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February 15, 2022
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PAGE 2 February 15, 2022
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Virginia Tech celebrates its 150th anniversary with new Humanities Week The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences created Humanities Week as a part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebration.
KAVYA SUNDARAPANDIAN assistant news editor
Through December 2022, Virginia Tech is celebrating 150 years since its founding in 1872 as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. As part of the celebration of this milestone for the university, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences hosted the first-ever Virginia Tech Humanities Week from Feb. 7 to 11. “Over the course of the week, we celebrate the diversity of our humanities programs through poetry readings, a keynote lecture by renowned ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah, an Ethics Bowl demonstration, and more,” said Laura Belmonte, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. The college hosted 10 events throughout the week. Some of the activities included reading groups, poetry, and ethics and culture discussions throughout the campus and in the community. The college also hosted Nikki Giovanni, acclaimed poet and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English, and Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosopher and ethicist. Appiah delivered the keynote address for Virginia Tech Humanities Week and Giovanni hosted the Nikki Giovanni Celebration of Poetry. According to Sylvester Johnson, the Center for Humanities’ founding director, Virginia Tech Humanities Week was created as a way to “create more visibility for the important work happening in humanities at Virginia Tech.” Virginia Tech Humanities Week emphasizes
the need for the humanities and sciences within every discipline. Virginia Tech is known for its sciences and advancements in technology but also in the humanities, according to Belmonte. Matthew Gabriele, the chair of Virginia Tech’s Humanities Week Steering Committee, echoed this sentiment, and said that “the humanities anchor our understanding of the world” when explaining the importance of the humanities at Virginia Tech. “VT Humanities Week is a wonderful opportunity to underscore the university’s rich intellectual scope and its passionate commitment to overall excellence in all fields of inquiry,” Belmonte said. For more information about events in the Sesquicentennial Celebration, students can visit Virginia Tech’s webpage on the university’s 150th anniversary.
COURTESY OF VIRGINIA TECH Nikki Giovanni, Distinguished Professor in the Department of English.
COLL LLEG EGIA IAT TE TIMES
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February 15, 2022 PAGE 3
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COVID-19 UPDATE: Community testing centers close, VT Athletics changes vaccination requirements
VDH announced that all testing centers will be closed, and Virginia Tech Athletics will no longer require proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter at-home games. JANE PARK news writer
The Virginia Department of Health announced plans to close all community testing centers due to the decrease in demand and availability of PCR and rapid antigen tests, according to WTOP. The centers opened amid the omicron surge last December. WTOP reported that, instead, the department will carry out a localized testing initiative run through mobile vans.
On Wednesday, Feb. 9, Virginia Tech Athletics announced that proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative test result will no longer be required to attend its indoor events. Face masks remain mandatory. Virginia Tech’s COVID-19 dashboard showed that as of Feb. 11, 83 out of the 627 tests administered in the past seven days had positive results. There are 91 self-reported active cases among students, of which 12.1% are asymptomatic, 71.4% have mild symptoms and 16.5% have moderate symptoms.
As of Friday, Feb. 11, Virginia’s COVID-19 reported cases rose by 4,275, making the total number of cases 1,602,691, according to WHSV. There were also 89 additional deaths, increasing the death toll to 17,482.
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February 15, 2022 PAGE 5
LTE: Virginia Tech’s response to grad student food insecurity is inadequate
Virginia Tech graduate students are struggling to afford basic necessities and the university needs to hear them out.
or the past year, VT grad students have been fighting for a living wage. According to a university-run survey, more than a third of the graduate students at Tech are food insecure, with that number jumping to 1 in 2 for international graduate students. On Monday, the legislation went before the University Council for its first reading. As an alumni, I attended in solidarity. I can honestly say that I have never been more ashamed of my alma mater. After hearing firsthand accounts in this meeting of students having to choose between food, healthcare and rent, and after seeing statistics laying out just how common that situation is, I expected the administration to jump at the chance to rectify this crisis. Instead, they were defensive, callous and removed from reality.
