men - vmi winter relays
Randall K. Wolf/VMI

Men's Track and Field

VMI Set to Host SoCon Indoor Championships

LEXINGTON, Va. – Ready to host the Southern Conference Indoor Championships for a sixth straight year, the VMI track and field teams are poised for a strong finish to the indoor season as the event takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Corps Physical Training Facility.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Watch on ESPN+ (Sunday only)
Live Results
Meet Schedule
 
VMI Director of Track and Field Zack Scott
"Our Keydets have been training and preparing for this moment to compete to the best of their ability against our Southern Conference foes. We have faced UNCG, ETSU and Wofford this year and have lined up well. This Saturday and Sunday it will be for the Southern Conference individual and team champion title. We will need the Corps and our VMI family and fans to help us through this meet because without you rooting the loudest it will be a much harder fight to see who is the best in the Southern Conference."
 
Men to watch
Kevin Linko - Heptathlon
Andrew Granger - Shot Put and Weight Throw
Hunter Davis - Shot Put
Herbert Brooks - Shot Put and Weight Throw
Keyandre Midgett - 60m Hurdles, Triple Jump and Long Jump
Liam McBride - 60m Hurdles
Nick Brown - 400m
Trent Whittaker - 800m
D. Alex Fiorillo - Mile


SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships set for this weekend
VMI's Corps Physical Training Facility to host the event for the sixth straight year
 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place at VMI's Corps Physical Training Facility in Lexington, Virginia, this Saturday and Sunday. This year marks the 88th edition of the men's championship and 36th women's championship. VMI is hosting the meets for the sixth straight season.
 
Samford swept the team titles again last year, with the Bulldog men claiming their third straight SoCon indoor title and the Samford women winning their seventh straight. The Bulldogs will seek to become the first SoCon women's program to win eight straight titles, as they are currently tied with former member App State (1988-94, 2001-07) for the longest streak of consecutive titles.
 
Samford's men piled up points in the field events to run away from the field in 2022, surpassing 200 points at the SoCon indoor meet for the first time in totaling 206.5. Western Carolina was a distant second with 117 points, with VMI using a win in the final men's event of the day, the 4x400-meter relay, to pass Furman for third and finish with 90.
 
The Samford women battled ETSU late into the afternoon before pulling away, finishing with 161.5. ETSU's runner-up finish was its second in four seasons and its 146.5 points were the most it has ever scored at the SoCon indoor meet. Western Carolina was third with 107.5 points.
 
This season's power rankings – determined by the top eight times or scores that are reported by the schools for each event that will be conducted at this weekend's championships – predict successful title defenses for both Samford programs.
 
The Samford men totaled 196.5 points in the power rankings, comfortably ahead of second-place Western Carolina's 105.5. Furman is close behind with 99.5 and VMI is fourth at 95.5. Samford also boasts a healthy lead in the women's power rankings with 205.5 points, well ahead of Wofford's 128. Furman is third with 113 points.
 
Spectators are welcome at the championships and day two of the meet will air live on ESPN+ beginning at noon Eastern, with Jason Patterson and Phil Cox on the call. Live results, daily recaps, photos and video highlights can be found at SoConSports.com.
 
Storylines:
- Lexington, Virginia, is the site of the men's event for the 41st time, more than double the total of the next-highest sites, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Johnson City, Tennessee, which have hosted 18 times each. The men's championship was contested in Lexington for 28 consecutive years from 1954-81. The women's championship was held in Lexington for the ninth time last season. Prior to 2018, the last time VMI hosted the championships was in 2000.
 
- The winners of seven of the 15 individual men's events and nine of the 15 individual women's events from last year's meet return this season.
 
- After all of the prior year's superlative winners returned in 2022, just three of the 2022 winners return this season. Both Most Outstanding Field Performers are back in the field in Western Carolina's Javell Brown and Wofford's Netanya Linares, as is Furman's Sierra Bower, the 2022 Female Freshman of the Year.
 
