VMI Track and Field will take part in a pair of meets this upcoming weekend, with representatives traveling to both Liberty and Akron Universities. The meet in Akron, Ohio is a two-day event, set to begin Friday at 5 p.m., while the meet at Liberty will take place exclusively on Friday and will open at 3:30 p.m. Live results for the Akron meet will be posted at the link below, and live video is also available for a small fee.
The Akron Invitational will include two sections for the majority of the events, with the gold section being the top, championship grouping. Felix Kitur will be in that grouping in the 800-meters, as he looks to build on the IC4A qualifying time (1:52.19) he put up in his last race, Jan. 22 at the Armory in New York. Kitur is the top-seeded VMI competitor in any event at the Akron meet, seeded second in the event. He will be running against Kent State's Destin Heasley, who has already posted an NCAA provisional qualifying effort and currently holds the 14th-fastest time in the country this year.
James Alexander is also placed in the championship section of an event, as he is one of 12 such runners in the 200-meter dash. He'll be taking on such athletes as Phil Ferguson of host Akron, who ran a 21.31 in this event in late January. In addition, Ademola Titcombe will be in the gold section of the triple jump, and will be gaining experience against a solid field.
Although they will not be competing in gold sections, other athletes will be facing strong competition in Akron as well. Chad Lawson just missed the top section of the weight throw, as did Kate Collins in the pole vault. Cody Davis will also be taking part in the weight throw, as well as the shot put. Davis comes off one of the best meets of his career, as he set new personal bests in the weight throw and the shot put at this past weekend's VMI Winter Relays.
Finally, Chandale Williams is entered in the 400-meters, while Dean Gonsalves and Chris Wunsch will take part in the men's mile.
A group of the remaining Keydet athletes will travel across the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Liberty Quad, hosted by Big South rival Liberty University. That set includes Leah Schubel, Lindsey Carty and Corinne Lariviere, as all three are scheduled to run the mile at that meet. On the men's side of that event, Noah Hagos and Ian McGinn will see action. McGinn made his season debut last weekend, finishing third in the 800 at the VMI Winter Relays, while Hagos is also entered in the 5,000 along with teammate Frank Van Valkenburg.
In the women's pole vault, Jennifer Sing and Carrie Wortham are scheduled to compete. Sing comes off a strong performance at last weekend's meet, as she cleared 3.15 M (10'4") to post a new personal best by more than a foot. Also set to compete is another athlete who posted a personal best last weekend, Aquisi Harris. Harris's new weight throw PR of 15.04 M (49'4") gives her a great deal of momentum heading into this event.
After this weekend's events, VMI track and field will be back in action Feb. 27 for day one of the 2010 Big South Indoor Track and Field Championships. The meet will be held at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.
