JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - VMI's Felix Kitur and Jennifer Sing will compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Round meet, with their events set for Thursday and Friday. The meet will be held at North Florida's Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.
Kitur will take part in his trademark event, the 800-meters, while Sing will compete in the pole vault. Both will be bidding for a top-12 finish, as that would secure a trip to the main portion of the NCAA Championships, which will take place June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa. Kitur is looking for his fourth trip to that event, while Sing is seeking her first.
Schedule
Kitur competes in the first round of the 800-meters Thursday at 8:10 p.m., while Sing will pole vault at 11 a.m. Friday morning. Should Kitur hold serve and advance, the second (and final in Jacksonville) round of the 800 falls Friday at 7 p.m.
How to Follow
Fans can follow along with Kitur and Sing's progress in a number of ways. VMI Athletic Communications is on hand in Jacksonville, and will provide live, up-to-the-minute updates via the @VMISID Twitter page, conditions permitting. There will also be live results and video streaming, courtesy of the North Florida SID office, although the video streaming link is not yet available. Flotrack will also be on hand, conducting interviews and posting highlights throughout the meet.
How They Got Here
Felix Kitur: Kitur has enjoyed a banner fifth outdoor year at VMI, a season that has included completing the 800/1500 double at the Big South Championships for the second straight year, as well as winning his second consecutive outdoor IC4A crown. His best time of the season came at the Fred Hardy Invitational, a 1:48.14 that has him seeded seventh. This will be Kitur's first race in Florida, a climate that he prefers, since his 1:46.75, Big South-record clocking at the 2008 NCAA Regionals.
Jennifer Sing: This will be Sing's first Preliminary Round appearance, after she cleared a VMI record 4.05 meters at the VMI/W&L Carnival in March. That has her tied for 18th-best in the region, and it also was the second-highest clearance in Big South history.
Field Breakdown
The top two 800-meter runners in Division I, Charles Jock (UC Irvine) and Ryan Martin (UC Santa Barbara) will compete in the West Preliminary meet, but the East is not short on talent. Former Kitur opponents Casimir Loxsom (Penn State) and Lance Roller (Virginia) have the top two times in this region, while Kitur is seeded just behind David Mokone of Western Kentucky, whose best time of the year is just five-hundredths quicker than the Keydet standout's. Of note is the fact that one of Kitur's career races against Roller came at this meet just one year ago, when the now-VMI graduate beat the UVA standout in the preliminaries.
Also of note is another runner in Kitur's opening heat, Zavior Brown of Maryland Eastern Shore. Brown is one of two collegiate runners to best Kitur in the 800-meters this year, but his best time is ranked just 34th in the region.
The top three from Thursday's first round, plus the next fastest times, advance to Friday's heats. There, the top three from each race plus the three fastest will advance on to Des Moines.
Meanwhile, in the pole vault, Sing will jump 23rd of 24 jumpers in the second of two pits. She comes in seeded 18th after her 4.05 meter clearance in March, and the one person who beat her on that occasion was Mandissa Marshall of George Mason, who cleared 4.30 M. Marshall is seeded third here, is considered one of the favorites and was projected to finish 10th nationally by Track and Field News in its latest prognostications.
The top 12 pole vaulters will advance to Des Moines, with a jump-off being utilized at #12 if necessary.
