Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

12 Inside Hokie Sports Only 10 Virginia Tech track and field student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama in early March. But for sure, the small group was rather productive against an incredibly competitive field of the nation’s top track and field athletes. Nine of the 10 earned All-America honors, and as was no surprise, Rachel Pocratsky led the way. The senior from Gaithersburg, Maryland won a bronze medal after coming in third in the 800-meter race—her first career individual NCAA medal. She and teammates Sarah Edwards (mile) and Rachel Baxter (pole vault) earned first-team All- America honors in their respective events and accounted for the 12 points scored by the Tech women’s team, which came in tied for 15th in the team race. The team finish marked the fourth top-15 finish for the Hokies as a program at the NCAA’s annual indoor track meet. Also, the distance medley relay team of Shannon Quinn, Arlicia Bush, Cate Stone and Sara Freix finished 10th, and they all earned second-team All-America honors for their efforts. On the men’s side, the Hokies did not score in the meet, but Deakin Volz (pole vault) and Bashir Mosavel-Lo (800) earned second-team All-America honors as well. “I think the group did really well,” Tech Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Cianelli said. “It was unfortunate in Jacory’s [Patterson] case that he fell [in the 400], but that’s indoor track, and I think he’ll learn from it, and it will motivate him for the outdoor season. The women finishing up 15th was certainly the high point, with all three women placing in the mile, 800 and pole vault. It was a really strong ending to the season, and now we’re looking forward to getting ready for outdoors.” Pocratsky qualified for the finals in the 800 after running the preliminary race in a time of 2 minutes, 6.75 seconds, which was the seventh-fastest 800 time in the preliminaries. In the finals, she ran the distance in a time of 2:04.04 to come in third. Her time was just 35-hundredths of a second behind Penn State’s Danae Rivers, who won the gold medal with a time of 2:03.69. Penn’s Nia Akins was second with a time of 2:03.74. “Rachel ran a great race, and to be that close to a national championship is special,” Tech distance coach Eric Johannigmeier said. “She had a great close in a tactical race. Third place is her highest finish at an NCAA Championships, and we are very proud.” Edwards, a junior from Bellingham, Massachusetts, qualified for the finals in the mile after running the third-fastest time (4:36.63) in the preliminaries. In the finals, she jumped out to the lead and led for more than half the race, but the pace of the field increased dramatically toward the end. Edwards wound up sixth with a time for 4:38.68 and earned All-America honors for the second time in her career. Julia Rizk of Ohio State won the gold medal with a time of 4:37.63. “For Sarah to show that type of fearlessness and lead a good part of the race, and go with the leaders when the move was made, was really exciting to see,” Johannigmeier said. “It was her first performance as a first-team individual All-American, and I am so excited for what’s in store for outdoors.” Baxter, a sophomore from Orange, California, finished sixth in the pole vault with a top vault of 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.5 inches). Alexis Jacobus of Arkansas won the gold medal with a top mark of 4.61 meters (15 feet, 1.5 inches). On the men’s side, Volz was 12th in the pole vault with a top vault of 5.53 meters (18 feet, 1.75 inches). Mondo Duplantis of LSU won the gold medal with a top mark of 5.83 meters (19 feet, 1.5 inches). For Baxter, the All-America honor marked the third of her career. Volz, a senior from Bloomington, Indiana, became an All-American for the fifth time. “Both the men’s and the women’s pole vault at this year’s NCAA Championships were outstanding events,” Tech pole vault coach Bob Phillips said. “The best ever by many measures, so it was great to see both Virginia Tech vaulters earn All-America honors. But I know they both want to jump higher at the outdoor championships, so we will get right back to work.” Mosavel-Lo ran a personal-best time of 1:48.70 in the preliminaries of the 800, and it was the sixth-best time overall, but because he ran in the faster of the two heats—and wasn’t one of the top three finishers, as the top three in each heat advanced—he wasn’t able to get into the finals. Still, he earned All-America honors for the first time in his career. The NCAA Indoor Track and Championships concluded the indoor season. The Hokies started their outdoor season March 22 when both squads sent student-athletes to the Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, South Carolina; the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee, Florida; and the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee. Nine of 10 Tech athletes to qualify for the NCAA meet earned All-America honors by Jimmy Robertson Rachel Pocratsky earned her first individual NCAA medal, taking a bronze in the 800 at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.