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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – 26 members of the Virginia Tech track & field team have qualified for the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Round, as announced Thursday by the NCAA.

Tech’s entries consist of 17 men and nine women. 24 Hokies will compete in 21 individual events, while Tech’s men’s 4x100-meter relay team also qualified. Five Hokies: Jeff Artis-Gray, Leoule Degfae, Jonathan McCants, Leah Nugent and Darrell Wesh are entered in multiple events. The Hokies have multiple entries in the men’s 200 meters (2), women’s 800 meters (2), men’s 1500 meters (3), men’s 5,000 meters (2), women’s pole vault (2), and men’s hammer throw (2).

The East Preliminary Round will be held on Thursday-Saturday, May 23-25 at Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, N.C. North Carolina A&T is serving as the host institution. The top-48 declared student-athletes in each individual event and the top-24 declared relays qualified for the East and West preliminary meets. The West Preliminary Round is at the University of Texas. The top-12 student-athletes and relays from each region then advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at University of Oregon in Eugene, from June 5-8. In the combined events, the top-24 declared student-athletes advanced directly to the NCAA Championships at Oregon.

Below are Tech’s regional qualifiers, listed by event along with their season best performance and where that ranks amongst the rest of the field:

Men (17 qualifiers, 13 individual events, 1 relay)

100 meters
Darrell Wesh – 10.14 (6th)

200 meters
Darrell Wesh – 20.70 (12th)
Jonathan McCants – 20.87 (25th)

800 meters
Tihut Degfae – 1:49.05 (19th)

1500 meters
Grant Pollock – 3:43.54 (12th)
Ryan Hagen – 3:45.12 (23rd)
Juan Campos – 3:46.24 (40th)

5,000 meters
Thomas Curtin – 13:58.77 (20th)
Leoule Degfae – 14:08.03 (36th)

10,000 meters
Leoule Degfae – 29:45.70 (38th)

110-meter hurdles
Jeff Artis-Gray – 13.82 (12th)

3,000-meter steeplechase
Jared Berman – 8:56.63 (24th)

High Jump
Ronnie Black – 7-3¾ / 2.23m (6th)

Long Jump
Jeff Artis-Gray – 26- ¾ / 7.94m (5th)

Pole Vault
Chris Uhle – 17- ¾ / 5.20m (23rd)

Hammer Throw
Tomas Kruzliak – 232-5 / 70.84m (1st)
Denis Mahmic – 208-2 / 63.46m (11th)

Javelin Throw
Matthias Treff – 249-1 / 75.92m (1st)

4x100-meter relay
Jeff Artis-Gray, Jonathan McCants, Tadashi Pinder, Darrell Wesh, Garrett Smith (alternate) – 40.07 (12th)

Women (9 qualifiers, 8 individual events)

400 meters
Yvonne Amegashie – 53.96 (37th)

800 meters
Amanda Smith – 2:05.59 (12th)
Katarina Smiljanec – 2:07.20 (32nd)

1500 meters
Shannon Morton – 4:20.58 (20th)

100-meter hurdles
Leah Nugent – 13.63 (36th)

400-meter hurdles
Leah Nugent – 58.47 (19th)

Pole Vault
Martina Schultze – 14-4 / 4.37m (2nd)
Leigh Allin – 12-9 ½ / 3.90m (47th)

Hammer Throw
Annjulie Vester – 203-2 / 61.93m (7th)

Javelin Throw
Sarah Kadelka – 153-1 / 46.65m (26th)

For updates on Virginia Tech track & field, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Track).