- Additionally, Samford coach Rod Tiffin is the defending coach of the year on both the men's and women's sides. He's won the award five times on the men's side, including in each of the last three seasons, and has claimed the award six times on the women's side.
 
- Six meet records fell at last year's championships, with four of those record-setters back in the field this year. Among those returning, Furman's Carson Williams erased one of the meet's longest-standings records, with his time of 8:02.87 in the 3,000-meter run surpassing the mark of 8:05.37 set by ETSU's Seamus Power in 1992. His SoCon-leading time of 7:50.40 this season ranks 33rd on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List, while teammate Dylan Schubert ranks 41st at 7:52.10. Williams also ranks 50th on the performance list in the 5,000-meter run with his time of 13:42.39 from the Husky Classic on Feb. 10, a mark that would handily beat the existing SoCon meet record.
 
- Samford's Ty Kimberlin broke the SoCon meet record in the heptathlon for the second straight season in 2022, totaling 5,395 points last year. Samford's Brittany Bishop cleared 4.06 meters in the pole vault to supplant the old league mark of 4.05m that had stood since 2012, and Furman's Megan Marvin won the 800-meter run in 2:05.68 to break the mark of 2:06.10 set in 2019.
 
- Samford's Jose Peñalver, who set the meet record in the 800-meter run (1:49.77) in 2021, is also back in the field this season.
 
- Kimberlin is seeking his fourth straight heptathlon title. Already the only three-time winner of the event in league history, he would be the first to claim four in a row should he win this year. He enters the meet with the top score in the event this season, with his 5,431 points scored in the event at the Samford Multi on Jan. 19-20 ranking 37th on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List.
 
- Samford's Bishop will be looking for her fourth straight title in the pole vault. Her top mark of 4.03 meters this season is not far off her meet-record 4.06m from last season. One of just three women to win the pole vault three times, she could become the first four-time winner in SoCon history. Samford has had a stranglehold on the event, winning it each year since 2018.
 
- Furman's Marvin will be chasing her third straight title in the 800-meter run. Her top time this season, the 2:04.77 she ran at the Bob Pollock Invitational on Jan. 28, is under the meet record she set at last year's SoCon Championships. Marvin ranks 20th on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List in the event, while she's 37th in the mile with a time of 4:36.07.
 
- ETSU's Genevieve Schwarz will also be contending for her third straight title in the mile, while Wofford' Kerrington Johnson is the two-time defending champion in the 60-meter hurdles and ranks second in the league this season with a time of 8.60 seconds in the event at the Marshall Invitational on Feb. 11.
 
- Samford's Jed Sisco, the defending champion in the pole vault, leads the league and ranks 36th on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List with a mark of 5.30 meters this season, set at the Samford Bulldog Invite on Feb. 10.
 
-www.SoConSports.com-

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Herbert Brooks

Herbert Brooks

Throws
Senior
Nick Brown

Nick Brown

Sprints/Relays
Sophomore
Hunter Davis

Hunter Davis

Throws
Sophomore
D. Alex Fiorillo

D. Alex Fiorillo

Distance
Senior
Andrew Granger

Andrew Granger

Throws
Junior
Kevin Linko

Kevin Linko

Multis
Senior
Liam McBride

Liam McBride

Hurdles-Long Jump
Junior
Keyandre Midgett

Keyandre Midgett

Hurdles-Jumps-Sprints
Junior
Trent Whittaker

Trent Whittaker

Mid-Distance
Senior

Players Mentioned

Herbert Brooks

Herbert Brooks

Senior
Throws
Nick Brown

Nick Brown

Sophomore
Sprints/Relays
Hunter Davis

Hunter Davis

Sophomore
Throws
D. Alex Fiorillo

D. Alex Fiorillo

Senior
Distance
Andrew Granger

Andrew Granger

Junior
Throws
Kevin Linko

Kevin Linko

Senior
Multis
Liam McBride

Liam McBride

Junior
Hurdles-Long Jump
Keyandre Midgett

Keyandre Midgett

Junior
Hurdles-Jumps-Sprints
Trent Whittaker

Trent Whittaker

Senior
Mid-Distance