BLACKSBURG, VA—Junior Kandrick Cooper smashed his own record in the men's 60m Hurdles with a time 7.83 at Virginia Tech's Last Chance meet and moves him into position for selection into next week's NCAA Championship at Arkansas with one of the nation's top 20 times. The time also bests his previous Big South Conference and school record of 7.91 set last year in the same meet.
"It will be real close if Kandrick will be selected for an at large birth," said head coach Ben Paxton. "They tend to pick the top 16-18 people and he is tied for 19th. What is amazing is that he is so much faster than last year but so is the rest of the country. That time will definitely put him in the top 60 in the world."
The meet also included some other stellar performances for the Eagles as junior Daryl Green sprinted to two individual school records in the 200m and 400m dashes. Green's 400m time of 47.83 lowered his own record of 48.34 set just four weeks ago. The 200m record previously stood for more than five years before Green's 21.84 eclipsed former record-holder Rod Lorick's time of of 21.99. Sophomore Brandon Hudgins claimed his second school record of the indoor season as his mile time of 4:09.71 shaved more than two seconds off the old record of 4:11.84 set by Adam Growley in 2001.
The Eagle track team will return to full action March 17th as the Eagles will host the Citadel, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern, Furman and Wofford in the Winthrop Duals in its first outdoor meet of the spring.
Action will begin with the field events at 10 a.m. and the track events starting at noon. Admission is free to the general public at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Complex located on the Winthrop Farm.
