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Inside Hokie Sports
I
ntermittent showers, gusty winds and chilly
temperatures did not make for ideal track
and field conditions, but seniors competing
in their final collegiate meet usually refuse to
let the elements dictate their results.
Irena Sediva and Hanna Green shrugged
off the weather and the competition, capturing
gold and silver medals, respectively, to
highlight the Virginia Techmen’s andwomen’s
track and field performances at the NCAA
Outdoor Track and Field Championships held
June 6-10 in Eugene, Oregon.
Behind Sediva, Green and a point from
Emma Thor, the Virginia Tech women’s team
finished 11th with 19 points—the program’s
second-best outdoor finish and its best outdoor
finish since 2010.
“I’m very happy with how the women’s
programhas come back and established itself at
a much higher level,” said Dave Cianelli, Tech’s
director of track and field and cross country.
“This is something we’ve worked for the last
two or three years. It’s not like this was an
overnight process. The coaches and I sat down
a couple years ago and put together a plan to
get our women’s program up to the point where
we could compete for an ACC title and be in the
top 10 at the national championships.
“Now, we want to maintain that, but yes,
this is very gratifying that the women have
reached this level. It’s been a while since we’ve
been at this level nationally, and it had been
nine years since we had won a conference
championship.”
On the men’s side, runners Neil Gourley
and Drew Piazza and thrower Marek Barta
combined to score nine points. The Hokies
finished in 32nd place.
Overall, the programs combined to send
a school-record 21 athletes to the NCAA
Championships. Eighteen of those competed,
with 12 of them earning All-America honors,
including six who earned first-team All-
America recognition by finishing in the top
eight of their respective events.
Sediva’s performance in the women’s javelin
throw headlined the group. The senior from
Pribram, Czech Republic won her second
national championship—she claimed the title in
2015—after rallying despite trailing for nearly
the entire competition. On her fifth throw (out of
six), she launched the javelin 58.76 meters (192
feet, 9 inches) to pull ahead of Florida’s Marija
Vucenovic, who also made her best throw on
her fifth attempt, though hers only went 58.58
meters (192 feet, 2 inches). Vucenovic then
couldn’t get past Sediva on her final attempt,
throwing it just 55.80 meters (183 feet, 1 inch)
and thus enabling Sediva to win the crown.
Following the win, Sediva and a couple of
teammates grabbed a Virginia Tech flag and
took a victory lap around the track.
“It makes me happy, but it makes me
happy mostly because of the people behind
the scenes,” Sediva said. “That’s definitely the
feeling. I was just thinking that this [the victory
lap] should be the way to say thank you for all
the time, money and patience and everything
that those people invested in me.
“It means a lot. It’s like redemption for me.
Last year, it was painful not being able to be
here [because of an Achilles injury]. I think I
couldn’t imagine leaving this school without
winning it.”
Despite dealing with shoulder issues this
spring, Sediva managed the pain and a limited
practice schedule, and she won the Tech track
and field program’s 16th individual national
championship. She became just the second
woman in Tech’s track and field history to
win at least two national titles, joining Queen
Harrison, who won three during her senior
season in 2010.
The national title also marked the 13th for
Greg Jack, Tech’s associate head coach and
throws coach.
“Absolutely,” Jack said when asked if he had
confidence that Sediva could pull ahead late in
the competition. “The last time she won the
national championship, she won it on her last
throw. This is not new territory at all for her.
She’s one of the best competitors we’ve ever
had in Virginia Tech track and field.”
The same could be said of Green, the Hokies’
specialist in the 800-meter run. The senior
from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, stayed with a
small cluster of runners at the front of the pack
for the entire race. Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers
started pulling away in the final 200 meters,
but Green passed BYU’s Shea Hollingsworth in
the final turn and then held off Oregon’s Brooke
Feldmeier, coming in second with a time of 2
minutes, 1.32 seconds—just missing her school
record by 15-hundredths of a second.
Rogers won the gold medal with a time of
2:00.02. Green finished as a runner-up to
Rogers on three occasions during her career.
“I’m pretty happy,” Green said. “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.”
“You know, Hanna Green was never a state
champion in high school,” Tech distance coach
Irena Sediva won
her second gold
medal at the NCAA
Championships, and
Hanna Green claimed
a silver to lift the Tech
women’s track and
field program to its
second-best finish
ever at the NCAA’s
outdoor meet
by
Jimmy Robertson
SEDIVA
WINS
NATIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP
AGAIN