They rattled off tuition remission and “comprehensive healthcare” as arguments for why grad students ought to be grateful for the poverty wages they have, and quibbled over slight pay differences between departments. Many of them ignored the fact that students are going hungry or missing rent payments altogether, instead complaining about the language of the resolution. The few on the council that spoke in favor of the resolution were met with applause from the room packed full of students. Over 450 people turned out in person and on Zoom for this initial reading, a significant increase from the average meeting size of around 50. Everyone present agreed that this university needs its grad students — that their hard work keeps it running. So, why did the financial aid office recently send an email encouraging
grad students to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits? Why is it the school’s policy to keep them on starvation wages, and pass the problem off to community or government programs? I help run the NRV Community Fr idge, a free food distr ibution program in downtown Blacksburg, and have talked to a lot of grad students who use the service about the constant struggle to be able to feed themselves off Virginia Tech pay. International students are hardest hit, as they can’t easily access programs like SNAP, and their student visas prevent them from getting other part-time work — even over the summer when they aren’t employed by Tech. Hea r ing adm inistrators outr ight dismiss this crisis was nauseating. Grad students run research programs,
teach and produce scholarship for this university, bringing in real financial and cultural value. The least the university could do is stop exploiting them to the point of hunger. As Faculty Senate member Carla Finkelstein said in the meeting, “the students are asking for something that is kind of basic … I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal to increase (their salary) a little bit.” With faculty support and the rising number of alumni pledging not to donate until the resolution passes, the Council’s choice should be easy.
LAUREN MALHOTRA
COURTESY OF LAUREN MALHOTRA
School of Health Sciences Clinical Mental Health Counseling
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Ghosting: the most inconsiderate way to end relationships
Ghosting occasionally has its place in relationships, but for the most part, it’s damaging to everyone involved.
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alentine’s Day is on many students’ minds, and during this season, many of us will find ourselves unfortunately single. Now, however, is the perfect time to discuss the pitfalls of modern dating, especially on college campuses. According to the Pew Research Center, up to 30% of all American adults in 2019 used dating apps. While it was once most common to meet your partner through friends or family, the internet has now become a place where more and more people meet their significant others. Likewise, the internet has made interpersonal communication even easier, with everyone being a simple phone call, text or direct message away. However, there’s a downside to these new, more direct means of communication: They have led to the rise of “ghosting.” Ghosting, according to Psychology Today, is “abruptly ending communication with someone without explanation.” While ghosting most often takes place in romantic relationships, it can also happen with friendships, where people cut off their close friends suddenly without a clear reason. According to a survey of 800 users of the online dating platform Plenty of Fish, close to 80% of people aged 18–33 reported being ghosted at some point in their dating history. The question is, then, why do people ghost? The top two reasons include, according to Psychology Today, convenience and faded attraction. While ghosting is an easy way to end a relationship with someone, it leaves the other person without closure. It’s an inconsiderate way to end a relationship or potential relationship and a habit that is not conducive to maintaining healthy relationships in the future. Difficult conversations are an important part of any relationship, and ghosting is simply avoiding the conversation altogether. “I don’t think most people intentionally ghost others to hurt their feelings,” said Sneha Kripanandan, a senior majoring in computer science. “I think it can be hard to engage in confrontation which
leads to ghosting. Honestly, some people might even want to be let down easier or catch the hint rather than getting a direct rejection … probably because of the heavy negative emotions associated with getting rejected. But when it comes down to it, communication is literally always key to me. Communicate your needs at the beginning of a situation/relationship/ friendship and there will be less misunderstandings, less feelings hurt. If you talk about what to do in a situation where someone wants to ‘ghost,’ establish what you’d prefer they do instead.” Alec Bradfield, a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, echoed this sentiment. “Traditional ghosting is usually an immature and disrespectful way to end a relationship with someone,” Bradfield said. “Ghosting treats someone like an end rather than a means and shows that the person is ‘not worth their time.’ No one wants to be ghosted, so people shouldn’t ghost.” Dating and relationships are hard, and there’s no easy playbook to go by. However, difficult conversations are important. In situations where you are in danger, I would never advocate for you to explain why you are leaving that relationship. In normal dating situations, however, you need to be able to tell someone why it will not work out. Ultimately, any relationship, platonic or romantic, is built on communication and trust, and when it comes to the end of a relationship, communication is as equally important as it was throughout the entirety of the relationship — regardless of how short or long it lasted. It will be a difficult conversation and probably uncomfortable for both parties involved. Still, people who were an important part of our lives deserve to know why we’re ending the relationship. Ghosting is not the answer.
MARCUS LEWIS • senior • national security & foreign affairs, international studies
Lifestyles
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February 15, 2022 PAGE 7
The next chapter: Tips for mastering your resume and CV for grad school Assistant Director of Career and Professional Development Alyssa Rametta provides insight on perfecting your graduate school application materials. EMILY BURCH copy editor & lifestyles staff writer
Seniors: At this point in the semester, you may be ready to take the next step in your education beyond undergrad, but applying to graduate school may seem daunting. Virginia Tech’s Career and Professional Development (CPD) team is here to help. Follow these tips to strengthen your graduate school resume and curriculum vitae (CV), and alleviate the stress of the application process through the additional help and resources that CPD provides. What to include in a resume and CV According to Alyssa Rametta, the assistant director of CPD and liaison to the graduate school at Virginia Tech, what students should include in their resume or CV will depend on the type of student they are and what specific program they are applying for. “A CV is going to be anything research oriented, and a CV focuses a lot more on any research experience,” Rametta said. “If an undergrad happens to have a publication, fantastic. They could certainly include that. (For) anything research related, a student’s going to be writing a CV and not a resume most likely.” Rametta explained that resumes are more focused on work experience and skills students gain both on and off campus. “Graduate programs really want to see a well-rounded student, so that includes your academics,” Rametta said. “But, what else are you involved in outside of the four walls of the classroom? Consider exper ientia l learning, like internships or research or community involvement, (or) any campus club that you’re a part of.”
Even if your clubs, off-campus jobs or other commitments outside of academics aren’t related to the program you are applying for, they are still important to include and will enhance your resume to make you stand out as an applicant. “If you’re a server or you work at Starbucks, many students may not think that that is relevant to … becoming a marine biologist. But, you learn a lot of transferable skills,” Rametta said. “And, it also shows a lot of time management if you can handle a part-time job off campus and a full coursework and a research experience.” Rametta added that if any students need additional help crafting a resume or CV for grad school, they can schedule 15-m inute appointments with peer career advisors for a quick review of their professional documents. Additionally, career advisors who specialize in different grad programs are available to meet with students to discuss the requirements of each program, help them format their resume and figure out if they need to transition to a CV. “We do have a career advisor dedicated to every college, which is really, really helpful for students to have a dedicated point person, but also kind of an expert in content area,” Rametta said. “An engineering resume for grad school is going to look different than somebody in biology or in sociology.” Online resources and templates Tech’s CPD site provides a career planning guide that walks students through applying to grad school. The guide also includes interview tips and CV and resume samples to help students design their own.
Rametta considers this guide to be the “goldmine” of everything a student could need to guide them through the planning process — it includes tips on researching different schools, exploring different programs, and much more. Rametta also adds that this guide serves as a great starting point before meeting with a career advisor. Templates are also a commonly used tool to help format CVs and resumes, but Rametta advises students against using them unless they are in a creative discipline. “It’s a good idea to not use a template and just start from scratch, and that way you have full autonomy over your document and it’ll help later on in (the) job search as well,” Rametta said. “If you’re in a creative field, templates can be really great having some pop of color (and) some design elements. What we would want to avoid is any pictures.” R a m et t a expla i n s t hat som e templates have spaces for headshots, so many students end up inserting their own without realizing that this isn’t what graduate admissions or employers want. According to a blog post by Molly Nevins on Jobscan, some admissions staff and employers find headshots unprofessional, and including one could potentially decrease your chances of getting in. Additional support Aside from helping students build upon their professional documents for grad school applications, Tech’s CPD team provides other additional support to guide them through the process. “I want undergrads at Tech to know the career support that exists to prepare and apply for graduate school,” Rametta said. “In any program, we can
be helping them through that process.” According to Rametta, most grad school applications typically open up around December, and CPD is also open each summer with a lot of time available for both in-person or virtual appointments. This provides an opportunity to get your applications out of the way before the fall semester. “If you know you’re going to apply this December, the best thing you can do is to get all these materials ready in the summer while you have some downtime,” Rametta said. Something many Hokies don’t know, Rametta added, is that CPD serves Tech alumni for up to two years after graduating, which can be extremely helpful for those who are considering taking a gap year or thinking about their next steps. “They’re not on their own after graduation. They still have the same career advisors, (and the) same support that can help them up to two years after graduation,” Rametta said. Don’t let the application process wear you down. Be sure to schedule a career advising appointment, and CPD will guide you through every step of the process with all the help and resources they provide.
