The Atlantic Coast Conference announced this week that Virginia Tech Director of track and field and cross country Dave Cianelli was named the ACC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year.
Cianelli earns ACC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year honors for the third time while at the helm of the Hokies track and field programs. The award also marks the 14th time overall that he has been awarded ACC Coach of the Year honors in his 19 years at Tech.
This year, Cianelli led the women’s team to their third ACC indoor title and the first since winning back-to-back titles in 2007-08. The Hokies exploded for 80 points on the final day of competition to finish with 105.5 points and to easily beat second-place Miami (73 points).
The Hokie women won their first ACC title in 12 years with the help of gold-medal performances by Rachel Baxter (pole vault), Sarah Edwards (mile), Sara Freix (3,000 meters), Caitlan Tate (400 meters) and the 4×400-meter relay team of Tate, Kennedy Dennis, Nykah Smith, and Arlicia Bush.
The Hokies finished the indoor season with 33 team members who had times good enough to be among the top 20 of the conference. Tech also saw Baxter (pole vault), Edwards (mile), Freix (3,000 meters), Tate (400 meters) and the distance medley relay team qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships
