Feb. 27, 2017

BEST BLACKSBURG 2017 of

collegiatetimes.com

112th YEAR, ISSUE 211

February 27, 2017

COLLEGIATETIMES An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

Kevin Dresser leaves legacy in Blacksburg Dresser transformed Tech into a national contender in his 11 years as head coach.

HUMBERTO ZARCO wrestling beat reporter

In his 11 seasons as head coach of the Virginia Tech wrestling team, Kevin Dresser was never afraid to speak his mind.

There was the time he called Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi the “biggest crybaby in D1 football” on Twitter after Narduzzi complained about the officiating in the Panthers’ loss to the Hokies on the gridiron last November. And the time he threw shade at Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands, who for the past two seasons dodged a match against his team. After their victory over Nebraska Sunday, he went out of his way to thank the Cornhuskers for “coming halfway across the country when a lot of schools are finding out ways not to make this happen.”

But perhaps the most eye-opening statement Dresser ever made was when he had just left Christiansburg High School for his first college coaching job right up the road at Virginia Tech.

At his introductory press conference, he said his goal was to lead a program, which found itself on life support, to the national championship.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AHMED MUSTAFA Virginia Tech ranks 87 out of 140 on Trojan’s list ranking sexual health in colleges. The ranking is based on availability of sexual health education and contraceptives on campus.

Let’s talk about sex, Virginia Tech Trojan’s 2016 sexual health report card ranks Virginia Tech as 87 on a list of 140 schools, highlighting issues with the way students resolve sex-related problems.

ANNA DAVIS

see DRESSER / page 6

ZACK WAJSGRAS / COLLEGIATE TIMES Coach Kevin Dresser addresses the media prior to the match against UVA in the Moss Art Center, Jan. 27, 2014.

news reporter

Valentine’s Day may have passed, but sexual health is always relevant.

Virginia Tech ranks 87 on Trojan’s 2016 Sexual Health Report Card, down from No. 82 in 2015. The list included 140 schools and looked at the prevalence of on-campus sexual health resources and ease of access to contraceptives. Virginia as a whole ranks as the 28th most sexually diseased state in the U.S. Students can get tested for common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis at the Schiffert Health Center. Select tests are free of charge. The clinic also offers HIV testing, which is done at no cost to the student on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the world’s most common STI. HPV can lead to genital warts and cervical cancer, but because the virus does not cause immediate symptoms, it can frequently go undetected.

Getting vaccinated with Gardasil can help students avoid contracting HPV. Using condoms can also lower the risk, but because the virus is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, protection is not a foolproof method.

“If you’re a sexually active adult, you will most likely get HPV at some point,” said Laurie Fritsch, assistant director of Hokie Wellness. “It is so transmissible and so common.”

Fritsch encourages students to communicate with their sexual partners and remain vigilant when having casual sex.

“If you’re using ‘hook-up apps’ like Tinder or Grindr with the specific purpose of seeking someone to have sex with, that puts you in a high risk situation. You’re oftentimes having sex with someone you know very little about. You don’t know their sexual history,” Fritsch said. “Be careful and take the time to get to know your partner. Communicate.”

The Schiffert website reports that 20 percent of all individuals who have had more than one sexual partner have likely

contracted an STI. The risk of having an STI is much lower for monogamous couples, and using contraception can reduce this rate as well.

Getting tested for STIs is crucial for the health of infected individuals and their partners.

“In many cases, sexually transmitted infections do not cause symptoms unless they result in complications,” the website reads. “This makes screening for sexually transmitted infections very important both to prevent complications in the infected person and to prevent spread of infection to others.”

Male students can be tested for STIs at the medical clinic and female students can get tested at the Women’s Clinic. Appointments can be made by phone or online. Students who are interested in learning more about sexual health can register for free classes administered by Hokie Wellness. @AnnnaDavis

Men’s track and field wins ACC title ‘Mr. Marmalade’ Men’s and women’s track and field competed at the ACC Championships, breaking new school records and taking home four indiviudal championships.

DAVIS CARBAUGH sports reporter

The Virginia Tech track and field teams traveled to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, this weekend to compete in the 2017 ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event marks the most important team

competition of the year for the Hokies, who came in as one of the top contenders on the men’s side.

The first day of action began with a first place finish by the Virginia Tech men’s distance medley relay team. The DMR team of Kevin Cianfarini, Neil Gourley, Daniel Jaskowak and Brandon Thomas finished with a total time of 9:31.05 in the

process of earning the Hokies 10 points to start off the meet.

Mackenzie Muldoon competed in the heptathlon on Thursday and Friday, finishing seventh overall. Muldoon recorded personal bests in the 60m run, long jump, shot put, pole vault and 1000m run. Muldoon has continued to improve over the season, and the sophomore will look to be a top competitor in the event in the years to come.

Freshman Eszter Bajnok placed fourth in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 12.60 meters. Bajnok was beat out by upperclassmen from Clemson, but he presents the Hokies with plenty of future potential in the long and triple jump.

Junior Greg Chiles broke his own school record in the 400m preliminary round and later finished seventh overall in the 400m finals. The Chesapeake, Virginia, native has set the school record three times this season and will look to improve on his seventh place finish in his senior year.

Senior Aaron Simpson finished in fifth place in the men’s 60m hurdles in his last career ACC Championships. Tessa Riley also competed in her final ACC competition, finishing seventh overall in the women’s mile.

On the men’s side of the mile, junior Vincent Ciattei won with a time of 4:01.04 TAYO OLADELE / COLLEGIATE TIMES and freshman Diego Zarate’s 4:02.72 was

Hokies take four first place finishes on the last day of the Doc Hale Elite Meet at the Rector Field House, Feb. 4, 2017.

LACROSSE RECAP Check out how the women’s lacrosse team performed this weekend. page 6

see CHAMPS / page 6

AERIEREAL TOUR On Feb. 27 and 28, the Happy Tour will be on the Drillfield. page 5

offers dark yet fresh humor

Mr. Marmalade will be playing in the Studio Theatre on Feb. 27 and 28.

JESSICA BRADY copy editor

themes she encountered throughout her roller coaster of a relationship with Mr. Marmalade, her imaginary boyfriend.

Most of the jokes were executed excellently, and I found myself smiling during the portrayal of incredibly dark moments during the play. Personally, I could have done without the suicide jokes or the murder of Lucy’s baby though.

T he play fol lows through a day in Lucy’s life, which consists of barely interacting with her single mother, playing with a suicidal toddler and spending time with her imaginary boyfriend who has anger issues.

The play had one of the classical unities — unity of

When I sat down in Squires Studio Theatre on Saturday night, I did not expect to spend an hour and a half watching a 4-year-old girl play with her imaginary friends. I also did not expect these imaginary friends to be abusive cocaine addicts.

Never having even read a synopsis of the play before, “Mr. Marmalade” was stocked with surprises for me and I am sure the rest of the audience as well.

Noah Haidle’s “Mr. Marmalade” was full of dark and twisted humor, and the audience — including myself — ate it up. Most of the comedy focused on Lucy, the 4-year-old played by Molly McIntyre, and the mature see MARMALADE / page 4

/CollegiateTimes

ctlifestyles

@collegiatetimes

@collegiatetimes

collegiatetimes.com

PAGE 2 February 27, 2017

editor@collegiatetimes.com

opinions collegiatetimes.com/opinion

column

Meat the facts: Labeling methods often dishonest Labels regarding hormone content in meat and dairy products include claims that regularly mislead ill-informed consumers.

M

a ny things merit anxiety in t o d a y ’s world: job prospects, finances or even your upcoming March Madness bracket, but something that shouldn’t be on that list is the amount of hormones in the meat you purchase.

Recently, consumers have become increasingly critical in their concern for the safety and production practices relating to the meat they purchase. If you walk into the meat section of any retail grocery chain, you are well aware that everything seems to be free of something: free of hormones, free of antibiotics and so on. Other common labels you will find are natural, grass-fed or organic. One who has purchased any of these selections of meat lately knows it is hardly free, as consumers will pay more at the register for these products, but when it comes to added hormones, there really is not much of a difference.

How foolish would it be to see a bottle of water that was labeled as being sugarfree? Well, that’s the equivalent of saying any meat is hormone-free — especially with regard to animals in either the poultry or pork industry, as it is illegal to inject poultry or pork with added hormones. Every single animal, male or female, will have hormones in him or her — hormones are a naturally occurring chemical in both livestock and humans. So if you ever see beef labeled as hormone-free, don’t be fooled.

The more appropriate a nd fact ually cor rect term is one that reads “no added hormones.” In a Business Insider article, Julia Calderone wrote, “Farmers and big meat companies may pump their livestock full of such growth-promoting drugs ...

to increase their weight.”

That is quite the powerful statement, if only it was true — so just how many hormones are we pumping into our livestock? Let’s take a look at the cattle industry to find out.

“

Hormones are a naturally occurring chemical ... so if you ever see beef labeled as hormone-free, don’t be fooled.”

Peanuts, white bread and pinto beans have 100,000, 300,000 and 900,000 nanograms of estrogenic activity in them per 500 grams of food, respectively.

Quite the reality check, huh? Those who are still concerned about the safety of added hormones should consider the following quote from the FDA: “All approved steroid implant products have a zero day withdrawal. This means the meat from an animal is safe for humans to eat at any time after the animal is treated.”

So why are animals even given hormones anyways?

Growth hormones allow livestock to increase their feed efficiency, meaning they will grow faster with less feed. Less feed in turn means cheaper prices for consumers due to the cost of savings in production and the decreased amount of physical resources — like water, land and feed — that are needed to raise an animal.

Not only do hormones save consu mer s a nd producers money, but they also have an impact on the overall environment.

The annual savings due to increased feed efficiency from growth implants save resources to the tune of six billion pounds of feed per year. From this number, one can easily realize the environmental impact of this practice; the land and water required to produce an extra six billion pounds of grass, hay, soybean hulls, corn and more a year would be significant.

So the next time you’re choosing between meat at the grocery store, not only will you know what is misleading, you’ll also know what you’re eating.

One of t he added hormones used in growth implants is the naturally occurring hormone estradiol — also called estrogen — that can be added either naturally or synthetically. In a measure of estrogenic activity between an implanted steer — a neutered male — and a non-implanted steer, there was a difference of two nanograms per 500 grams of food. An implanted steer had seven nanograms of activity, while a non-implanted steer had five nanograms of activity per 500 grams, which is equivalent to a little over a pound of food. To put that into perspective, there are a billion nanograms in a gram, and there are approximately 453 grams in a pound of food.

Therefore, we are talking about an extraordinarily small amount of impact on estrogenic activity due to implanting cattle.

Since we’ve evaluated the difference in estrogenic activity between steers, let’s now compare the amount of activity in beef to some other commonly consumed items. Milk, butter, eggs, peanuts, white bread and pinto beans JAKE TABOR all contain more activity opinions contributor than beef per 500 grams. junior/agribusiness

COURTESY OF TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

column

Biological terms wrongly assign intent to nature Evolutionary constructs such as “survival of the fittest” unintentionally promote a restrictive view of human purpose.

W

hen a scientific field reaches the stage in which constructed explanations are replaced with facts, it is a step forward.

Of course, all sciences have their implicit epistemological framework.

This is something that should be at least admitted, but there is a pressing specific issue: the projection of values onto evolution in both common understanding and serious discourse. It is important not to retain fiction when facts are available, especially when that fiction is dangerous.

There is no intention to evolutionary process. Nature is not an entity that intends in the way that we intend. Traits do not evolve for purposes, contrary to what we often project onto them. The traits are not means to behavioral ends, especially reproductive ends. By projecting means-to-reproduction narratives onto evolution, we strip away the beauty of life, rendering fascinating existences nothing but a nihilistic game of chemicals and competition. Beyond that, however, it is dangerous. Why? It is dangerous because it enables systemic hatred.

Let’s start with the phrase “survival of the fittest.” What can you do with that phrase? Well, let’s break it down.

The most fit to survive will survive. It is ambiguous. It could mean that what tends to replicate itself and not get killed will be most abundant. This is fair, and it is no more political than saying radioactive elements will decay until they are stable. It is intuitive — if it does not replicate itself, it will not be around long, and if it gets killed, it will not have the opportunity. This is how it should be interpreted, yet it is almost never stated in such a basic way. Even in biology, and especially in psychology and other health sciences, it gets twisted.

Let’s go back to “the most fit to survive will survive.” What if it was just slightly tweaked: “the best will survive,” or “the fittest should survive.” Here, a value judgment was added. There is no best, no quality, if it is viewed as a statement of tendency, but there is if survival is seen as good rather than neutral. From here, simultaneously, one can interpret that survival is the end goal, rather than a statement of tendency. Then, retroactively, the constructed end goal of survival makes traits and behaviors a game of competition, in which the best gets to live.

This can adopt any prejudice one wants to incorporate. It can be turned into an argument for eugenics, for sexism or

against the disabled. It can enable humancentrism if mental capacity is held as a measure of value. It can be turned into an argument for gender roles and heterosexuality by pitting men and women as inherently different (viewing gender as entirely “nature” and disregarding “nurture”), using selective biological facts as evidence and generalizing to such an extent that everything is binary with no middle ground. The middle ground, androgyny, is a deviation in this view.

Relationships that do not lead to procreation are a deviation as well. And deviations do not lead to survival, do they?

“

Nature is not an entity that intends in the way that we intend. Traits do not evolve for purposes, contrary to what we often project onto them.”

It also makes the case for capitalism, perhaps explaining why the twisted interpretation of evolution is the prevailing one. By adopting the value-infused interpretation, you can absolve yourself of any guilt you might have about exploiting labor, concentrating power, hoarding wealth while the majority struggles to get by, pitting people against each other or devaluing expression in favor of anything that further increases your wealth and power. You do not have to feel bad about causing deaths, stripping creative joy from people’s lives and inhibiting mutual fostering and collective growth. You fought hard from the bottom and made it to the top. You earned it because you just had the ability. It is just facts; it is just how it is. You cannot be held responsible because it is nature.

This is why it is so important to understand the phrase “survival of the fittest,” and evolution in general, completely free of value judgments, even one as simple as “survival is good,” because from there, many flavors of hate and structural oppression can co-opt the concept of evolution to justify themselves. It may seem tedious to make that distinction, but in the grand scheme of things, our lives and livelihoods depend on it.

SKYE WOOD regular columnist freshman/philosophy

COLLEGIATETIMES NEWSROOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231-9865

Assistant opinions editors: Neha Ogele and Alexa

Editor-in-Chief: Andrea Pappas (editor@collegiatetimes.com)

Photo editor: Armahn Rassuli

Managing editors: Lewis Millholland and Zack Wajsgras

Web engineer: Matt Jones

Design editor: Jina Ro Assistant design editors: Alison Robertson and Olivia Semones Copy editors: Jessica Brady and Meg Connors News editors: Aly De Angelus and Izzy Rossi Lifestyles editor: Samantha Smith

COURTESY OF TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Assistant lifestyles editor: Katelyn Meade

Social media editors: Melissa Fairfax and Lisa Kucharczk

Have a news tip? newstips@collegiatetimes.com BUSINESS STAFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231-9860 Business manager: Breanna Anderson (business@collegemedia.com)

Sports editor: Faizan Hasnany Assistant sports editors: Kyle Cooke and Sierra Huckfeldt

Voice your opinion. Send letters to the Collegiate Times.

All letters must include a name and phone number. Students 365 Squires Student Center must include year and major. Faculty and staff must include Blacksburg, VA, 24061 position and department. Other submissions must include opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com city of residence and relationship to Virginia Tech (i.e., alumni, parent, etc.). We reserve the right to edit for any reason. Anonymous letters will not be printed.

Letters, commentaries and editorial cartoons do not reflect the views of the Collegiate Times.

Editorials are written by the Collegiate Times editorial board, which is composed of the opinions editors, editor-in-chief and the managing editors.

Assistant photo editor: Cat Piper

Opinions editor: Carson Bartlett

COLLEGE MEDIA SOLUTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . 231-9860 solutions.collegemedia.com advertising@collegemedia.com

The Collegiate Times, a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, was established in 1903 by and for the students of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The Collegiate Times is published every Monday and Thursday of the academic year except during exams and vacations. To order a reprint of a photograph printed in the Collegiate Times, visit reprints.collegemedia.com. The Collegiate Times is a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to provide educational experience in business and production of mass media for Virginia Tech students. © Collegiate Times, 2017. All rights reserved. Material published in the Collegiate Times is the property thereof, and may not be reprinted without the express written consent of the Collegiate Times.

collegiatetimes.com

editor@collegiatetimes.com

February 27, 2017 PAGE 3

news collegiatetimes.com/news

Smithfield Plantation works to convey Legislation to a more complete image of slavery mandate mental The Historic Smithfield Plantation Home aims for inclusivity of slaves’ descendants and strives to provide a wholesome experience in its usual 45-minute constraint.

CLARE RIGNEY news reporter

The Historic Smithfield Plantation Home is located west of the Virginia Tech Duck Pond. Built between 1772 and 1774, it was once the home of the Preston family and now hosts events such as weddings and guided tours.

On Feb. 23, the Coalition for Justice, along with other departments and local groups, will host a presentation titled, “Race, Memory, and Southern Heritage Tourism: The Politics of Doing Justice to the Enslaved at Plantation Museums.”

During the presentation, guests will discuss the representation of the slaves who used to work on the plantation.

“On the plantation, there’s always parallel histories between the masters and the master’s family … and then, you have the enslaved people,” said Margaret Breslau, who has been a chair in the Coalition for Justice for 14 years.

Breslau proposed to the plantation’s governance board that they include more information about the lives of the slaves in the tour.

She says that the Coalition for Justice and the Board of the Smithfield-Preston Foundation are acting as “partners” on this project.

“About a year ago, I went on a tour and I was listening carefully to … what I heard and what I didn’t hear. I thought, ‘this narrative has to change,’” Breslau said.

The event will take place in Room 3100 in Torgersen Hall at 3 p.m. and will include a presentation by Dr. Derek Alderman of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his partner, Dr. Steve Hanna of the University of Mary Washington. They will address equality of representation and how to go about reinterpreting the information someone already has in order to make it suit a more inclusive narrative.

“We all, even academic historians, we all like to say we like to just do pure history, pure documents, but it’s really hard to separate personal feelings when we are looking at these things

that still truly impact our lives,” said April Martin Danner, the museum director at the Smithfield Plantation.

“When I heard that people didn’t like the way we represented slavery here, I reacted kinda personally, like, ‘No, we do,’ but we can do better.”

Smithfield Plantation was built from the labor of over 42 slaves and indentured servants that the Prestons brought with them when they arrived in what was then frontier land. There is evidence of the slaves’ lives through the Preston’s letters, but Danner says that the nature of the documents makes it easy to portray the information through the eyes of the Prestons.

E m i ly Sa t t e r wh it e, who has been an associate professor in Appalachian studies at Virginia Tech for 11 years, says that she always takes her Introduction to Appalachian Studies class on the tour of Smithfield Plantation.

“My students often come away from that tour with the sense that slavery at Smithfield was a benevolent institution and that slaves felt affection for their owners,” Satterwhite said. “It’s probably more likely to read that as a really savvy move on the part of the slaves who could be currying favor with people who control every aspect of their lives.”

She recalled the story of Jim Barber, who escaped from the plantation in an attempt to reach his family, who were still in Norfolk.

He was eventually sold to someone in West Virginia and drowned while trying to escape off of a boat.

Satterwhite says that while not every bad story has to be told, the bad and the good must be more balanced.

Finding the balance is the largest foreseeable issue for Danner. There were many people who went through the Smithfield Plantation: slaves, indentured workers, the Black family who eventually founded Blacksburg and more. Danner says that it is her responsibility to represent all of those groups within the already narrow constraints of a 45-minute tour.

“Smithfield is the voice of all of these (groups) … We’re hoping to give a little more voice to what can at times be a silent one,” Danner said.

A variety of departments and local groups have expressed an interest in the project. Sponsors include the Department of History, ASPECT, the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, American Indian Studies and more.

“

Everyone wants to know their roots now ... it’s a wart, it’s a scar on American history, but it is the history of all of us.”

April Martin Danner museum director

In November of last year, the Sm ithfield-P reston Foundation brought six new people onto its governance board. Members include Appalachian studies expert Jean Haskell and Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, who is a specialist in the Department of Education, as well as a sixth-generation descendant of one of the enslaved people who worked on the plantation.

For the past couple of years, Danner has been receiving calls from people across the country who are tracing their roots back to the slaves of the Smithfield Plantation.

“Everyone wants to know their roots now, and slavery, it’s a wart, it’s a scar on American history, but it is the history of all of us,” Danner said.

Satterwhite worries that places like Smithfield are in danger with recent federal choices to defund major departments that focus on historic preservation.

The Smithfield Plantation has a position on the National Register of Historic places; however, Danner says that they do not receive state or federal funding. She is the only paid employee; the rest of the staff are volunteers. It would also be her responsibility to gather any old or new

evidence on the lives of slaves at the plantation.

They recently found definite evidence that the enslaved people were brought over on a ship called the True Blue, approximately from Ghana, which she says is going an extra step farther in helping descendants find out more about their identities. There are locations that Danner says she may look into for more details, such as the International Slave Trade Museum in London, England.

Danner says that letters from slaves could exist somewhere since several of the third-generation slaves were literate, but they are not plentiful or immediately accessible. For the sake of bringing balance to the tour, she hopes that records of the slaves’ lives at the Smithfield Plantation will emerge soon.

According to Breslau, the event only coincidentally aligned with Black History Month. However, she says that there is a connection between what she saw during the tour and what others around the country are seeing: a need for a change in narrative.

“Thousands of school children have gone on this tour and there’s a landscape ... that is created where when you talk about your community, your culture, your history and ... you exclude black people and then you look at your community and that isn’t a part of your history and culture, what does it say about your community?” Breslau said.

She says that the presentation is only a glimpse into what is a national conversation about minority visibility.

Smithfield Plantation is an enormous component of the Blacksburg cultural identity.

Due to its status, Breslau says that this presentation should make people in Blacksburg challenge preconceptions about slavery and race in order to realize how close the stories of slaves are tied to local identity.

@CollegiateTimes

health training

RAs will gain a deeper understanding of mental health with House Bill 1911.

ANDREW SHEDLOCK director for Housing and news reporter

At the beginning of 2017, Delegate Joseph Yost introduced House Bill 1911 into Virginia’s House of Delegates. HB 1911 will require all residential advisers at public universities in Virginia to receive training from the Mental Health First Aid program before commencing their duties. The bill passed through the House of Delegates with no opposition in a 98–0 vote on Jan. 30 and is currently in the Virginia Senate.

Mental Health First Aid is a program that introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, the impact of mental health problems and common treatments. It places emphasis on early detection and intervention for mental health problems including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and addictions.

Additionally, the program informs participants about important local and national support resources.

Yost represents Virginia’s District 12, which includes parts of Montgomery County and Giles County. Yost described the area, largely influenced by Virginia Tech and Radford University, that he represents as part of his motivation for drafting parts of his legislative agenda.

“Anytime that we can provide education to the general public on mental health issues is a good thing,” Yost commented to The Roanoke Times. “There’s still a lot of stigma and misunderstanding on mental health issues out there.”

HB 1911 has been supported by representatives from Longwood Un ive r sit y, Vi rg i n ia Commonwealth University, Radford University and Virginia Tech. When asked for comments on how the legislation would affect the training of residential advisers at Virginia Tech, Kendall Pete, assistant

Residence Life, explained that the school was exploring those implications.

HB 1911 will add the Mental Health First Aid program’s training to the training for all residential advisors at public universities in Virginia. Including this additional training will expand on the ways in which residential advisors are trained at Virginia Tech.

When recalling his residential adviser training, Max Reynolds, sophomore engineering science and mechanics major, said that the training was split between focusing on the enforcement of school rules and handling emotional crises.

“We studied mostly campus and RA policy as well as HRL rules and regulations. We learned about QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) and suicide prevention, how to truly talk and listen to people,” Reynolds said.

QPR Gatekeeper training helps participants recognize the signs of suicide and how to respond appropriately.

Reynolds explained how the training taught them to handle certain problems.

“In training we practiced how to refer a problem, when to keep information private and when to pass it upwards (but never outwards). I would say that mental illness was not a focus of training,” Reynolds said. “Our training briefly covered signs of mental illness. If I recall correctly, there was no strict focus on it. We learned how to identify people that were at risk of suicide and how to deal with depression and homesickness.”

As HB 1911 has faced no opposition on either the House of Delegates floor or in its various committees and subcommittees, it is likely to be signed into law within the next few months. If written into law, HB 1911 will likely be implemented for the fall 2017 school semester. @VTshedlock

Keeping the community’s children safe: Virginia Tech Police Department offers free car seat installations The department has made the service available to all members of the Blacksburg community. The department’s goal is to ensure that children are safe while on the road by making sure that seats have been properly installed.

46.2-1095, all children in Virginia under the age of 8 must be secured in child restraint devices while in the car. Additionally, car seats must The Virginia Tech Police Department meet standards adopted by the United States (VTPD) offers free car seat installation services Department of Transportation. to the community. Families seek VTPD to “We always recommend keeping a child in ensure that their children are safe on the road. a seat as long as possible,” Guilliams said. “If a “We’ve always been a community-oriented child can stay in a booster seat for an extended police department, so that’s a big reason why period of time, we always recommend that because the booster seat always becomes a part of that car.”

According to Warren Hardy, associate professor in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering and director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Center for Injury Biomechanics, children without proper restraint during car accidents face injuries up to death.

“The consequences are head injury, neck injury, chest injury, abdominal injury, but obviously head and neck are the huge ones, followed by chest injury,” Hardy said. “Kids are kind of fragile. To a certain extent, they’re resilient, but they’re also very fragile so you absolutely want to make sure that you avoid head, neck and chest injuries.”

A 2016 study by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis shows that car seats reduce the risk of fatal injuries in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants under the age of 1, and by 54 percent for toddlers between the ages of 1 and 4. Additionally, seat belts in passenger cars ANNA FRIESEN / COLLEGIATE TIMES reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent for front seat occupants over the age of 5.

The Virginia Tech Police Department is now a part of the Virginia Department of Health “There are two crashes in any automobile Child Passenger Safety program to help with proper installation of child safety seats.

LAUREN FARRAR news reporter

we’ve always done them,” said Virginia Tech Police Department Senior Officer Daniel Guilliams.

Guilliams, who has installed car seats for 16 years, offers his free installation services by appointment Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Virginia Tech Public Safety Building.

According to the Code of Virginia §

impact,” Hardy said. “It’s when the car hits something and then when you hit your car. If you’re wearing a seat belt and you have supplemental restraint, like an airbag, then that energy is managed in a way that the injury to you is greatly reduced. If you don’t connect yourself to the vehicle, then you are going to hit the inside of the vehicle.”

“

I’ve seen some scenes where a child safety seat wasn’t properly installed, and that’s what caused the injury to the child.”

Daniel Guilliams Virginia Tech Police Department senior officer

Guilliams encountered children injured in car accidents when he worked for the Radford City Police Department.

“I have seen what has happened to a child not being properly secured in a child safety seat,” Guilliams said. “I’ve seen some scenes where a child safety seat wasn’t properly installed, and that’s what caused the injury to the child.”

The VTPD’s child seat installations take 10 to 15 minutes, followed by a brief safety discussion. @buymeafarrari

collegiatetimes.com

PAGE 4 February 27, 2017

editor@collegiatetimes.com

MARMALADE: Play sheds light on mental health in kids from page 1

place. The setting was Lucy’s living room, and the backdrop was a wall that displayed a very faded rainbow and a smiling mushroom, along with a few other creatures.

“Mr. Ma r malade” br ings light to the fact that children pay attention, and what they see affects them and their perceptions of the world. Lucy, like all little kids, likes to play doctor and house and pretend to be an adult.

During these games, her impression of adult life emerges in the manifestation of Mr. Marmalade, played by Tyler French. For example, he abuses her and yet she still worships him,

and when he packs his bags and tries to move out, she begs him to stay.

Perhaps she has seen behavior like this from her mother, from one of her many babysitters or on TV. “Mr. Marmalade” displays the powerful message that child ren’s su r roundings shape them — and we need to pay attention.

A unique aspect of the School of Per for m ing A r ts’ “M r.

Marmalade” was the animated title sequences at the beginning of each scene. At the end of every scene, the lights would turn off and two TV screens would light up in the pitch-black room.

Lucy’s voice would read the words on the screen, describing the scene about to unfold, and then a very creepy animated little

girl would appear and briefly act it out. The title sequences, made by Katt Carter, a senior studying multimedia journalism, were easily one of my favorite features of the play. The animations perfectly encompassed both the child-like aspects and the darkness of the play.

“Mr. Marmalade” was a fantastically dark comedy that captured my attention through its wit, irony and humor and shed light on the lives of children who grow up in flawed homes. Additionally, Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts did a marvelous job putting on the play.

@_Slim_Brady

COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA TECH SCHOOL OF PERFORMING ARTS

study break

your ad space

Today’s Birthday Horoscope: Lucrative opportunities bless your family this year. Your professional star is on the rise. Changes around work and health this month lead to personal breakthroughs. Insights in September illuminate a new road, providing an energizing jolt of passion. Love nourishes you.

aren’t you going to use it? call us. 888.897.7711 topic:

National Capitals

HOW TO PLAY:

Spell the phrase in the grid above it, writing each unique letter only once.

The correct solution will spell the complete phrase along a single continuous spelling path that moves horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Fill the grid from square to square - revisiting letters as needed to complete the spelling path in order. Each letter will appear only once in the grid. visit www.Pathem.com

© 2011 Thinking Machine, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

easy

VTTV

rm u sic?

ou

Picky

y

Someone who just rolled out of bed

Gossip

Someone texting and walking

Flirting Couple

Drop your needle on this.

C11Y100 M100K0

C0Y22 M95K8

C3Y63 M90K0

C81Y0 M30K8

Library Bingo Someone filling up their water bottle

h w it

C32Y100 M74K40

Someone gasey

Yoga Pants

Someone on Facebook

Someone with Beats

Someone with their shoes off

Overprepared Freshman

Someone Crying

Making Flashcards

Person on the Phone

Someone singing

Someone playing Starcraft

Energy Drink

Someone Asleep

People Fighting

Someone reading the Collegiate Times

COLLEGIATE TIMES

Someone Snap Chatting

ERGY

For more information, please visit our website: www.blacksburg.gov/jobs.

An EEO Employer M/F/D/V

C0Y0M0K20

EN

Police Officer I - F/T Adventure Trip Leader - P/T Engineering Intern - P/T

GET TURNED ON WWW.VTTV.VT.EDU

The Town of Blacksburg is currently accepting applications for the following positions:

HARD

2014-2015 Study Break Edition Color Scheme

channel 33 on campus

Town of Blacksburg Jobs

Coughing Fit

Group Talking Too Loudly

Wearing Apparel From Other Schools

UVA

collegiatetimes.com

editor@collegiatetimes.com

lifestyles

February 27, 2017 PAGE 5

collegiatetimes.com/lifestyles

AerieREAL Happy Tour comes to Tech this week

REVIEW: LOGAN

On Feb. 27 and 28, the AerieREAL tour will be on campus to promote its new spring collection.

GRETCHEN KERNBACH body positivism, starring for the Virginia Tech portion lifestyles staff writer

Aer ie, an intimate apparel company owned

by American Eagle, will be present on the Drillfield on Feb. 27 and 28 as part of the AerieREAL Happy Tour.

In efforts to promote its new spring collection, Aerie is visiting a total of five college campuses; Virginia Tech is the first stop.

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days, there will be a pop-up shop present on the Drillfield. The first 50 customers each day will receive free beach towels; in addition, buyers will each get a free tote bag with any purchase.

Other deals offered during the two days include buy one get one 50 percent off everything in the shop when you pay with a card and a free Sunnie Bra coupon with a purchase of over $60.

Merchandise available to buy will include the spring break essentials — swimsuits, cover-ups, bralettes, hats and other accessories.

To get more of a preview of what’s to come, check out the website.

Specifically on the 27, AerieREAL role model Iskra Lawrence will be present, giving a talk at 1 p.m.

According to her Facebook page, “she has long been committed to improving the image of women in the media, having been told she was both ‘too big’ for straightsize modeling and ‘not big enough’ for plus-modeling.”

The 26-year-old British model is an advocate for

in un-retouched images and touring universities to speak with students about having a healthy mindset when it comes to self-image.

In addition to working with Aerie, Lawrence is a brand ambassador for the National Eating Disorder Association.

Her work with the organization resulted in the NEDA Inspires Award.

“

People can take pictures of themselves at the event (and) post it to social media with no filter, since Aerie is all about promoting natural beauty.”

Lissandra Cartagena Aerie brand ambassador

The VT tour stop was a rather last-minute decision, having only been promoted for the past two weeks.

However, Virginia Tech has been the host of similar tours before.

Even though Aerie will not be directly running any contests while on the Drillfield, Fashion Merchandising and Design Society and Her Campus are doing a collaborative social media contest.

“People can take pictures of themselves at the event (and) post it to social media with no filter, since Aerie is all about promoting natural beauty,” said sophomore Lissandra Cartagena, who is an Aerie brand ambassador

of the tour. “(By) tagging all three of us, the winner will get tickets to the annual FMDS fashion show and some special prizes from Her Campus.”

This is a continuation of the 2014 American Eagle campaign designed to ditch photoshop and challenge supermodel standards. The brand, aimed toward women between the ages of 15 and 21, decided to display true images of women with unaltered bodies.

A study conducted in 2011 displayed results that emphasized “the idea that teens look at media images to come to a concept of what is beautiful, decide how they should look, compare their appearance to what social and media images tell them is beautiful, and motivate themselves to conform to that image.”

Taglines such as the tour’s name “AerieREAL” and “Love the swim you’re in” are in part to promote being happy in your own body.

The company encourages young women to share their un-retouched swim photos with the hashtag: #AerieREAL. Cartagena said students can expect a “fun vibe,” encouraging everyone to go, even if they don’t plan to shop.

Besides the merchandise truck, there will be a lounging area, fitting rooms and large flower wall — perfect for an AerieREAL photo op.

