LEXINGTON,
Va.
? On the heels of a
season in which VMI Track and Field sent its first representative to nationals
since 2005, the program announced its 2008-09 schedule Thursday.
The team will begin
its campaign in Kent, Ohio, where it will take part in the Dec. 5-6 Kent State
Open. At that event last year, Hannah Granger set new school records in the 3,000
and 5,000-meters, on her way to breaking seven officially recognized school
marks. Following the event on the Golden Flashes' home turf, VMI will break for
the winter holidays, before returning in late January to take part in an event
hosted by the University of Albany. The New York event was held at the historic
Armory Track and Field facility last season, where the Keydets set a meet
record in the Distance Medley Relay.
On Feb. 7, VMI
returns to action at its home indoor facility, the Cormack Field House, where
the Keydets will host the 2009 VMI Winter Relays. The meet will be the lone
home indoor meet this season and is expected to feature teams from throughout
the surrounding area.
The Keydets travel
to Akron, Ohio, to compete at a meet hosted by Akron University Feb. 13 and 14,
following which the team is currently scheduled to travel to Blacksburg, Va.,
to take part in the Virginia Tech Invitational. The 2007-08 version of that
meet was where Felix Kitur broke the Big South 800-meter indoor record, besting
the previous mark by some six-tenths of a second.
However, the team
may send only a limited contingent to Blacksburg this season, as the Big South
Championships begin the following Thursday, Feb. 26, and also run Feb. 27. The
VMI men placed fourth at last season's indoor championships, while the Keydet
women placed seventh.
The IC4A and ECAC
Championships are scheduled for March 7 and 8, and will be run in Boston,
Mass., while the NCAA Indoor
Championships will begin March 13 in College Station, Texas, home of Texas
A&M University.
The Keydets'
outdoor schedule begins Friday, March 27, when VMI and Washington & Lee
co-host a meet in Lexington. While arrangements are still pending, present
plans call for W&L to host the distance races and opening events of the
multi's on the 27th, and the Keydets to host the remainder of the
meet the following day at Foster Stadium. The meet will be the first outdoor
event hosted by VMI since the 2006-07 Military Championships.
The two following
weekends feature trips to Durham, N.C., and Charlottesville, Va., both meets
the Keydets competed at last season hosted by Duke and Virginia, respectively.
Kitur won both 800-meter events last year, including a triumph of nearly a
half-second in Durham.
April 16-18 will
feature the Big South Outdoor Championships, held in Radford, Va. At last
season's outdoor championships, the VMI men placed third, their best finish
since 2005, while the Keydet women, led by Kelsey Stafford and Granger,
gathered 42 total points to place a program-best fifth overall.
April 23-25 sees
VMI track in Philadelphia, Pa., where the team will take part in the Penn
Relays. Last year at the historic event, Donnie Cowart ran a 9:05.97 in the
3,000-meter steeplechase, a personal-best time and the third-best time in VMI
history. After the Penn Relays, the team will compete at April 30's Last Chance
Meet hosted by Liberty University, so named because it provides athletes a
final opportunity to qualify to the IC4A/ECAC Championships, or the NCAA
Regionals if they are able.
May 29 and 30 will
signal the start of the NCAA East Regionals, currently set for Greensboro, N.C.
At last year's regionals, Felix Kitur posted the fifth-fastest NCAA 800-meter
time of the season, a 1:46.75 to place second and punch his ticket to the
national meet, where he finished ninth. This season's NCAA Championships are
currently scheduled to take place June 10-13 in Sacramento, Calif.
