VMI track and field will follow its solid showing at the Big South Outdoor Championships with a trip to Philadelphia, Pa. to take part in the Penn Relays. Action is set to get underway Thursday, and after the three-day event concludes, certain Keydets will travel to High Point, N.C. for a meet that will be held Sunday evening.
The Penn Relays are perhaps the most historic track and field event in America, having begun in April of 1895 and continued every year to the present day. The three-day average attendance figures for the Relays, since 1996, have hovered over 100,000 per year, and this year's events are particularly notable due to the presence of Usain Bolt, who will anchor the 4X100-meter relay team from Jamaica in the US vs. The World event. Bolt, of course, was a double gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics and currently holds both the 100 and 200-meter world records. In addition, he is the first man in history to hold the Olympic and World titles in both the 100 and 200 at the same time.
In addition to their 4X800-meter relay team, the Keydets will send four individual competitors to Penn. A full preview for each appears below, as does an explanation of the Relays' unique method of live scoring.
Fans should note that at the Penn Relays, there can be three different groupings of athletes. Championships is where those with the higher seed marks, the would-be elite of the competition, will compete. For field events, this can include as few as 10-15 athletes, while the college and eastern sections are where the other athletes are placed. In the running competitions, the college and eastern sections will be seeded prior to the meet.
Kate Collins, Pole Vault - Collins, the VMI record holder in the pole vault, will take part in the college division of her trademark event Thursday morning at 10 a.m. The freshman out of Lovingston, Va. reset her Keydet record at the Big South Championships, clearing 3.41 meters (11'2 1/4") to finish in fourth place. Collins will have a familiar face in her grouping, as she'll take on a field that includes her high school, and now Big South rival, Shelley Parker of Liberty. Parker bested Collins this past week, finishing second at the BSC Outdoor Championships, but Collins got the better of the Liberty standout at the conference's indoor meet.
Matt Sagar, 3,000-meter Steeplechase - Joining Sagar in the event that will go off Thursday night at 7:45 are such luminaries as Harry Miller of William & Mary, who currently ranks 20th in the nation at this distance. Also running will be Adrien Dannemiller of Cornell, whose name devoted Keydet fans may recognize. Dannemiller battled Donnie Cowart '09 down the home stretch of their race at last year's regional championships, a duel Cowart won to capture a spot at the NCAA National Championships.
Sagar, of course, comes off a strong Big South meet, one where he finished third in the 3K steeple (9:22.71) to earn All-Big South honors. He also finished ninth in the 5K, and has run the second-best steeplechase time in the Big South this year, a 9:15.44 at Bucknell several weeks ago.
Cody Davis, Shot Put - Perhaps the most improved male Keydet of the season, Cody Davis will throw the shot in the college section of this week's proceedings. His event gets underway Friday at 11:15 a.m. Davis comes off yet another personal best in this event, as he threw the shot 15.94 meters (52'2 3/4") Friday to earn a second-place finish at the conference championships. Already this season, Davis has improved his personal best mark in the outdoor discipline by nearly 1.5 meters, going from a 14.48 M mark to this 15.94 M toss.
Chad Lawson, Discus/Hammer - Lawson is entered in two events this weekend, both of which he scored in at the Big South Championships. Up first is the discus, scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start Friday. The discus throw has rapidly become Lawson's best event, as he threw the implement 47.53 meters (155'11") Saturday at the Big South meet to finish in third place. The toss qualified him for IC4A's, and gives him momentum heading into the college section of this event.
The collegiate section of the hammer throw is also on Lawson's docket this weekend, an event which will open Saturday at 12:15 p.m. The junior was seventh in the Big South version of the discipline, posting a 50.66 meter (166'2") toss.
4X800-meter relay - Finally, the Keydets are entered in the 4X800-meter relay Saturday afternoon. VMI has not officially announced its competitors, but Felix Kitur is a likely choice to run one of the legs. The junior out of Eldoret, Kenya set a Big South meet record this past week in claiming his fifth career conference title. The competition, however, will be stiff, as VMI may be facing such notable track programs as Oregon and Texas.
Fans can follow along with the Penn Relays a number of different ways. First, flotrack.org will be broadcasting races from the event free of charge. Secondly, results will be posted on one of the Penn Relays web sites, and finally, flashresults.com may have results of the running events available. All of these web sites are linked above.
Following the Penn Relays, certain Keydets will travel to the previous mentioned meet in High Point, N.C. While start lists are not yet available for this event, the timing web site is linked above so that fans can view the lists when possible, as well as live results if available.
After returning from High Point, the Keydets are back in action Thursday, April 29, as the team travels to a meet at Liberty in Lynchburg, Va.
Note: The article has been amended to correct/clarify some misconceptions regarding the seeding processes. Fans should note that should VMI be moved into a college running section, the links contained within the story may not link to the correct pages.
