Wake Forest Athletics
Deacons Head to Blacksburg for Virginia Tech Elite Meet
2/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
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By Josh Gresh, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's and women's track and field teams go back to Blacksburg, Va. for the second time this season to compete in the Virginia Tech Elite Meet this weekend.
The last time Wake Forest competed at this track at the Hokie Invitational, the team set two school records. The Elite Meet begins on Friday at 5 p.m. and will conclude on Saturday afternoon.
"Besides providing another opportunity for our athletes to compete at the site of our upcoming ACC Championships, the Virginia Tech Elite Meet gives them an opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in both the ACC and SEC, the premier track conferences in the country," said coach John Millar. "I am hopeful, that we can build upon some of the outstanding performances we had last weekend."
The Deacons again are coming off a strong performance at the Hilton Garden Invitational last weekend, which included senior Kyle Graves shattering the indoor mile school record. His converted time of 3:59.66 ranks seventh on the NCAA indoor performance list this season for the men's mile.
Simon Holden, who set the indoor 1000m school record at the Hokie Invitational in January, will also compete in the mile with Graves this weekend. "Both Kyle Graves and Simon Holden will compete in the mile with the goal of improving their national ranking," said Millar. Holden also ranks fourth on the ACC performance list in the 800m and 12th in the mile.
The field events on the men's side have also been strong this season, which includes an indoor men's pole vault school record by Michael Cyphers this year. The throwers have also displayed some strong performances this season, including Charlie Ionata and John Maurins in both the weight throw and shot put. "I am also excited to see how Michael Cyphers, Charlie Ionata and John Maurins compete against this quality competition, as they have had some outstanding performances earlier this season," said Millar. Maurins ranks fourth on the ACC performance list in the shot put and Ionata is eighth in the weight throw.
On the women's side, the team looks to continue to improve as seven athletes set new personal-bests and there were three competitors that had a top-three finish in an event. Sydney White led the way with a first place finish among collegiate competitors in the women's pole vault. She is currently fifth on the ACC performance list this season in the event.
"For the women, we are hoping to see some solid improvement all around, as we begin to focus our training on the ACC meet in three weeks," Millar said.
After the Virginia Tech Elite Meet and a weekend off, the Deacons will return to action Feb. 20-21 as they will spread out and compete at three meets. The three meets include the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind., the Virginia Tech Challenge, and the UCS Invitational at the JDL Fast Track.
Players Mentioned
