First NCAA event at new facility headlines VMI track and field schedule

The first NCAA athletic event at the Corps Indoor Training Facility highlights the VMI track and field schedule, which was released by the program Friday.

The Keydets will hold the first in-season competition at the new facility on Jan. 28 with a rare dual meet, as VMI takes on The Citadel. It is the Keydets’ first home meet since Feb. 16, 2013 and the team’s first dual – either indoors or outdoors – since facing Virginia Tech during the 1998 outdoor season.

That event is not VMI’s season opener, however, as the Keydets go to Liberty on Jan. 20-21 for the Liberty Invite. While VMI has been a frequent participant in February meets at Liberty, foremost being the Liberty Quad, this marks the first time since 2012-13 that the Keydets participate in a January meet at the home of their former Big South rival. The Liberty Invite is also scheduled to be the first home meet for Liberty’s new indoor facility.

VMI then goes to Marshall (Feb. 10-11) and Virginia Tech (Feb. 17-18) before the Southern Conference Championships, which will be held Feb. 25-26 in Johnson City, Tenn. at the home of ETSU.

The IC4A/ECAC Championships on March 3-5 round out the indoor schedule, while the NCAA Championships set forMarch 10-11 in College Station, Texas.

The outdoor season gets underway March 24-25 in Columbia, S.C. as the Keydets go to the University of South Carolina for a meet. From there, it is on to a pair of familiar meets, High Point’s VertKlasse Meet (March 31-April 1) in High Point, N.C. and the one-day George Mason Invite in Fairfax, Va. (April 8).

The Bucknell Invite in Lewisburg, Pa. follows on April 14 and 15 before VMI heads to a meet at Duke the following weekend. The Keydets wrap up April at the Penn Relays (April 27-29), the first time VMI will compete there since 2009-10.

The regular season wraps up at the Liberty Last Chance event on May 3, before the Keydet women compete in the SoCon Championships on May 11 and 12 in Birmingham, Ala. The VMI men will take part in the IC4A Championships that weekend – May 12-14 – and the NCAA East Preliminary Round is set for May 25-27 in Lexington, Ky.