Pirates Improve Indoor Times And Marks At Hokie Invitational

Friday, January 18

Blacksburg, Va.

East Carolina University

Virginia Tech Invitational

Pirates Improve Indoor Times And Marks At Hokie Invitational

January 19, 2019 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field

Hokie Invitational Full Results

Hokie Invitational Full Results

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The ECU track and field program completed its second meet of the indoor season Friday and Saturday on the campus of Virginia Tech as one of 15 schools participating in the Hokie Invitational at Rector Fieldhouse.

The Pirates ran up against a strong field of squads in Duke, NC State, Pitt, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Florida, Radford, Liberty, Charlotte, Elon, North Carolina A&T, Winthrop, Roanoke College and host Virginia Tech, but set 17 personal-best times and marks between the men's and women's sides.

Senior Hakeem Horton claimed ECU's lone event title of the weekend, finishing with a mark of 7.51 meters in the long jump. His effort is the third longest in program history in the indoor long jump and propels him into third on the American Athletic Conference performance list. Sophomore Sommer Knight also turned in a school-record performance for the second-straight time, clearing 4.14 meters in the pole vault. She had set the standard at last week's Dick Taylor Carolina Cup in Chapel Hill where she posted a 4.00-meter mark. Knight is the current AAC leader in the event.

"It was great to accomplish a lot of solid marks this past weekend," Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Curt Kraft said. "In our team meeting I told both teams that we have to take every opportunity and make it count. I couldn't be more proud of both teams on how they responded."

Senior Nick Ciaccia ran the sixth-fastest mile time in program history, crossing the finish line in 4:12.49 to move into fifth place in the conference. Fellow distance runner and junior Nuria Tillo-Prats also improved to fifth place in the AAC ranks with an 800m time of 2:16.32 while senior Courtney Warner posted a fifth-place finish in the 60m and rose one spot to fourth in the league with a time of 7.48 in the finals.

Back on the track, sophomore Brooke Stith took sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 12.53 meters and currently stands in all-conference position on the AAC performance list in third place.

We ran against some great competition from other conferences and proved that we could hang with them," Kraft added. "Anytime you have 17 lifetime bests on both teams, you have to feel good about what you accomplished. We have a short time to enjoy the success, and then we need to move on to Penn State this weekend."

The Pirates are right back at it next weekend with a trip north to Pennsylvania for the Penn State National Open.