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An insider’s guide to exploring grad school options Graduate assistant Alaa Abdalla offers advice to those worried about the nitty-gritty details of grad school preparation. EMANDA SEIFU assistant lifestyles editor
If you were anything like me, college meant four more years of education after high school graduation, then off to the workforce. What not many people mentioned was that there is another path: graduate school. According to Virginia Tech Engineering Online graduate assistant Alaa Abdalla, graduate school is “a place where a group of people have similar interests around a topic get together to ask questions, read, discuss, and write about it.” Abdalla is currently working on her dissertation, which focuses on “students’ stories of how they ended up in engineering, and their purpose behind enrolling in university.” Like most, Abdalla’s journey toward graduate school started with a Google search. “The first big step is deciding that you are going to graduate school and picking a major –– after that, you survey where this major is being taught and researched,” Abdalla said. “After that, it is a good idea to look specifically at what the
professors at the departments you are considering are researching, if that aligns with your interests and if they are open to having more students on board.” For Abdalla, the process was a bit more complicated with her status as an international student. “If you are (an) international student like me, then you also need to get your travel paperwork and visa sorted out,” Abdalla said. “It is always a good idea if you can travel and see the place and get a feel for the department for yourself.” Abdalla found herself facing this very dilemma. “As an international student, I didn’t get the chance to tour or see any of the places I applied to, so I depended on information from the internet mostly,” Abdalla said. “Later when I narrowed my list of places I am applying to, I started talking to some of the students and the professors in those departments, but also all virtually.” When the time comes to choose an institution to study at, there are several factors you need to consider. For Abdalla, this included location and the relationships she would have with her colleagues and mentors.
“A big one for graduate school is the relationship between you and your advisor, your research group and your committee as well,” Abdalla said. “You will be spending a lot of time with those people –– you need to be comfortable and feel supported.” Being a city dweller, Abdalla experienced a challenging transition to the college town of Blacksburg. “You need to also consider if Blacksburg is somewhere you can, and want to, live in for an extended period of time,” Abdalla said. “I am more of a city person, so adapting to living here is a challenge for me. Consider everything: the weather, the landscape, the prices of rent, cities close by, etc. You want to be comfortable and happy where you move.” Even after entering graduate school, Abdalla experienced hardships. “None of my friends from undergraduate pursued a PhD with me, and they all went to get master’s degrees or full time jobs,” Abdalla said. “So at times, I feel alone on this journey because I haven’t experienced their work life, and they haven’t experienced my academic career. At the
same time, here almost everyone I interact with regularly is a graduate student, which makes me feel I am at this academic bubble that is distant from everyone else.” While the application and admission processes of graduate school were difficult, the reward seems to have made it worth it for Abdalla. “You meet a lot of people who are doing very different things, and all interesting,” Abdalla said. “People seem to really be passionate about their research, which I love to hear, especially from those who do work in areas very different from mine. It is always refreshing to see what humans are capable of doing, and that there is so much more to learn about this world.” In regards to those interested in graduate school, Abdalla said, “People who go to graduate school don’t get extra points in life, and graduate school is a long haul, so really think about if it is the right thing for you, and even if you are certain it is what you want to do, timing is important.” @CollegiateTimes
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February 15, 2022 PAGE 9
Rhizome director discusses his vision for design- and sustainability-oriented LLC
Rhizome’s academic and project-based learning curriculum gives students the skills needed to create community collaboration and workplace impact. DAVID VU lifestyles staff writer
The Creativity and Innovation District (CID) Living Learning Program residence hall is the home of three living learning communities (LLCs): Studio 72, Innovate and Rhizome. This year, Rhizome was introduced as a brand new LLC that focuses on tackling global challenges, completing the trio of LLCs at the CID. Grant Hamming, program director of Rhizome, delved into the objectives and structure of Rhizome, its origins and how he got involved with it. Hamming also discussed his vision for the future of Rhizome. “We are interested in systems thinking and systems theory,” Hamming said. “We’re interested in design thinking — design as a way of solving or approaching problems more broadly.” Rhizome is oriented around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals, which the group uses as a driving force for
Grant Hamming, director of Rhizome.
