Hello all...Just wanted to fill everyone in on some changes/additions to VMIKeydets.com.
We've heard your concerns regarding several of the ads on our web site, particularly the pesky Virginia Beach that has inundated the Internet recently, and now we've taken action...JumpTV (the company that hosts VMIKeydets.com) has told us that, although they cannot completely eliminate the ad, they can take it off certain pages and greatly reduce how often it shows up everywhere else. That should be done by now, although it could take some time to filter down to you, the user.
Secondly, our summer blog will debut Sunday morning..."Logging Miles", a blog discussing the summer training for cross country, will be a bi-weekly feature to begin, but is expected to move to a weekly column in late July. It's a work in progress, but we hope you enjoy having some original summer content on the web site!
Speaking of track and cross country, we've added some new features to the track and cross country pages. If you check out the left-hand menu bar, we've put in some interesting links that we'll show here as well - If you're watching a blog or twitter feed from a meet, and the marks are given only in metric (or only in English), you can use this link to easily convert them.
If you're new to track and field, and wanting to learn about the logistics or history of a race, a good, basic place to start is at Wikipedia's Track and Field article, linked here (is listed as "Track and Field Primer" on Keydets.com). Finally, if you're following the exploits of the cross country teams next fall, and want to know how the meets are scored, we've given you a full tutorial here. Again, these are all accessible from the sport menu bars at VMIKeydets.com, giving a central access point for all these useful items.
There are a couple of other things we're working on and throwing around, but they're still in the planning stages, for the most part. We'll post more about them as they get more solidified.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - June 1
Hello, and welcome to what will be the final weekly blog post of 2009-10. We'll continue to use the blog as needed for updates, so check back when you can...We'll also try to post on Twitter when there's info here, so that you know to come check. The weekly posts should resume in late August...
We are planning some things for the summer, including a new bi-weekly blog on preparation for the 2010 Cross Country season, written by Jenna Moye and Ermin Mujezinovic. That should debut somewhere around June 10, give or take a couple of days, and we're still discussing names for it. Feel free to email me (saloisbj@vmi.edu) your suggestions.
Felix Kitur highlighted this week, as a runner-up finish in his second race at the NCAA Preliminary Meet sent him on to Eugene, Oregon, where he and Coach Paul Spangler will head next week. Kitur's first race is on June 9, with the final hopefully to follow on June 11...If you'd like, you can check out videos of Kitur's races at the VMI Track and Field Youtube Channel, located here. An in-depth preview of the men's 800 in Eugene should run early next week, and will be accompanied by an interview with Kitur and Spangler.
Baseball also wrapped up, with Cory Spangenburg being named Freshman of the Year and Jordan Ballard earning First Team All-Conference honors. The Keydets picked up a win over UNC Asheville on the tourney's first day, before ending their season with losses to Coastal Carolina and Winthrop. Certainly not the way they wanted to end the year, but VMI should be a real threat next year, as only Jordan Ballard and Tanner Biagini are done with their time at the I.
Lacrosse also had news this week, with Tim Moran being announced as an honorable mention All-American. That is the first-ever All-American honor for VMI lacrosse. Also, the final 2010 stat rankings came out today, and after the NCAA tourney (won by Duke in thrilling OT fashion), the Keydets' Stephen Robarge finished fourth in D1 in face-off percentage and second in ground balls per game.
We are planning some things for the summer, including a new bi-weekly blog on preparation for the 2010 Cross Country season, written by Jenna Moye and Ermin Mujezinovic. That should debut somewhere around June 10, give or take a couple of days, and we're still discussing names for it. Feel free to email me (saloisbj@vmi.edu) your suggestions.
Felix Kitur highlighted this week, as a runner-up finish in his second race at the NCAA Preliminary Meet sent him on to Eugene, Oregon, where he and Coach Paul Spangler will head next week. Kitur's first race is on June 9, with the final hopefully to follow on June 11...If you'd like, you can check out videos of Kitur's races at the VMI Track and Field Youtube Channel, located here. An in-depth preview of the men's 800 in Eugene should run early next week, and will be accompanied by an interview with Kitur and Spangler.
Baseball also wrapped up, with Cory Spangenburg being named Freshman of the Year and Jordan Ballard earning First Team All-Conference honors. The Keydets picked up a win over UNC Asheville on the tourney's first day, before ending their season with losses to Coastal Carolina and Winthrop. Certainly not the way they wanted to end the year, but VMI should be a real threat next year, as only Jordan Ballard and Tanner Biagini are done with their time at the I.
Lacrosse also had news this week, with Tim Moran being announced as an honorable mention All-American. That is the first-ever All-American honor for VMI lacrosse. Also, the final 2010 stat rankings came out today, and after the NCAA tourney (won by Duke in thrilling OT fashion), the Keydets' Stephen Robarge finished fourth in D1 in face-off percentage and second in ground balls per game.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - May 25...Sort of
We won't do a full blog this week, because there simply isn't that much to say...Except make sure to follow VMI baseball at 4 p.m. today as they open the BSC Tournament down at Winthrop. It'll be VMI vs. UNCA at that time, streamed on the Big South Network and on VMIKeydets.com.
