becomes standard-bearer
of Tech women’s distance running
Most student-athletes accumulate enough
awards throughout their careers to put on a
shelf in their future homes.
A shelf, though, won’t do for Hanna Green.
Fortunately for her, she graduated with a
degree in interior design, so she possesses
the necessary skills to draft plans for a rather
large room in her future home to hold all of her
plaques, trophies and certificates.
Many have heard of Green, but few actually
know this unassuming, hard-working Virginia
Tech track and field athlete from Pennsylvania.
Tech fans understandably immerse themselves
in football and basketball and other higher
profile sports, and yet by doing so, miss out
on the accomplishments of those such as
Green, a young woman who just completed a
phenomenal career.
“She’s definitely the best distance runner
in our history,” Tech distance coach Ben
Thomas agreed.
Thomas, who just finished his 16th season
as Tech’s distance coach, certainly has the
necessaryperspective tomake suchadeduction.
He coached Green for the past four seasons and
watched as she went from unheralded recruit
to standard-bearer of Tech distance running.
Green, named Inside Hokie Sports’ Athlete
of the Year in this issue, ran her last collegiate
race at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships during the second week of
June and finished second in the 800-meter
run. She accomplished nearly everything that
an athlete can accomplish in a career, with the
exception of winning an elusive national title.
She finished as a runner-up on three occasions.
“I’m pretty happy,” Green said shortly after
the race. “The NCAA title is something I’ve
always wanted, but I really can’t complain
about how it’s [her career] gone. I’m just happy
to have had the chance to be here and run at the
NCAA Championships.”
Despite the disappointment, Green was still
a first-team All-American for the fifth time in
her career. She earned six All-America honors
in all—the second-most in program history
behind Olympic bronze medalist Kristi Castlin.
She earned an All-America honor in each of her
four years.
Somewhat surprising, Green arrived at
Tech with little fanfare. She never won a state
championship at Greater Latrobe High. Her
times were somewhat ordinary, as she recorded
a top 800 time of 2 minutes, 16 seconds. She
lacked experience in longer distances, though
she did run cross country.
Yet her blue-collar mentality fit in perfectly
within the Virginia TechAthleticsDepartment’s
culture. Some athletes love their sports. Others
love to win. The truly great ones love both and
welcome the effort that it takes to transcend
their respective sports.
Corey Moore, Queen Harrison, Angela
Tincher, Devin Carter, Erick Green, Tommy
Curtin, Jazmine Reeves—they all fit in this
exclusive category. It’s time to add Green’s
name to that list.
“She wasn’t afraid to do the work,” Thomas
said. “A lot of 800 runners … they’re afraid to
do some of the longer-distance work, do some
of the cross country stuff, afraid to do the 1,500,
and she’s been willing to follow the plan and do
the work. She made it her strength.”
Green holds or share five school records and
departs with six ACC gold medals, including
two that she won at the ACC’s outdoor meet
when she doubled up and ran both the 800 and
the 1,500. Tech needed all her points, as the
Hokies claimed the team title by just six points.
She has a lot to be proud of—but her
proudest day came that evening in Atlanta
when Tech clinched its first ACC women’s track
crown in nine years.
“That’s something that meant the most
to me since being at Tech—winning an ACC
championship as a team,” she said. “Iwaswilling
to do whatever it took to help us get there.”
Her incredible career now has come to an
end. Those privileged towatch those long, loping
strides of hers now must wait to see where a
career in professional running takes her.
It’s a career that she always wanted—and
never expected.
“I honestly didn’t expect to make
the national championships,” she said.
“Just running like a 2:04 [in the 800] my
freshman year was a huge shock. Being able to
do that coming out of high school with a really
slow 800 time has really been an awesome
experience.
“I really don’t have any complaints other
than it would have been nice to have a
national championship, but I’m still pretty
happy with it.”
She should be. She brought unprecedented
attention to Tech’s track and field program, and
she won a boatload of honors while doing so.
Actually, she won a houseful of them. And
when she hangs up her sneakers for good, she
should have fun designing that room to display
all of them.