the direction of the LLC. “Each year, Rhizome has a theme oriented around one of the sustainable development goals and our goal for this year … is called ‘Zero Hunger,’” Hamming said. “It’s focused on sustainable agriculture and food insecurity.” A core component of Rhizome is a project-based learning forum that encourages students to analyze how certain aspects of life can make a global impact. The LLC cultivates these skills by organizing hands-on projects with members in the local community, giving students both knowledge and experience with certain issues they may face in their future careers. “We’ve done some workshops on facilitations on how to work with local people so that their voices are heard,” Hamming said. “We have worked with The (Campus) Kitchen at Virginia Tech, which is a food insecurity organization which addresses food insecurity among Virginia Tech students. We went and we
packed food and talked about food insecurity on campus and how it affects the community.” Rhizome is considered a hybrid LLC, meaning it is a LLC that is a combination of both academic and experiential learning. During the first half of the semester, the LLC functions as a class in which students learn about systems thinking and design thinking through readings and interdisciplinary texts. The second half of the semester involves a long-term project that ends with an exhibition displaying what students accomplished through their work. Rhizome’s long-term project this year is with a community farm and food bank in Floyd County called Plenty. Hamming and students are working on designing deliverables, such as design plans and ideas, for Plenty to execute in the future. “The students will be designing a variety of changes to their physical environments at Plenty to help them with their community outreach with demonstration gardens for local
COURTESY OF GRANT HAMMING
edible plants, native edible plants and other things,” Hamming said. “I’m hoping that in the future, returning students or even maybe students that moved off campus or away from Rhizome might be able to come volunteer and help build some of this stuff so that even after next year when we pivot to a new theme, we can continue that partnership with Plenty.” Rhizome launched last August, but development of the LLC has been in the works since Oct. 2020. The College of Architecture and Urban Studies (CAUS) specifically created Rhizome in an effort to have an LLC associated with the college. “The composition of the college is changing,” Hamming said. “In its current form, it encompasses the built environment from the interior, like interior design, all the way out to the level of policies. So, you have interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, building construction and then the three departments in SPIA, the School for Public and International Affairs. Rhizome is really addressing every aspect of the CAUS program and that’s how we have come up with a combination of systems and design and then like policy and international development stuff because of that original idea.” Ha m m i ng’s backg round i n a r t, curation and student leading has translated into his position with Rhizome. With a doctorate in art history at Stanford under his belt, Hamming has done much of his work in academic art museums. Through this experience, he learned the ins and outs of public and student-based programming, including teaching in galleries, creating ideas to make museums more accessible for people with disabilities and curating exhibitions. “I’m someone who always valued, in his career, meeting people where they are, bringing them into something, into a space, into an idea, into an organization, and making it welcoming and open to them,” Hamming said. In 2019, Hamming moved to Blacksburg and worked as an adjunct professor in the School of Visual Arts, where he taught the history of graphic design and the history of African American protest art. Hamming decided to take up the position as Rhizome program continued on page 10
PAGE 10 February 15, 2022 continued from page 9
director in July. “When this job came, I thought it was such a great marriage of my academic interests in using art and design for greater engagement with the world and my experience in organizational and running nontraditional and nonclassroom based programs as well,” Hamming said. With 50 current members and more coming in next year, Hamming noted that he hopes that students will take the lessons of what Rhizome teaches to the heart. “The ethos of Rhizome is that we should be working with people; we shouldn’t be imposing our views,” Hamming said. “We should be thinking in terms of systems and in terms of the interconnected nature of the world.” Hamming hopes that when students leave Rhizome, they will know their sense of belonging in a broader scale of human society and become aware of their potential power and responsibility. When reflecting on the first semester of Rhizome at the CID, Hamming recalled
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collegiatetimes.com the engagement he had with students in the community with a variety of social activities and educational activities, such as a trip to the Blacksburg Farmers Market to learn about how it engages with local vendors and their products. One of the biggest challenges that Hamming has faced with Rhizome in the first year was that the CID building was hardly ready for move-in when students came to campus, with the Rhizome lounge not being ready until several weeks into the semester. “We really didn’t get a fully operational lounge until mid-October,” Hamming said. “The students were so great at rolling with the punches. We found alternate spaces here in the CID — classrooms and stuff — and it’s really amazing how they have formed a community even before they had the space to do so.” Another obstacle that Rhizome faced in their first year was that it was a brand new LLC with no returning students, so the LLC had to find its footing. Luckily, Hamming and his students had perseverance and determination throughout this shaky start.
“The students have formed a really warm and rich community based around their shared interests in this more conscientious approach to art, architecture, design and building,” Hamming said. Thinking about the ways Rhizome can connect with the other two LLCs in the CID, Hamming believes that there will be a lot of ways in which students in Rhizome, Studio 72 and Innovate can all come together and think of different methods to approach the shared goal of making an impact on the world. “Whereas Studio 72 is all about creative expression for creative expression’s sake, Rhizome is kind of an applied creative expression program,” Hamming said. “We might say Rhizome is the creative version of what Innovate is doing, where if Innovate is focused on entrepreneurship and on how to make an impact on the world through your creation of whatever your idea is, Rhizome has a lot of that idea-generation capacity.” When thinking about the future of R hizome, Hamming envisions that Rhizome will find its place as a strong and welcoming LLC on campus.
“I hope that we have a really tight knit, multigenerational community where sophomores and above are helping a new cohort of 50 or so Rhizome students every year learn the ropes of Virginia Tech, learn the ropes of what Rhizome is all about and then inspiring them to contribute in the same way in future years,” Hamming said.
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Sports
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February 15, 2022 PAGE 11
Track and field: Lopez Segura and Gorlova make history once again Virginia Tech indoor track continues to break school records.
GLEN RORIE sports staff writer
The Virginia Tech track and field team had a strong showing in both the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina. Multiple Hokies broke school records, which is becoming a routine occurrence for this team.
Day one
In the Tiger Paw Invitational, freshman Victoria Gorlova once again broke her own personal best and the Hokies’ women’s long jump record, jumping 6.28m. Rachel Baxter cruised to another victory in the women’s pole vault, securing first place with a clearance of 4.44m. The graduate student seems to be in ACC Champion form already. The duo of graduate student Rebecca Mammel and sophomore Sara Killinen placed high once again in the women’s weight throw. Mammel took second with a throw of 22.10m and Killinen took third with a throw of 21.60m.
In Lynchburg, junior Hannah Ballowe and graduate student Leigha Torino took second and third respectively in the women’s 800m dash. Ballowe ran her career-best of 2:06.07. Graduate student Ashley Smith took fifth place in the women’s 5,000m run with a time of 16:58.62.
