The Virginia Tech Hokies are the 2021 ACC men’s indoor champs, winning with the largest margin of victory in the modern era.
The Virginia Tech men’s track and field squad won its sixth ACC indoor championship Saturday, winning by 55 points over second-place North Carolina, the largest margin of victory in the league’s modern era.
The title was the 17th overall for the Hokies’ track and field program.
“This championship was a total team effort by our men,” said Director of Track and Field Dave Cianelli. “We had contributors from almost every event. The athletes were prepared and focused to come here and win this title.”
In the mile run, Fitsum Seyoum, Ethan Mills, and Tyler Leeser all delivered personal bests for the Hokies. Patrick Forrest set career records in both the prelims and the finals of the 400 meters. Thierry Siewe Yanga set a personal record of 1:50.36 in the 800 meters, and Cole Beck’s 6.74 in the 60 meters contributed fifth-place points for the Hokies.
The Hokie gold medalists:
Jacory Patterson in the 200 meters and the 400 meters. He repeated as the league champion of both events and won the 400 meters for the third straight year. Patterson broke his own school record in the preliminaries with a time of 20.66 before surpassing it again on Saturday with a gold-medal-winning 20.62. With a 45.38 in the finals, Patterson earned the 2021 ACC Indoor Championships Men’s Track MVP award.
Bashir Mosavel-Lo, 800 meters. In one of the most exciting races of the meet, the Richmond native stretched at the finish to hold off the pack and become the ACC champion. Posting a time of 1:48.34, a career best, Mosavel-Lo added a gold medal to his reputation as one of the best distance runners in Hokies’ history.
Antonio Lopez Segura, 5000 meters. Lopez Segura never broke his stride, biding his time until he blew through the pack and never looking back until the gold medal was in his hands. With his winning time of 13:49.86, the Spaniard broke the Clemson Indoor Track facility record and the ACC Indoor Championships record and moved into third in Virginia Tech history.
Tyler Leeser, Patrick Forrest, Dave Whitfield, and Ben Nibbelink, distance medley relay. Showcasing the depth and talent of the distance crew, the men’s distance medley relay team breezed past the rest of the conference to win the gold medal with a time of 9:41.87.
The Hokie silver medalists:
Chauncey Chambers, triple jump. Chambers earned the first medal for the Hokies on Saturday, placing second in the triple jump with a career-best mark, earning first team All-ACC honors and moving into third all-time in Tech’s record book.
Tyson Jones shot put. Competing in one of the best shot put events the ACC has ever seen, Jones took the silver medal.
Ben Nibbelink, 3000 meters. The junior from Leesburg battled against a strong field of 34 entrants and produced a career best time of 7:56.88 to earn the silver medal and first-team All-ACC honors.
Harrison Rice, pole vault. Rice improved his third-place finish from last year’s ACC Indoor Championships with a silver medal. He earned first-team All-ACC honors.
The Hokie bronze medalists:
Sean Murphy, heptathlon. With five personal bests across the heptathlon’s seven events, Sean Murphy smashed the all-time Tech record in the event with 5,350 points, earning the bronze medal.
Aidan Clark, high jump. Earlier in the season at the VT challenge, freshman Clark became just the third Hokie in history to clear seven feet. His jump of 6’ 11.75” at the championships earned him a bronze medal.
Ben Fleming, mile. A Blacksburg native, Fleming brought the bronze medal back to his hometown with a time of 4:00.01, which earned him first-team All-ACC honors. He was one of four Hokies to break the four-minute mark during the season.
–VT Athletics
