Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 4 | March 2020

14 Inside Hokie Sports Dave Cianelli knows never to turn his back on his student-athletes, especially after they win an ACC championship. But somehow, they always manage to get him. Cianelli received yet another victor’s ice shower courtesy of his Virginia Tech women’s track and field team after that group secured the ACC title at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships in late February—and honestly, it never gets old. “No, it doesn’t,” Cianelli said, smiling. “It’s always satisfying, and you can never take these things for granted.” Cianelli, the Hokies director of track and field and cross country, was all smiles after a dominating—and maybe surprising—performance by his women’s squad. Showing superior depth, balance, and talent, the Hokies won gold medals in distance, middle distance, sprints, and pole vault disciplines and added a silver medal in a throwing event to pull away from the field. On the final day alone, the Hokies received four gold-medal performances and exploded for 80 points, all of which enabled them to finish with 105.5 points and easily outdistance second-place Miami by 32.5 points. The title marked the sixth ACC crown for the Tech women’s program and the 16th overall for Tech track and field and cross country. It’s also marked the first indoor title for the Tech women’s team in 12 years. “We felt like we had the pieces to win the meet,” Cianelli said. “With the way the points get spread out among 15 teams, we really thought that a team that was in the 80s or 90s would win the meet, which is a fairly low score. We felt pretty good that we had a group that could get to that, if they had a good meet. It wouldn’t have to be perfect, but a solid meet. We felt pretty good about the chances. “We were in good position heading into the finals, and then we just competed outstanding. We didn’t bring a big team—we had 22 ladies there. But it just seemed like each opportunity we had in the events, everyone either exceeded expectations or at least met expectations in those events all the way down the line.” Two of the Hokies’ seniors and most dependable leaders led the gold medal parade. On the second day of the meet, Sara Freix won her first ACC gold medal, taking first in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 16 minutes, 13.69 seconds. The medal marked the third of her career, as she won a bronze in the 5,000 in 2019 and a bronze in the 10,000 at last year’s ACC outdoor meet. Then, on the final day, Sarah Edwards defended her 2019 title in the mile in one of the earliest races that day. She ran the mile in a time of 4:37.11, holding off Florida State’s Maudie Skyring by 15-hundredths of a second. Tech’s Lauren Berman came in third to win a bronze medal. “We had just enough seniors with kids like Sara and Sarah and Lauren and Pavla [Kuklova, who came in seventh in the weight throw] who have been around in these conference meets,” Cianelli said. “They know what to expect and know you can’t take anything for granted. I think that helped the younger athletes that were there for the first time. It usually helps to have some veterans to guide them a little bit on what to expect. We had a good mixture. We had some outstanding freshmen and some really, really good seniors that we’re going to miss when they graduate.” Rachel Baxter continued her consistent excellence for the Hokies, defending her 2019 gold medal in the pole vault. The junior from Orange, California won with a top vault of 4.45 meters (14 feet, 7.25 inches), and her title marked the 10th by a Tech female pole vaulter since the Hokies joined the ACC. “In an event that is tough to be consistent in, she has been one of the most consistent competitors during her tenure here,” Cianelli said. “She continues to improve, and she’s put herself in a position to be one of the top handful of vaulters in the country. … She’s worked very hard, and Coach [Bob] Phillips has done a great job of working with her. She’s going to continue to get better as she gets older. I’m excited to see what she can do this year and moving forward.” The Hokies also used commanding performances by Caitlan Tate, who easily could have been the ACC Female Track Most Valuable Performer. Tate won the gold medal in the 400, breaking her own school record with a time of 52.42 seconds, and teammate Arlicia Bush took the bronze in the same event. Tate also won a silver medal in the 200, and she led off the 4x400-meter relay team (her, Kennedy Dennis, Nykah Smith and Bush) that finished first with a time of 3:38.21. “She was hurt for the majority of last season, and once she got healthy and really decided this year to commit to the 200 and the 400, you could see she was different,” Cianelli said of Tate. “The talent was always there. There was just a different approach, a different mentality that she had established before the year started. Going into the season, off of her training, we knew she was going to have a big year—and she did. Everything that she was achieving in training, she started to achieve on the track.” Tech also got medal-earning performances from its distance medley relay team of Grace Boone, Bush, Ellie Brush and Edwards, who won a silver, and Essence Henderson, who won a silver in the shot put. On the men’s side, the Hokies finished second in the team race with 109 points. Florida State won the team competition with 140 points. Peter Seufer, a redshirt senior from Lynchburg, Virginia, competed FOR TECH WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD GOLDEN SHOWING A The Hokies used their balance to run away from the field at the ACC Indoor Championships and won the program’s sixth league title, while the men’s team finished in second by Jimmy Robertson CAITLAN TATE