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EUGENE, Ore. – On day two of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the Virginia Tech men’s hammer throwers continued their dominance on the NCAA’s biggest stage today at Hayward Field as Tomas Kruzliak won the program’s sixth title in the event in the last nine years. Kruzliak joined his countryman Marcel Lominicky as the only Hokies to win a national championship during their first year on campus.

“It feels good,” Associate Head Coach and Throws Coach Greg Jack said of his group’s run since 2005. “That’s just what we do. It’s an event we can excel at and we’ve really shown that. We’ll just continue to build on that from here.”

Competing in the first flight, Kruzliak showed on his first throw why he was one of the favorites heading into the meet. The freshman hit a mark of 226-1 (68.92m) on his first throw to put him atop the flight. On his next attempt, he increased his lead to 227-3 (69.26m) with a throw that looked technically as good as it gets. After fouling on his final throw of the flight, he was forced to sit for an hour before the start of the finals.

“The second throw was perfect because he set it up off of his first throw,” Jack said. “He had a good feeling and just put a little more on it and that ended up being the winner.”

With others inching closer to the freshman on their first throw of the finals, Kruzliak came up with a throw that was just short of his second one. After a foul on his fifth, he was left to wait it out and see if he would have to win the title with his final throw. That wasn’t needed as no one other than Kruzliak was able to cross the 69-meter mark on the day, which he did twice.

“I felt pretty good physically throughout the whole competition,” Kruzliak said. “I was confident, not nervous, but I still believe that I could have thrown farther.”

Kruzliak wasn't the Hokies only competitor in the event as Denis Mahmic finished 17th at 202-11 (61.86m). On his third throw of flight one, the senior nearly pulled off what appeared to be a new personal record and mark that could have moved him into his first finals at the championships, but Mahmic was unable to fight momentum and stepped outside the circle at the last second.

After finishing seventh in the long jump at the indoor championships with only one legal jump, just getting to the finals today wasn’t easy for Jeff Artis-Gray. In his last trip to the championships, the senior had to come through on his third attempt, and he did just that with a jump of 25-6¼ (7.78m). The mark though was tied with Blake Carter of Southeast Missouri State, but Artis-Gray moved on due to Carter’s two fouls on his other attempts. Shortly after the senior’s attempt, Jameel Abdul-Mateen of Clemson put a scare into him at the end of the round, but the Tiger’s jump came up a quarter of an inch shy of Artis-Gray’s mark.

“I was just thinking please don’t bump me out,” Artis-Gray recalled. “Then my fourth jump happed to be my best because I was so happy to be in the finals.”

With new life in the finals, the senior moved up to fifth with a mark of 25-9¼ (7.85m), a position that he would finish in. It was the second first-team All-America accolades of his career.

“I haven’t really gone full speed in sprinting since regionals so I knew it was going to be kind of tough today,” Artis-Gray said of the slow start. “The first few jumps were rough, just took my time down the runway and didn’t want to go full speed on my hamstring. Then in the finals, something just told me to go for it so I did it and got a good 25-9 jump. I’m just happy I pulled out the fifth-place finish.”

In the men’s 1,500 meters, Grant Pollock started heat two sitting back looking to pace himself. As he crossed the line with one lap to go, the redshirt junior looked to push ahead to make a run at the lead pack. With 300 meters remaining, the lead back began to pull away and a gap opened between them and the Hokie. Pollock was able to catch the pack and ultimately finished ninth in the heat at 3:45.34.

Two Tech athletes take to the field tomorrow, as Martina Schultze will get the day started in the pole vault at 3:15 p.m., PT, while Ronnie Black will start just minutes later in the high jump at 3:20 p.m.

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