The VMI women's program had its best year ever in 2014-15, setting seven new school records and obliterating the highest point total ever scored at a conference championship. There were positive signs for the program early on, as Thireyona Legg, Julia Logan, Kennedy Flynn and Christina Hill broke the school record in the 4X4 relay at the first meet of the indoor season, and for three of those runners, the first meet of their collegiate careers. That mark would fall again at the Southern Conference Championships (with Deborah Allison subbing for Flynn), while Flynn (fifth) and Hill (seventh) would enter the top-seven times in the 800-meters in program history and Logan became the third-best high jumper in team annals.
One of the classmates of Flynn, Hill and Logan was perhaps even more successful during the indoor season, as Yaa Agyepong-Wiafe set a new school record in the 60-meter hurdles and also qualified to the ECAC Championships, where she finished 16th. Agyepong-Wiafe was also seventh in the SoCon in that event.
It was not just freshmen that saw success, however, as senior Renee Reives was third in the conference and fifth in the ECAC in the shot put. The team would wind up seventh at the Southern Conference championship, but signs were there to indicate what was to come.
Outdoors, the season started with another 4X4 record performance at Richmond's home meet, the Fred Hardy Invite, as well as the reintroduction of Mary Grace Lemon. Lemon, a fifth-year senior, would go on to finish fourth in the hammer at the SoCon Championships in late April.
The team's true breakthrough performance came at its final meet before the conference championships, however, when the Keydets competed at Charlotte. Bria Anderson would finish in the top nine in both the long jump and triple jump, Kennedy Smith was seventh in the triple and Agyepong-Wiafe was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles.
The next weekend at the conference championship, it was Anderson who took point with her long jump title. Her 19'6" leap (5.94 meters) was not only a school record, but fell just shy of the qualifying standard for the USATF Junior National Championships. She became the first Keydet freshman woman to win a conference title since Lemon in 2011, and also qualified to the ECAC Championships.
Agyepong-Wiafe would lower her school record in the 100 hurdles, but it was another freshman who had the second breakthrough performance of the weekend. Kerisha Goode set a new school record in the 200-meter dash (24.66) and finished third in both the 100 and 200, in addition to anchoring the 4X100-meter relay's third-place finish. With Lemon and Logan Edwards both finishing in the top five in the hammer, and Reives placing fourth in the discus and second in the shot, the throwers chipped in as well to set the stage for the program's best meet ever.
The Keydets were fourth for most of the Championship's last day, but wound up fifth overall with a school-record 75 points, 23 points more than the team had ever logged at a conference meet. A handful of Keydets, including the 4X1 team of Anderson, Goode, Mia McClain and Agyepong-Wiafe, would go on to the ECAC outdoor meet, where the relay team wound up 11th and beat its previous best by multiple tenths of a second. Anderson was ninth in the long jump and Goode was 18th in the open 200 as the season drew to a close.
Off the track, it was announced shortly after the conference meet that Hannah Dickinson had earned a SoCon Postgraduate Scholarship. Dickinson, who would go on to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors as well, was the first Keydet to earn such a scholarship from a conference since May of 2010. She is currently part of the voting for Academic All-American recognition.
"I could not be more proud of the job our women did this season," said VMI head coach Darrin Webb. "Our team overcame adversity caused by weather and matured a great deal as the year went along. We believe the future is bright for our team and all of these competitors."
A list of the honors (as of May 29) earned by the women's track and field team this year follows.
Conference Finishes
Indoor - 7th of 9 (23 points)
Outdoor - 5th of 10 (75 points, program record)
School Records Set
Indoor
Yaa Agyepong-Wiafe - 60-meter hurdles
Legg, Hill, Flynn, Logan - 4X400-meter relay
Outdoor
Kerisha Goode - 200-meters
Yaa Agyepong-Wiafe - 100-meter hurdles
Bria Anderson - Long jump
McClain, Anderson, Goode, Agyepong-Wiafe - 4X100-meter relay
Allison, Hill, Legg, Logan - 4X400-meter relay
All-Conference
Indoor
Renee Reives - Shot Put
Outdoor
Renee Reives - Shot Put
Kerisha Goode - 100-meters, 200-meters
Women's 4X1 Relay - Goode, McClain, Agyepong-Wiafe, Anderson
All-SoCon Freshman Team
Indoor
Kennedy Smith - Triple jump
Julia Logan - High jump
Outdoor
Julia Logan - High Jump
Kennedy Smith - Triple Jump
Christina Hill - 400-meter dash
Kerisha Goode - 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash
Yaa Agyepong-Wiafe - 100-meter dash
Emily Fulton - Pole Vault, Javelin
Bria Anderson - Long Jump
Bethany King - 3,000-meter steeplechase
ECAC Qualifiers
Indoor
Renee Reives - Shot Put
Outdoor
Kerisha Goode - 100-meters, 200-meters
Bria Anderson - Long jump
Mary Grace Lemon - Hammer throw
Renee Reives - Shot Put, Discus
4X100-Meter Relay - Agyepong-Wiafe, McClain, Goode, Anderson
SoCon Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient
Hannah Dickinson
SoCon Academic All-Conference - Winter (Spring Pending)
Hannah Dickinson
Renee Reives
CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District
Hannah Dickinson
VMI Academic Awards
Elite 18
Hannah Dickinson
Athletic Director's Honor Society
Michelle Church - Fall Only
Hannah Dickinson
Renee Reives
Cadet-Athlete Scholar Society
Renee Reives
Kennedy Smith
Hannah Dickinson
Kelly Russell
Bria Anderson - Spring Only
Logan Edwards - Spring Only
Christina Hill - Spring Only
Bethany King - Fall Only
Michelle Church - Fall Only