Day two
At the Darius Dixon Memorial Invite, the Hokies had a trifecta in the men’s 1-mile run. Senior Antonio Lopez Segura finished first, graduate student Seb Anthony second and red shirt senior Ben Fleming third. All three Hokies ran a sub-four mile, with Lopez Segura breaking the Virginia Tech mile record with his time of 3:56.79. Lopez Segura has broken two records in the past two meets. Speaking of breaking two records, Gorlova managed to break the women’s triple jump record in the same meet as the long jump record. The freshman now leads the ACC in the triple jump heading into the upcoming ACC Indoor Championships. In a stacked 200m dash event with prominent
HOKIE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VERSUS GEORGIA TECH PHOTO GALLERY
Georgia sprinter Matthew Boling leading the pack, junior Kennedy Harrison and senior Cole Beck held their own, placing 10th and 12th out of 73 runners. Both ran sub 21 seconds, with Harrison running 20.88 and Beck running 20.91. Harrison captured second place in the Hokies’ record books in the 200 and is now first in the ACC. Senior Essence Henderson put up her season-best in the women’s shot put, throwing 17.09m. She placed third among collegiate athletes. To conclude each meet, the Hokies put forth a women’s and men’s 4x400m relay in the two separate meets. The women’s 4x400m relay team of freshman Barbora Malíková, junior Lindsey Butler, sophomore Star Price and Ballowe broke the Darius Dixon Memorial Invite record as the squadron ran 3:42.48. The previous record was 3:43.01 and was set by N.C. A&T on Feb. 9, 2019. The men’s 4x400m relay team of sophomore Kahleje “KJ” Tillmon, red shirt senior Tyreke Sapp, Harrison and graduate student Patrick
Forrest also set a new season-best with a time of 3:08.76. Harrison ran an impressive split of 45.58. The relay team has picked up a habit of running a season-best, as this is the third time the relay team has seen improvement in their times. Almost two weeks out from the ACC Indoor Championships, the Virginia Tech track and field team will conclude their regular season at home in the Virginia Tech Challenge and on the road heading back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the JDL DMR Invitational Feb. 18–19.
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NAYHA POCHIRAJU / COLLEGIATE TIMES
PAGE 12 February 15, 2022
editor@collegiatetimes.com
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Men’s basketball beats Syracuse by 12 after strong defensive performance Justyn Mutts recorded the second triple-double in Virginia Tech history.
Virginia Tech’s Justyn Mutts (25) dunks on a Syracuse player, Feb. 12, 2022. CLAIRE CASTAGNO sports editor
Virginia Tech men’s basketball (15–10, 7–7) hosted Syracuse (13–12, 7–7) in Cassell Coliseum on Feb. 12. The Hokies beat the Orange 71–59, led by Justyn Mutts’ tripledouble and Keve Aluma’s 20-point performance. Mutts’ triple-double was only the second one recorded in Virginia Tech history. The game was won relatively easily, despite the Hokies shooting poorly from the 3-point line; Tech only scored one 3-pointer in the second half. Syracuse only led the game for a total of three minutes and 56 seconds, but the Orange
hung in with Tech for a majority of the game. After missing its first three 3-pointers in the first half, Virginia Tech scored on its next four 3-pointer attempts. A 3-pointer from Buddy Boeheim with 4:57 left in the first half put Syracuse up 26–24, but Virginia Tech answered with a 3-pointer of its own from Darius Maddox to regain the lead. At halftime, the Hokies were up 39–29 after seven 3-pointers. Despite not shooting its strongest in the second half, Virginia Tech was able to make a difference on defense. As a whole, the Hokies recorded five blocks on the game and scored 17 points off turnovers. With 6:56 to go in the game, a jumper from
COLLEEN HENNEBERRY/COLLEGIATE TIMES
Boeheim tied the score at 54 apiece. A steal from Aluma leading to a fastbreak dunk from Mutts got the energy going in Cassell and the Hokies did not look back. Syracuse went cold and did not score another bucket until 50 seconds left to play. In the last 50 seconds, Hunter Cattoor and Aluma both hit two free throws each, but the Orange could not put something together on its possessions to close the gap and the Hokies won by 12. Starting point guard Storm Murphy played 14 minutes compared to backup point guard Sean Pedulla’s 19 minutes. As the season has progressed, we have seen Pedulla get more comfortable against ACC opponents, and
coach Mike Young has started to increase his playing time. Against Syracuse, Pedulla scored three points and had two assists. The Hokies have a quick turnaround, hosting Virginia on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. for the second Commonwealth Clash of the season. In the teams’ first matchup on Jan. 12, Tech lost by two after it did not score for the last three minutes of the game.
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