@gretchthecatch

CAT PIPER / COLLEGIATE TIMES Bruce Thompson, the store manager of the New River Valley Mall, and Andrea Meadows, the district manager of American Eagle, stand in front of Aerie’s Happy Tour, Feb. 26, 2017.

BRADY TICKLE movie columnist

Trying to play catch up for the upcoming release of “Logan”? Here is a list of all nine films preceding it, along with my thoughts on each so that you know what you can skip.

1. “X-Men” (2000) Bryan Singer’s first (but not last) outing in the X-Men universe was both a critical and commer cial hit, cementing the mutants into popular culture and proving that the superhero genre still had teeth.

This first film serves as an introduction to Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue and other mutants who work for and learn from Professor Charles Xavier, a telepathic mutant who believes that mutants should live peacefully alongside humans.

The movie also introduces Mystique and Sabretooth, who work for the villainous Magneto, a metal-bending mutant who believes that mutants are superior to humans and should reign supreme over the world.

Meshing together intelligent social commentary and mindblowing action, this movie changed the superhero game. I give this movie four and a half out of five stars.

2. “X2” (2003) Once again returning to direct, Bryan Singer exceeded expectations and made a rare sequel that was better than the preceding film with “X2.”

Focusing more on Wolverine and his amnesia this time around, the film’s antagonist is William Stryker, the mutanthater who experimented on Wolverine and gave him his adamantium claws and memory loss.

After showing us the potential for superhero movies, Singer showed us the standard with this smash hit. I give this film five out of five stars.

3. “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006) This was the first film in the X-Men series that showed the franchise was human. This is largely due to the fact that Bryan Singer left the director’s chair this time around, instead giving it to Brett Ratner.

Throughout his directing career, Ratner has shown a lack of knowledge on how to flesh out characters. Even with two whole films of character

development to fall back on, Ratner still fails to deliver on genuinely good character moments.

The action is fine, there’s just no substance — which is sad, because this film is a retelling of one of the most character-driven storylines of the comics, the Dark Phoenix saga. It’s worth a watch, but it’s not as memorable as the films preceding it. I give this movie two and a half out of five stars.

4. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) Nope. This one didn’t happen. It’s so bad that even the studio that made the movie only acknowledges it exists to make fun of it (see No. 9). Skip it, this is useless garbage. This film gets one and a half out of five stars.

The only reason the film receives one and a half was Hugh Jackman’s great performance. It was on par with all his other turns as the character, and it makes the movie at least watchable.

5. “X-Men: First Class” (2011) Finally, after nearly a decade since the last good X-Men movie, director Matthew Vaughn of “KickAss” fame revitalized the franchise with this prequel set in 1962. The film revolved around the development of the bond between Xavier and Magneto, along with depicting an alternate reality in which the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved by mutants.

It was fun, refreshing and emotionally powerful. Not to mention it had Kevin Bacon as the villain, which is always a plus. This movie receives four out of five stars.

6. “The Wolverine” (2013) After royally screwing up the first time around, Wolverine was given another attempt at a solo outing, this time with director James Mangold (who also helmed the upcoming “Logan”).

Perhaps the artsiest of the franchise, the film acts more as a case study of Wolverine than as an action movie (until the flat-out cartoonish final act).

It wasn’t quite what I expected, so I was initially disappointed.

However, upon watching it again, the movie does admittedly have its merits, and is a cut above “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” If you’re a fan of Wolverine, it’s worth checking out. I give this film three and a

half out of five stars.

7. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2014) The best movie of the franchise so far (and easily the one with the most confusing title), “Days of Future Past” managed to stuff the original cast and the newer cast from the prequels into one megasized blockbuster in which the mutants from the future have to stop the mutants from the past from assassinating a tech guru.

If said guru is killed, it will spell future disaster for mutants everywhere. The excellent story, fantastic humor, amazing action and return of Bryan Singer to the director’s chair make this one of the best superhero movies ever. This film gets five out of five stars.

8. “Deadpool” (2016) The funniest film in the franchise is also the one that has the least to do with the overall story. However, that is no reason to miss out on this hilarious, fourth-wall breaking adventure that proved to studio executives that a superhero movie could be successful even with an R-rating (which is the only reason why “Logan” was allowed to be given the same rating).

Oddly enough, although the film references Hugh Jackman several times, this is the only movie in the franchise in which Wolverine does not make an appearance. This movie receives five out of five stars.

9. “X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016) This movie was fairly panned by critics, and while it was nowhere near the quality of “Days of Future Past,” it was still a solid film unworthy of all the hate.

Bryan Singer once again delivered on some great action set-pieces, awesome fan service and a cool story.

Ultimately, though, the villain was a bit of a letdown, and it is Singer’s weakest movie.

If you have to skip something other than “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” or “X-Men: The Last Stand,” this is the one. I give this movie three and a half out of five stars. @CollegiateTimes

First African-American bachelorette breaks barriers On Feb. 13, it was announced that Rachel Lindsay will be the next bachelorette — before she left “The Bachelor.”

ALAYNA JONES lifestyles staff writer

For the first time in the history of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” ABC has named its first female African-American lead as the next bachelorette.

Rachel Lindsay, a contestant on the season of “The Bachelor” that is currently airing, will be starring in the 13th season of “The Bachelorette.”

Lindsay appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” with the host of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” Chris Harrison, to announce the news on Feb. 13.

This news shook the fan base of “The Bachelor,” since Lindsay is still in the running on the current season of “The Bachelor.” This was a huge spoiler because many fans of the show were suspecting that the 31-year-old attorney from Dallas was going to win and become engaged to the current bachelor, Nick Viall.

The announcement of the next bachelorette typically comes after the winner of “The Bachelor” has been chosen on the current season.

Both shows have been criticized in the past for their lack of diversity.

African Americans and women of Asian and Iranian descent have appeared as contestants on both

shows, but there has never been an African-American bachelor or bachelorette.

There has only been one minority lead in the show. Back in 2014 during season 18, Juan Pablo Galavis, an American-born Venezuelan, starred as the bachelor and the first minority lead.

In 2012, the franchise was sued by two black men who auditioned for the “The Bachelor,” saying that the company knowingly refused to cast people of color as the role of the bachelor and the bachelorette.

The case was eventually dismissed. ABC argued that even if it was discriminating against people of color — which it claims it would not do — its contestant choices are protected under the First Amendment, according to Vox. Last year, Fusion reported that for the entire duration of the series, a black contestant has never lasted longer than five weeks on the show.

Within the first two weeks, 59 percent of black contestants leave the show (the show typically lasts 10 weeks).

Some are speculating what will happen to ratings with the lead being an African-American woman.

According to the Washington Post, a study was conducted at Indiana University to test whether racial

makeup could influence the decision of a white audience to watch a certain show or movie. The study concluded that minority cast members do in fact lead white audiences to be less interested.

Andrew Weaver, the conductor of the study, said, “Producers are hesitant to cast minorities in raceneutral romantic roles because of a fear that the white audience will perceive it as ‘not for them.’”

