E&H adds track and field
The Emory & Henry College Department of Athletics is pleased to announce that it will sponsor Men’s & Women’s Track & Field as varsity sports for the 2018 season. Originally scheduled to begin with the 2019 season, an increased interest in track & field among current students has made it logical to accelerate the return of the sport to this spring.
Emory & Henry will compete in three meets this spring, beginning with the Lynchburg Dr. Jack M. Toms Alumni Invitational, hosted by Lynchburg College on the weekend of Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24.
For the 2018 campaign, the Wasps will compete as a NCAA Division III Independent and will join the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in 2019 as originally planned.
Tech national champions
Picking up the 17th national title in Virginia Tech’s storied history in track and field, the men’s distance medley relay of Vincent Ciattei, Greg Chiles, Patrick Joseph and Neil Gourley put together a first-place finish with a time of 9 minutes, 30.76 seconds at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships held inside Gilliam Indoor Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M on Friday night.
The national title in the DMR marked the first championship in distance running for Tech.
Robie finalist for national honor
Virginia Tech head coach Tony Robie has been named one of eight finalists for the Theraworx NWCA National Coach of the Year award, the organization announced Friday.
In his first season as head coach, Robie has continued the Hokies’ run of success in the ACC and on the national stage. Robie recently led the Hokies to its second straight ACC Championship, a final ranking of No. 10 in the NWCA Coaches Poll and a 14-3 record in dual meets where Robie started five freshmen for a majority of the season.
Robie’s 14 dual meet victories ranks second in the ACC record book for most wins by a first-year head coach behind Wade Schalles’ 15 wins with Clemson in 1978. His .824 winning percentage ranks third all-time in ACC history for a rookie head coach. In Virginia Tech history, Robie’s winning percentage ranks first among rookie head coaches while his 14 wins ranks second behind Tom Brands’ 16 dual meet wins in 2004-05.
Future Hokie honored
The National Alliance of African American Athletes presented the 27th annual Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Award trophy to Quincy Patterson II in Arlington on Saturday evening. Patterson signed with Virginia Tech following a standout career at Solorio Academy High School in Chicago.
At Solorio Academy, Patterson carries a 4.7 grade-point average while taking several advanced placement courses for college credit and earning membership in the National Honor Society.
He volunteers for several causes, shoveling sidewalks for the elderly, tutoring elementary school students in the classroom and the finer points of football as well as working with the mentally disabled.
He was named Illinois All-State and Illinois All-Academic, among many other honors. He has signed to play for Virginia Tech, where he aspires to be the Hokies’ first quarterback to major in engineering.
