more surprised there are few competitive distance runners.

...you can't recruit every event every single year. So if you have some years where some don't pan out...then that puts those events behind. They recently signed multiple sprinters and distance runners.

due to the limited number of scholarships (12.6 for men and 18 for women, including cross country). VT women focus on field events and middle distance (400-mile). We have almost nobody in sprints (<400m), hurdles, high jump, and multi. VT's formula has been to recruit 2-4 star throwers (usually European), 3-5 pole vaulters, 2-3 star long/triple jumpers, and a bunch of middle distance (400-mile) runners. We have one of the NCAA's top pole vault coaches and a good threows coach. The decline of the VT distance program in recent years on both men's and women's teams was disappointing. VT's new head track coach was the distance coach at Oregon, so that issue will hopefully get cured over the next few years. As a result, I would expect to see the specialty mix shift to include more distance runners, rather than short sprinters.