This does not mean that fans of the show will take a season off and not watch. Both shows continue to be toprated series on ABC. The last season’s finale of “The Bachelorette” was Monday night’s most watched show with 8.43 million viewers.

“In addition, having an AfricanAmerican bachelorette paves the way for minorities in the media.”

In addition, having an AfricanAmerican bachelorette paves the way for minorities in the media.

ABC Entertainment Chief Channing Dungey said, “I think one of the biggest changes that we need to do is increase the pool of diverse candidates in the beginning because part of what ends up happening as we go along is there just aren’t as many candidates to ultimately end up in the role as the next bachelor or bachelorette.”

Most of the time, the first runner- more diversity than usual. up in a previous season becomes Lindsay’s season of “The the next lead character because Bachelorette” will premiere on ABC according to Dungey, “The audience on May 22. feels engaged in helping to choose that candidate. What we need to do is widen the pool of choice.”

Fans will have to wait and see if @CollegiateTimes Lindsay’s bachelor choices will have

COURTESY OF ABC

collegiatetimes.com

PAGE 6 February 27, 2017

editor@collegiatetimes.com

Lacrosse extends winning streak in double-header

CHAMPS: Track and field finds success at ACCs

MADDIE THOMPSON younger players. Freshman double-header feat u red JORDAN HUTCHINSON Celia Terreri grabbed her first Virginia Tech and Radford.

from page 1

sports reporter lacrosse beat reporter

Virginia Tech lacrosse continued its winning streak Saturday with a win in its first leg of a double-header against in-state competitor Old Dominion, 19–6. With four hat-tricks from the Hokies, they were able to work on their technique on both sides of the ball as they ran up the score.

“We played as a team,” said head coach John Sung. “We’ve talked about that all week, and I really think we did that with so many different people scoring today.”

Eight different Tech players saw the ball go into the net.

Three of those players were off the bench, including junior attacker Emma Harden, who posted three goals for the Hokies. The game was used by Sung to not just add to the winning streak, but to also start developing his

collegiate goal against Old Dominion.

“I think that’s been the biggest thing for us this year, is how we can develop our backups and reserves so that if we do have an injury or a sickness, that people can step in,” Sung said.

Not only was the offense able to dominate, but the defense held up as well, snatching up 22 ground balls and holding the ODU offense to only nine shots on goal.

Sung used the game to stress the technique they started in practice and continued it into the evening as they faced Radford.

“It’s nice to see all their hard work pay off, and it’s a fun brand of lacrosse to watch. Hopefully, when people come to see us play that it’s an enjoyable game for the community and people who want to follow us,” Sung said.

The second game of the

The Hokies shellacked the Highlanders 20 –2. The 18-goal victory was the second largest win in school history for Tech.

Four Hokies had hat-tricks against Radford: Tristan McGinley, Marissa Davey, Harden and Zan Biedenharn.

Biedenharn also tacked on four assists in Tech’s dominating win. Goalie Meagh Graham was stellar on Saturday, as she had four saves and did not allow a single goal, ultimately resulting in a win.

Next up for Tech is Elon.

Elon has had a strong season so far, going 4–1 with its only loss to No. 9 Notre Dame. After Elon, the Hokies play Duke.

Duke is a perfect 4–0 this year and looks incredibly strong.

This will be the toughest test of the year by far for the Hokies. @CTSportsTalk

AHMED MUSTAFA / COLLEGIATE TIMES Zan Biedenharn (5) runs down the field as Old Dominion’s Alyssa Sebesto (7) tries to knock the ball out. The 20th ranked Hokies cruised to a 19–6 victory, Feb. 25, 2017.

good for third place overall. Ciattei pulled off a major upset victory over UVA’s reigning national champion Henry Wynne in a tight finish. Ciattei and Zarate are sure to be major threats next season as well.

Cour tney Blanden’s time of 53.54 secured fifth place in the women’s 40 0m finals, despite finishing fourth overall in the 400-meter preliminary round.

Two -t i me r eig n i ng ACC Champion Hanna Green completed her ACC career by winning her third-straight ACC Championship in the women’s 800m. Green is one of the greatest middle distance runners to ever compete at Virginia Tech, and her time of 2:02.28 reflected a dominant win in the event. Sophomore Rachel Pocratsky took home third place in the event and will be a top contender in the years to come.

The Hokies saw similar success on the men’s side of the 800m, as Patrick Joseph and Drew Piazza set school records on their way to first and second place overall. The sweep of the men’s and women’s 800m r un shows the

After a stellar freshman year for the Hokies, the redshirt junior struggled to find his footing in his first season with Justin Fuente.

CHASE PARKER football beat reporter

The 2016 football season was full of surprises and successes for the Hokies.

Records were broken, games were won and new head coach Justin Fuente provided plenty of reasons for optimism for the future. However, there was one player who took an unexpected step backwards: running back Travon McMillian.

T he 205-pound R B exploded onto the scene in 2015. The then redshirt freshman rushed for 1,043 yards with an average of 5.2 yards per attempt. The catch?

He only started seven games.

Even when major changes to the coaching staff occurred that ensuing offseason, the common consensus was that McMillian would continue his stellar play into the 2016 season. But it didn’t take long for that belief to be, in a sense, proven incorrect.

In week one against Liberty, the ball carrier out of Woodbridge, Virginia, only rushed for 39 yards on 13 attempts. That low number set the stage for what would become an inconsistent season

for McMillian.

While he would sparingly show glimpses of his breakaway speed and precise vision, he never showed the consistent domination that he had the year before. His best performance came under the Thursday night lights of Lane Stadium on Oct. 20 where he thrashed the Miami defense for 131 yards on the ground.

Exactly one week later in frigid Pittsburgh, he produced the worst numbers of his career, ending the game with negative three rushing yards on just six attempts.

At the season’s end, McMillian had only racked up 671 rushing yards on 145 carries.

Perhaps the lack of productivity wasn’t as much his fault as it was a combination of weekly changes in the game plans and Fuente’s up-tempo system.

“With this type of offense, it’s just so high-paced and so fast-paced that you kind of need more guys to carry the load,” McMillian said.

The erratic change-up of running backs expanded from game days to the weekly press conferences. Reporters would

CHRISTIAN STERLING / COLLEGIATE TIMES Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans (4) fakes to running back Travon McMillian (34), Dec. 29, 2016.

constantly ask Fuente about the seemingly random assignments of carries, which would always generate the same, “You guys care a lot more about who gets touches than I do,” type of response from the coach.

The 2017 season, however, is shaping up to be McMillian’s grand opportunity to take back the reigns at the position. This offseason has taken three RBs from the program — Sam Rogers (graduated), Marshawn Williams (injured/retired) and Shai McKenzie (transferred) — leaving Tech’s RB depth extremely shallow. Naturally, with fewer options to choose from, it seems apparent that McMillian will be shouldering the weight of the load in the upcoming season.

“I’m hoping that this year (I can be the featured running back again),” he said. “I’m expecting a big year for myself.

