The VMI track and field programs will be back in action Friday and Saturday, with the majority of the squads traveling to Lynchburg, Va. for the Liberty Open, a two-day meet hosted by Liberty University. The event gets underway Friday at 12:30 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdles of the pentathlon. Meanwhile, the women's pole vaulters and head coach Darrin Webb will travel to Reno, Nev. to participate in the UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit, which will begin Friday and lead into a competition Saturday. More information on the Liberty meet is available below, while info on the Pole Vault Summit can be found at the link above.

Liberty Open Preview

Directions

Click on the link above to get directions to Liberty's campus. Once there, the meet will be held at the indoor track facility, located in the North Campus annex.

Weather

Due to Wednesday's heavy snowfall in the Lexington area, some fans may be interested to know that the expected weather for Lynchburg contains only intermittent clouds, with high temperatures in the mid-40's.

VMI Notes

The Keydets come off their second meet of the season, a solid performance at the Hokie Invitational on Friday, Jan. 21. Jenna Moye posted her second school record of the young campaign, running a 10:02 3K to finish sixth and record a nine-second personal best. Moye will compete in this weekend's 4X800-meter relay, set for a 5:25 p.m. start Friday evening.

Also of note this past weekend was the performance of the men's 4X800-meter relay squad, who won the event at Virginia Tech in 7:38.73, the fastest time in Division I over the weekend, and third-quickest effort overall this season. All four of the competitors from that relay will be in action Saturday, taking part in the 1,000-meter run.

Events to Watch

Men's Long Jump - 9:30 a.m. Saturday

Women's 800 - 2:30 p.m. Saturday (following men's)

Although Liberty has entered the 2010 Big South Outdoor Champion in this event, Meghan Burggraf, the Keydets have solid representation as well. Leah Schubel will run her first indoor 800 since last February, and Lindsey Carty will look to continue to round back into form following an injury-plagued cross country season. Freshmen Molly Western, Dalton Kuhar and Hannah Best are also scheduled to compete, while Schubel, Kuhar and Carty are each entered in the mile as well.

Men's 1K - 3 p.m. Saturday

Felix Kitur returns to action as the top seed in this race, marking his first collegiate appearance in the event. In fact, Saturday's race will be just Kitur's second at any distance other than the 400 and 800-meters, joining his third-place finish in the mile at the 2009 Big South Indoor Championships.

Also running will be Dean Gonsalves and Andrey Dmitriev, as Dmitriev makes just his second individual collegiate appearance and Gonsalves looks to build upon a 12th-place 800-meter finish at last year's indoor conference meet. Jacob Lysher, who had a solid outing in last weekend's relay, will join Ermin Mujezinovic and Jason Thorpe in the race's top 10 seeds as well. All told, the Keydets have six runners entered in this event's top 10 competitors.

Men's 200 - 3:25 p.m. Saturday

James Alexander enters as one of the favorites in this event, after a fourth-place finish in his season opener at December's Northeastern Invitational. Alexander will have to contend with unattached athlete James Law, seeded nearly half a second quicker than the VMI standout, as well as Rashad Campbell of Campbell University. Campbell was fourth at last year's indoor Atlantic Sun Championships.

Division III national qualifier Olivia Mills of Bridgewater, last year's Liberty Open winner Heather Conarroe of Davidson and Rachel Deline of Campbell, who was fifth in this event at last year's A-Sun Championships, will pose a formidable test for VMI's Tammy Cheung, the current Big South Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year.