VMI Track and Field will open its 2009-10 season Wednesday, as the Keydets compete on the first day of the Liberty Kickoff, hosted by Liberty University at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center in Lynchburg.
The first day of competition will be light, as only the first four events of the men's heptathlon, featuring four VMI competitors, will be contested. The remainder of the proceedings will take place Thursday, beginning at noon. A full time schedule is linked to above, and the "Away Meet Central" page is available via the left-hand menu bar here on VMIKeydets.com. That will provide you with other relevant, useful information regarding the meet.
Coming off a season in which they placed second at both the indoor and outdoor Big South Championships, the Keydet men will open their campaign with a contingent anchored by several of their stalwarts. James Alexander is entered in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes, and will be joined by three teammates in the former. Ademola Titcombe, Austin Lewis and Nate Gant are all entered in the shortest sprint of the day, which will be the collegiate track debut for both Lewis and Gant. Gant, in fact, is VMI's top seed in the event, as the 2009 Maryland State Champion in the 55-meters is ranked sixth on the pre-meet performance list (link above).
Both Gant and Titcombe will be busy later on in the meet as well, with the sophomore entered in the triple jump and the freshman registered in a pair of events, the 4X400-meter relay and the long jump. Junior Terrence Green, who was second in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump at last year's Big South Indoor Championships, is entered in both events here as well.
In addition to the jumps, the Keydet men will be well represented in the throwing events. Chad Lawson, who joins Alexander and Matt Satterwhite as tri-captains of this year's men's team, is slated to take part in the weight throw. Lawson won that event at last year's conference championships, and will be joined here by three of his teammates. Junior Cody Davis is seeded fifth, as he comes off a year in which he scored at this event at the conference championships, while Billy Pugh and James Handler are also scheduled to compete. Davis and Handler will also take part in the shot, another event Davis scored at during last year's Big South meet.
Beginning on Thursday, the VMI women will also take to the track, and without question, their notable event will be the mile run. In that event, the Keydets have eight competitors on the pre-meet performance list. The roster is every athlete who competed in a cross country race this past season, led by Big South XC Individual Champion Hannah Granger, who is the top seed. Jenna Moye, the conference's Freshman of the Year, is also ranked highly, while Corinne Lariviere, Jenna Pickett, Leah Schubel and Lindsey Carty are all also scheduled to be involved in the race.
The mile run is set to go off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening, but before that, freshman Kate Collins will take part on the pole vault, which is scheduled for a 4:30 start. Collins, who was ranked second in Virginia in the indoor pole vault last year, is the top-ranked collegiately affiliated competitor at this meet. She will enter her first collegiate meet as the #4-ranked competitor, with a seed of 3.66 M.
Four VMI competitors will also take part in the women's weight throw, led by Aquisi Harris. Harris, a junior and VMI's top representative in the throwing events, enters as the #6-ranked competitor in the meet. She will be joined by javelin school record holder Michelle Feole, along with Laura Resetar and freshman Kelsey McCusker.
Following the Liberty meet, VMI will take more than a month off before returning to action Saturday, Jan. 16 in Kent, Ohio, as the Keydets take part in the Doug Raymond Invitational hosted by Kent State.
