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Inside Hokie Sports
M
ost
sports
fans view
distance runners
as a collective strange
breed because, after all,
who truthfully enjoys running 100 miles
a week?
Really, it takes a unique mindset to find
happiness in such a knee-torturing, blister-inducing sport.
Yet that mindset extends beyond the sport. Even at Virginia Tech,
former great Tommy Curtin’s idiosyncrasies included raising rats and
drinking exotic teas, and the current crew has been known to do crazy
things, such as chatting about the silliest of topics during those incessant
long runs and dying their hair an alluring array of colors.
So imagine the surprise when Drew Piazza, one of those current
runners, walked in for this interview with only the last few wisps
of dyed blond remaining in his hair from an impulsive moment
during the indoor season. He looked rather normal … for a distance
runner.
“I’m thinking about going platinum,” he said, laughing. “Maybe
silver. I’m trying to talk the guys into it.”
Truthfully, he ought to try a golden hue. Such a metallic choice fits
the description of his transition to Virginia Tech—and subsequently
serves as the color of the medal he hopes to win at the upcoming NCAA
Championships.
Piazza, a transfer from the University of New Hampshire, nearly
won Virginia Tech’s first national championship in distance running,
claiming a silver medal in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Division I
Indoor Track and Field Championships held in College Station, Texas
in early March. He led the race with 50 meters to go before UTEP’s
Drew Piazza
transferred into the Virginia
Tech men’s track program
last year and already owns three
school records. Yet he wants to leave
a lasting impression by becoming
the school’s first distance
runner to win a national
championship
by
Jimmy Robertson
Emmanuel Korir slipped past him at the finish line, besting Piazza by
just 14-hundredths of a second.
In other words, Piazza lost in the amount of time that it takes him to
turn a page in one of his civil engineering textbooks.
“When I was in first, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Holy crap, this could
actually happen,’” Piazza said. “Then the kid out-leaned me at the line.
“Most people would be sad, but I started hysterically laughing. I
couldn’t believe I had gotten second and almost won at nationals. This
is unbelievable … I wasn’t necessarily surprised. It was more like, ‘Wow,
this is happening. I’m actually in this. This is really cool to be a part of.’
I was happy with it, but I really wanted that win.”
Happy describes the reaction of distance coach Ben Thomas and
Dave Cianelli, Tech’s overseer of the track and field and cross country
programs, when discussing Piazza, who wasn’t exactly someone whom
they intensely pursued. Thomas knew vaguely of Piazza just fromhaving
competed against UNH at different meets, but gradually got to know
him better when Piazza reached out early last summer, as he sought to
leave UNH and search for a better track and field situation.
In actuality, Piazza knew little about Virginia Tech, at least originally.
His research centered on “name” track and field programs, like Penn
State, Oregon and Georgetown. But his fact-finding expedition led to a
new discovery.