Men's pole vault makes history on Day 1 of NCAA Outdoor Championships

Laidig, Volz and Leon Benitez earn first-team All-America

June 6, 2018

Results

EUGENE, Ore. – On Day 1 of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Virginia Tech men’s track and field team racked up nine points, highlighted by the pole vault group producing three first-team All-Americans at Hayward Field on Wednesday evening.

The Hokies sit tied for 12^th in the team standings heading into the last day of competition for the men on Friday at Oregon's campus. No. 3 Georgia leads the way with 20 points.

For the first time in school history, three pole vaulters placed inside the top eight at the national meet. Redshirt senior Torben Laidig led the way clearing a height of 5.55 meters (18 feet, 2.5 inches) to earn third place, junior Deakin Volz took seventh with a mark of 5.45 meters (17 feet, 10.5 inches) and freshman Joel Leon Benitez finished eighth, clearing the same height as Volz.

It was the first time three All-Americans in the pole vault were all on the same team at the outdoor national meet since 1985 when Baylor did it in Austin, Texas – Todd Cooper (5.56 meters; 18 feet, 2.75 inches) took second place, Mike Shafe (5.50 meters; 18 feet, 0.5 inches) placed fourth and David Hodge (5.50 meters; 18 feet, 0.5 inches) finished fifth.

“Having all three score and earn All-America honors was great,” pole vault coach Bob Phillips mentioned, “and a first for our program.”

Kicking off the day on a strong note, the 1,500-meter race saw two Tech student-athletes qualify for the finals in their respective heats. In the first heat, junior Diego Zarate placed fourth with a time of 3 minutes, 49.95 seconds. A few moments later, redshirt senior Vincent Ciattei took third in the second heat, leading most of the race to cross the finish line in 3:47.73. Tech was one of only two schools to qualify two athletes to the finals.

“Very happy with how the guys raced tonight,” distance coach Ben Thomas shared. “They handled the prelim like pros. They didn’t make any mistakes and managed to get through. Very excited to see what they can do in the final.”

Senior Greg Chiles ran his final race for Tech, clocking a time of 50.87 seconds to place third in his heat in the 400-meter hurdles. Second place in his heat finished just 0.02 seconds ahead of the school record holder. The top two times are automatic qualifiers in the three heats, then the next two best times make the cut to the finals.

Ciattei and Zarate will be the lone Hokies on Friday competing on the men’s side, while the women’s first day begins on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET with the hammer throw.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Thu. | NCAAs | 4:30 p.m. ET | Live Results | Live Stream
Fri. | NCAAs | 8 p.m. ET | Live Results | Live Stream
Sat. | NCAAs | 6 p.m. ET | Live Results | Live Stream

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