Ciattei earns silver, Tech finishes 15th at NCAA Outdoor Championships

Hokie men collect 17 points, seventh-most school history

June 8, 2018

Results

EUGENE, Ore. – In the rain on Day 3 of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Virginia Tech’s Vincent Ciattei earned a silver medal and first-team All-America honors in the 1,500-meter race at Hayward Field in front of 11,644 on Friday evening.

The Maryland native racked up eight points to Tech’s team total in the final standings, as the Hokies finished the national meet with 17 points to place 15^th. It marked the seventh-most points scored at the outdoor meet in program history. No. 3 Georgia won the meet with 52 points, while No. 1 Florida took second with 42 and No. 9 Houston placed third with 35.

“I am so proud of how our men competed this week,” director of track and field and cross country Dave Cianelli shared. “We were ranked No. 30 coming in and to get 15^th in the nation is just a testament to how well our athletes competed. The coaches did an outstanding job getting our students ready for this championship.”

Ciattei, a redshirt senior, started off the race strong by getting out ahead and leading the pace. He led the first two laps and during the third lap, defending national champion Josh Kerr of New Mexico made his move and was neck and neck with Ciattei, as well as Ole Miss’ Robert Domanic.

With 100 meters to go, it was a fight to the finish as Wisconsin’s Oliver Hoare, Kerr and Ciattei all kicked hard. With roughly 20 meters left, Hoare gained a step on the outside and Kerr had a slight edge on Ciattei, but the Hokie hit another gear at the end to edge out Kerr by three one-thousandths of a second in a time of 3 minutes, 45.02 seconds to finish second place.

Fellow teammate Diego Zarate collected second-team All-America honors after finishing in 10^th place with a time of 3:46.55 in the same event. It marked the junior’s first time collecting All-America status.

“It was a beautiful run by Vince,” distance coach Ben Thomas said. “He really couldn’t have played it any better. You know, that’s just the nature of the NCAA Championships sometimes. You beat the collegiate record holder at the line but then someone comes from outside and steals the national title from you.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with Vince. He’s been a national champion. He’s been an NCAA runner-up on three occasions between the relay, mile and 1,500. He’s a Hokie Hall of Famer in my book.”

The final day of the meet on Saturday will be the conclusion of events for the women. Junior Rachel Pocratsky will compete in the finals of the 1,500 meters and sophomore Eszter Bajnok will go at it in the triple jump.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Sat. | NCAAs | 6 p.m. ET | Live Results | Live Stream

First-team All-America
Vincent Ciattei | 1,500 | 2^nd place | 8 points
Torben Laidig | Pole Vault | 3^rd place | 6 points
Deakin Volz | Pole Vault | 7^th place | 2 points
Joel Leon Benitez | Pole Vault | 8^th place | 1 point

Second-team All-America
Greg Chiles | 400 Hurdles | 10^th place
Diego Zarate | 1,500 | 10^th place

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