Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 3, 1993 TAG: 9302030006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
EVEN WITHOUT WINNER, TRACK TEAM LOOKED PRETTY GOOD
In track and field, close sometimes counts.Just finishing in the top four of an event can be a big deal if the competition is good, and that's the story of Virginia Tech's last two meets.
Tech hosted the Pizza Hut Invitational on Jan. 23. Hokies coach Russ Whitenack said a good field was made better by late entries from Pittsburgh and North Carolina. And last weekend, Tech took a couple of relay teams and a pole vaulter - the only ones who qualified for entry - to the USAir Invitational hosted by East Tennessee State.
In neither meet did Tech field a winner. But it had several seconds and thirds in the Pizza Hut meet. In the USAir meet, Tech's two-mile relay team was fifth, the mile relay team was sixth and pole vaulter Chris Williams' 16-foot effort placed him eighth.
"It's a great finish for us," Whitenack said. "We're still in a strong phase, trying to prepare later in February to really run fast around Metro time. [The USAir performance] was exactly what we expected."
Tech is hosting the Metro Conference championship Feb. 19-20.
"It's nice to run at home," Whitenack said. "We look pretty strong right now. We're trying to develop a balanced program. In almost every area we've done well. [But] we don't have the All-American athlete in the program yet."
\ TAKEDOWNS: Tech's wrestling team, two-thirds of the way through its season, is 5-1 and has won its last four dual meets - including victories over American University and James Madison, who are Colonial Athletic Association opponents.
Tech faces another CAA rival, Old Dominion, at home on Friday.
The Hokies have gotten good performances from heavyweight Josh Feldman (19-5), 158-pounder Dante Winslow (16-3) and 118-pounder Duke DiJoseph (16-10).
\ TRIPPED: The men's tennis team blustered into the spring season full of rankings and promise but stumbled against talented West Virginia last weekend at The Greenbrier resort.
Tech lost 5-4 and its top three singles players - Ongjen Pavlovic, Marcus Kramer and Dinko Gudelj - were beaten. Tech's top doubles team, Kramer and Scott Cuppett, also lost.
Tech's No. 5 singles player, Niels Nielson, had a good day. He won his singles match and teamed with Adam Gottfried to win the No. 5 doubles. Gudelj and Pavlovic won the No. 2 doubles.
Tech finished the fall season with Kramer ranked seventh in the 49-team Region II and 30th nationally. Pavlovic was ranked sixth in the region and Gudelj was 26th. Gudelj and Pavlovic were ranked eighth in doubles and Kramer and Cuppett 11th.
The Hokies continued to have success off the court, too. Bowker said the team's cumulative grade-point average was 3.2, the sixth straight semester it has been 3.0 or higher.
\ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: Women's basketball - James Madison, 7 p.m. Tuesday. Wrestling - Old Dominion, 7:30 p.m. Friday; Virginia, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12. Track and Field - Men's Open, Saturday; Open Invitational, Feb. 13.
Scott Blanchard is a Roanoke Times & World-News sportswriter.