The men\'s 16th place is the best team finish for the Hokie track & field program
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Virginia Tech men\'s track & field team tied for 16th place with 14 points out of the 53 teams participating while the Hokie women\'s track & field team tied for 55th place with 2.5 points out of 64 teams at the 2005 NCAA indoor championships at Arkansas.\"We had an awesome weekend,\" exclaimed head coach Dave Cianelli. \"Our men\'s team finished higher than projected and we brought home five All-Americans. All of the coaches are proud of our athletes for stepping up in this tough environment, which was new to some of them, and performing well.\"
The men\'s 16th place tie with Tennessee is the best team finish for the Hokie track & field program at the NCAA championships. The second highest team finish for the program was Tech\'s men\'s team who tied for 24th place at the 2000 NCAA indoor championships.
Tech\'s men\'s scorers at this year\'s meet were NCAA weight throw champion Spyridon Jullien (10 points) and All-American Brian Mondschein (four points) with his fifth-place finish in the pole vault.
Arkansas won the 2005 men\'s team title with 56 points. Florida finished second with 46 points, Wisconsin took third place with 43 points, Auburn grabbed fourth place with 37 points and Indiana was fifth with 30 points.
All-American Saskia Triesscheijn scored the 2.5 points for the Hokie women\'s team for placing sixth in the pentathlon.
Tennessee won the 2005 women\'s team title with 46 points. Florida claimed second place with 36 points, Miami grabbed third place with 32 points, Nebraska placed fourth with 29 points and South Carolina was fifth with 28 points.
Jullien, Mondschein and Triesscheijn along with Tamara Burns and Ryan Norwood mark the largest contingent under fourth-year head coach Dave Cianelli to earn All-American honors at the NCAA championships.
This concludes the indoor season for the Hokies. The outdoor season for Tech begins on Saturday, Mar. 19 at the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C.