Marlies Overbeeke wins the 1,000 meters with a school record time of 2:47.66
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Virginia Tech men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up their final BIG EAST Indoor Championships with a fifth place finish for the men and a 12th place performance from the women. The men ended up with 57 points while the women scored 22 points. Connecticut won the men's competition with 160 while Miami successfully defended their women's title with 170 points.
On the weekend, Tech's men had nine individual scorers, two relay teams score, and three athletes score in multiple events. Meanwhile the women had two individual scorers, two relay teams score, and a school record in the 1,000 meters as Marlies Overbeeke (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) shattered her own record with a first place time of 2:47.66.
For the men today, senior Brian MacPhee (Golden Lake, Ont.) won the shot put with a mark of 57-6.5. MacPhee was a double scorer for the Hokies as he finished third in yesterday's weight throw (57-9.75). Teammate Ryan Norwood (Cheyenne, Wyo.) also threw 57-6.5 in the shot put, finishing second on the judge's decision. Fellow thrower Will Collins (Chesterfield, Va.) took eighth in the shot put (50-6.25) and seventh in the weight throw (52-9). Tech's other double scorer was junior Mike Lawson (Foster, R.I.) who took seventh place in both the mile (4:14.52) and 3,000 meters (8:23.55).
Other scorers for the men included freshman David Clowney (Delray Beach, Fla.) finishing eighth in the 60 meters (7.01). Senior Buck Grant (Centreville, Va.) was sixth in the 400 meters (49.22) and freshman Mike Hinton (Burlington, N.C.) took fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.29. Tech's other points came from the relay squads as the 4x400-meter team of Adam Jury (Catskill, N.Y.), Jordan Rajan (Downingtown, Pa.), Jason Fludd (Stafford, Va.) and Anthony Jenkins (Baltimore, Md.) finished sixth (3:20.30) and the 4x800-meter team comprised of Antoine Harris (Queens, N.Y.), Alex Johnson (Phoenix, Ariz.), Duncan Vick (Richmond, Va.) and Grant came in fifth (7:42.81).
The women only had one individual scorer outside of Overbeeke's record-setting performance as freshman Kristen Callan (Monroe, NY.) finished fourth with a toss of 59-7.5. Tech's remaining seven points came from the distance medley relay team of Morgan Ekemo (Eagle River, Alaska), Vicki Green (Chesapeake, Va.), Heather Mullis (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Jessica Morris (Coatesville, Pa.) that took fifth place with a season-best time of 11:50.42 and the 4x800-meter combination of Morris, Mullis, Meredith Brooks (Burke, Va.) and Overbeeke which finished sixth (9:06.68).
The BIG EAST Championship is the end of the indoor regular season for much of Tech's squad. The Hokies will host their annual Last Chance meet on March 6 in hopes of qualifying more athletes for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Currently four Hokies, Jullien (weight throw), Norwood (shot put), Overbeeke (mile) and Saksia Triesscheijn (pentathlon), have provisionally qualified for the NCAAs.