Highlights

The men’s track and field team won its first conference title (Southern Conference) in 1956, followed by conference titles in 1987 (Metro), 1993 (Metro), 1994 (Metro), 1997 (Atlantic 10), 1998 (Atlantic 10), 1999 (Atlantic 10), 2000 (Atlantic 10). The 1999 Atlantic 10 all-conference track and field team included 15 Hokies and only nine other athletes.

Jerry Sheld, the university’s sole representative in 1975 in the collegiate judo competition, took first place in the 176-lb. weight class at the national Collegiate Judo Championship and then won the grand championship, which involved winners of the six weight classes.

The men’s lacrosse team was accepted into the U. S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association and the South Atlantic Lacrosse League in 1975.

The first scholarships for women went to two tennis players in 1977.

In 1977 the baseball team carried a 31-game winning streak and an overall record of 34-7 into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Baseball Tournament.

In March 1981, freshman pitcher Todd Trickey pitched the first no-hitter in modern-day Virginia Tech baseball history—versus Old Dominion. The next month, Franklin Stubbs was leading the nation in home runs, and in May 1981, he tied the NCAA single-season home-run record at 29. The team record that year was 48-9, and the team batting average was .350.

The baseball team won conference championships in 1981, 1994, 1995 (tied in regular season), 1997, 1999, and 2000. The team was ranked ninth in 1982, its highest national ranking.

In 1992 Chuck Hartman, baseball coach at Tech since 1979, became the ninth baseball coach in Division I history to win 1,000 games. At the close of the 1999 season, he became the winningest active baseball coach in Division I ranks and fourth all-time, with 1,443 career wins, among Div. I coaches. He was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and has been recognized by the Home Plate Club of the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area with a Lifetime Achievement in Baseball Award.

In 1993, the baseball team set a Metro Conference record by scoring 33 runs in a single game—versus Louisville, who had six runs.

Except for 1982, the men’s cross country team won the Metro championship from 1980 through 1990.

The 11-member weightlifting team took the national championship on April 3, 1977, at the Intramural Gym, Michigan State University. The event marked Virginia Tech’s first year to compete in the national championships. The 1978 team retained the title during the national competition, which was held at Virginia Tech.

Women’s track and field star Lucy Hawk Banks was named an All-American in 1980 before the women’s sport gained varsity status at Virginia Tech, the first All-American honor for a Virginia Tech female track athlete. The team’s 2008 400m hurdles star, Queen Harrison, was a member of the U.S. Olympic track and field team. She was the first woman Olympian from Virginia Tech.

The women’s tennis team won the Atlantic 10 championship for four consecutive years, 1994-95 through 1998-99 and played in four consecutive NCAA tournaments. Anne Jones Thompson, coach since 1985, was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for 1996, 1997, and 1999. Recognizing high academic standards, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has presented Tech’s women’s tennis team with the ITA All-American Academic Team honor for three consecutive years, 1996-97 through 1998-99.

The men’s tennis team made its first trip to the NCAA championship round of 16 in 1998-99, when it posted its most successful season in school history with a 22-7 record. That same year, the team won its fourth straight Atlantic 10 championship.

In 2008, the softball team, which finished No. 8 in two national polls, beat the U.S. Olympic team 1-0, that team’s first pre-Olympic exhibition loss in 12 years. At season’s end, Pitcher Angela Tincher was named the USA Softball National Player of the Year.

The New York Yankees played the baseball team on English Field on March 18, 2008, to show the Yankees’ support of the university in the wake of the April 16, 2007, tragedy and to help the university community in the healing process.