I’m just excited for this team and what this team has to offer.”

Not only does the offensive unit need McMillian to step up on the gridiron, but they need him to step up as a vocal leader as well. The Hokies lost over half of their starters on that side of the ball this offseason, so his experience and leadership will be a key to Tech’s pending success in 2017.

“We have some guys that are missing, so we’re just trying to bring those younger guys along and show leadership so that they can grow up fast and be able to play when the whistles blow,” the 6-foot tall RB said.

Of course, predicting the future isn’t an exact science.

There’s always a possibility that McMillian will have another inconsistent season, producing another batch of disappointing results. But with the depleted RB depth and loss of veteran leadership on offense, the 2017 season will bring a plethora opportunities for the third-year RB to position himself as one of the top rushers in the ACC again.

@ChaseParker_VT

“

The Hokies’ win marks the fourth time in the last seven years that the ACC Championship has come back to Blacksburg.”

The Virginia Tech men’s pole vaulters have been dominant all season, and the ACC Championships were no exception. Torben Laidig and Deakin Volz finished first and second, while James Steck and Brad Johnson tied for fourth. No competition came close to Laidig’s height of 5.55 meters or

Volz’s 5.50 meters. The points earned in the men’s pole vault were crucial to Tech’s overall points in the team competition.

The women’s 4x400m relay earned a fourth place finish, as the women’s track and field team would go on to finish eighth overall in team competition.

The Tech athletes in the men’s 3000m finals all but sealed a Hokie team victory, as Daniel Jaskowak, Neil Gourley and Peter Seufer finished second, fourth and sixth.

The Virginia Tech men’s indoor track and field team finished the meet with 109 points as the Hokies went on to win the men’s ACC Championship team title.

UVA finished second with 98 points and Florida State was third with 86 points. The Hokies’ win marks the fourth time in the last seven years that the ACC Championship has come back to Blacksburg.

Qualifying Virginia Tech athletes from the men’s and women’s teams will go on to compete in the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 10 at Texas A&M.

@CTSportsTalk

DRESSER: Coach leaves program in great shape from page 1

Travon McMillian looks to get back up to speed

strength of Tech’s middle distance runners.

Greg Chiles was back in action in the men’s 200m finals, finishing third place overall with a time of 21.25. Fellow Hokie Michael Davenport finished fifth in the event, running a time of 21.40.

On the women’s side, Courtney Blanden ran a time of 23.60 to finish in third place. Blanden and Chiles will both be major factors in the 400 and 200 next season for the Hokies.

T hat wa s a bold statement, to say the least, from someone who at the time had no previous college coaching experience. But even before taking over at Tech, Dresser had proven himself to be a program-builder as a high school coach.

He led Chr istiansburg, who had never won a state championship in wrestling before, to five consecutive state titles. And even before that, he had led Granby High School to eight titles in as many years.

Fast forward 11 years from his introductory press conference, and Dresser has successfully built the Hokies’ wrestling program into one of the nation’s elite. A feat that seemed improbable for the inexperienced coach who took over a program left in shambles when the aforementioned Tom Brands left to coach Iowa in 2006.

Brands, who also wrestled for Gable at Iowa, took several of Tech’s finest talents with him, leaving the program on the brink of extinction.

But instead of eliminating the program, the late Jim Weaver gambled on Dresser, hiring him to resurrect it. It hasn’t always been easy for him, especially when he finished 6–12 (1–4 ACC) in his first season. But as his reputation as an exceptional recruiter took off, so did his team’s performance on the mat.

He had a top 25 recruiting class every year he was in charge, including six classes rated in the top 11. He convinced elite local talents like All-Americans Joey Dance (125 pounds) and Zach Epperly (174 pounds), who could’ve gone anywhere else, to stay close to home. He also found diamonds in the rough, like All-American senior heavyweight Ty Walz, who was not heavily recruited out of his hometown Cleveland.

Growing crowds and matches held on the stage at the Moss Arts Center are just some of the highlights the program has reached

under his direction. The Hokies have finished in the top 10 at nationals since 2013. Last year, they finished fourth, the highest finish by any ACC team ever. Following the event, Dresser was named national coach of the year.

No, D resser never delivered a national championsh ip or coached an individual national champion, but he can largely be credited with raising the profile not just of Virginia Tech wrestling, but of ACC wrestling as a whole.

At 54, he still considers himself a young man capable of resurrecting another college program.

That’s exactly what Iowa State — one of the sport’s traditional powers — has given him a seven-year, $2.25 million deal to do. His decision to leave Virginia Tech this week to coach the Cyclones was based on his desire to be closer to his family and to take on a new challenge.

He grew up going to Iowa State matches and lived just 80 miles away in his hometown of Humboldt, Iowa.

Dresser was a two-time high school state champion before wrestling for the legendary Dan Gable at Iowa. There, he didn’t crack the lineup until his fourth year. He went on to become a two-time All-American and the 1986 national champion at 142 pounds before serving as a graduate assistant under Gable for two years.

Gable, who won 15 national champions, said this week he believes Dresser’s businesslike approach that made him successful at Virginia Tech will help him turn Iowa State around. Dresser himself has acknowledged he’s become more of a CEO than an on-the-mat coach as he’s gotten older, but he certainly feels he surrounded himself with the right people. “It’s not just Dresser,” he said about his staff over the years.

“It takes a lot of people to build a program.”

In what turned out to be his farewell press con ference S u n d ay, Dresser praised his staff and team for how they handled the situation. “I

was never worried about this team competing and going forward,” Dresser said. “That’s not a concern of mine at all.”

He will not finish out the season with the team, but will surely be its biggest fan. “I’ll be in the stands,” Dresser said Sunday. “Eating popcorn and drinking Diet Coke at the ACCs with all the rest of the Hokie fans, if they’ll have me.” The Hokies will travel to NC State on March 4 for the ACC tournament.

Now ranked four th nationally after defeating fifth-ranked Nebraska, they have appointed Tony Robie as interim coach for the remainder of the season. Robie has been with the program for 11 seasons.

After nearly 20 years in southwest Virginia, where he met his wife and had his family, it was hard to imagine Dresser leaving what he’s built at Virginia Tech behind. His legacy means to the wrestling program what Frank Beamer’s means to the football program. But Iowa State, a chance to go home, is one of only two places he ever saw himself leaving to go to.

Resur recting the Cyclones, who are in the midst of a 1–12 season, is a daunting task, but it’s hard to root against Dresser.

He seems as hungry as he was during his days as a college wrestler just trying to crack the lineup, and he’s left everywhere he’s ever been in a better place. Some of his coaches and wrestlers may join him at Iowa State, but he’s certainly left Virginia Tech in a good place for his successor. He’s also left behind a tremendous legacy to live up to.

“I kind of take great pride in the fact that everywhere I have ever left, I’ve left better and stronger,” Dresser said about his time in Blacksburg. “Virginia Tech is a national power in wrestling, which is what I wanted when I took over.

I think we’ve built a really good doggone thing here.”

@CTSportsTalk