Also, make sure to follow our Twitter feed on Thursday and (hopefully) Friday for live updates from Greensboro, N.C., as Felix Kitur competes in the NCAA Preliminary Round (which used to be the Regional meet) and bids for a trip to Eugene.
Also, make sure to follow our Twitter feed on Thursday and (hopefully) Friday for live updates from Greensboro, N.C., as Felix Kitur competes in the NCAA Preliminary Round (which used to be the Regional meet) and bids for a trip to Eugene.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - May 18
Here's an update regarding what's going on in VMI Athletics this week -
Tonight's baseball game versus Virginia, scheduled to be the final non-conference game of the regular season for the Keydets, has been canceled. Recent heavy rains caused poor field conditions at Davenport Field, and the game will not be rescheduled. Baseball will get back on the diamond Thursday night, hosting Presbyterian at 6 p.m.
Of course, the Keydets salvaged the final game of their series with Winthrop this weekend, rallying for a 7-5 win Sunday. The win moved VMI into fourth place in the league standings with just three games to play.
The other sport still going, track, saw action this past weekend at the IC4A Championships. Felix Kitur, as he's been all year, was outstanding. The junior finished second in the 800-meter finals, a day after running a 1:47.62 to rank (at the time) sixth in the country. That time now places Kitur fifth in the region and eighth in the country, with the preliminary round of the NCAA Championships set to begin in Greensboro on May 27.
Swimming and Diving announced its team awards this past week, and you can check out a release on that here.
That'll do it for this very short recap...Enjoy the week, and we'll be back with you next week for another edition of This Week in VMI Athletics!
Tonight's baseball game versus Virginia, scheduled to be the final non-conference game of the regular season for the Keydets, has been canceled. Recent heavy rains caused poor field conditions at Davenport Field, and the game will not be rescheduled. Baseball will get back on the diamond Thursday night, hosting Presbyterian at 6 p.m.
Of course, the Keydets salvaged the final game of their series with Winthrop this weekend, rallying for a 7-5 win Sunday. The win moved VMI into fourth place in the league standings with just three games to play.
The other sport still going, track, saw action this past weekend at the IC4A Championships. Felix Kitur, as he's been all year, was outstanding. The junior finished second in the 800-meter finals, a day after running a 1:47.62 to rank (at the time) sixth in the country. That time now places Kitur fifth in the region and eighth in the country, with the preliminary round of the NCAA Championships set to begin in Greensboro on May 27.
Swimming and Diving announced its team awards this past week, and you can check out a release on that here.
That'll do it for this very short recap...Enjoy the week, and we'll be back with you next week for another edition of This Week in VMI Athletics!
Monday, May 10, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - May 10
Hello everyone, and welcome to a post-exam version of This Week in VMI Athletics. Baseball returns to action tomorrow night versus Richmond, taking on the Spiders at 6 p.m. down at Gray-Minor Stadium. Weather is a concern, but as usual, any updates/changes will be posted on VMIKeydets.com the moment we know of them.
Women's soccer has released its 2010 schedule, highlighted by a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo. for a tournament hosted by Air Force. Check out the full schedule release here, and a women's soccer captains release here.
Track sent Matt Sagar to the Duke Twilight Qualifier yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to allow him to qualify for IC4A's...And qualify he did, running a PR of 9:09 in the steeple to make this coming weekend's Championships. That meet will be in Princeton, N.J. and VMIKeydets.com will be on hand with a live blog, chronicling such storylines as Sagar and Satterwhite's efforts in the steeple, the performances of Chad Lawson and Cody Davis and Felix Kitur's efforts to become a two-time IC4A champ.
That blog is going to be a little different from what you see at the Big South Championships...I'll be using the software provided by www.coveritlive.com, which is also used by such sites as Yahoo Sports (they use it every week for their NASCAR in-race chat). Check out an example of it here.
What this allows for is more of a chat room feel, with you, the viewer, able to ask questions as I'm typing, without having to take the time to send me an email, etc. I can then put the comment into the window, verbatim, with just one click. At the same time, I can moderate to ensure that one person is not asking all the questions, keep the atmosphere family friendly (and focused on track!), etc. I can also plug in photos, video, and link the blog window itself to our Twitter page if I have to go across track to cover a field event (some may recall I did this several times at the BSC Championships in April). Hopefully there will be some other, different features as well, but those are depending upon conditions at the facility.
Tim Moran led the postseason honorees for VMI lacrosse, as he was named to the all-conference first team for the third time in his illustrious career. Moran wrapped up his four years in Lexington sixth in goals, eighth in assists and seventh in total points in program history. You can read all about that here.
Basketball wrapped up its signing class with the announcement of Sean Armstrong's signing...He looks to be pretty solid, at least based on his background listed here.
Oh yeah, by the way...VMI women's water polo has its first coach! Welcome to the I, Anna Phelps.
That'll do it for now...Check back next week!
Women's soccer has released its 2010 schedule, highlighted by a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo. for a tournament hosted by Air Force. Check out the full schedule release here, and a women's soccer captains release here.
Track sent Matt Sagar to the Duke Twilight Qualifier yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to allow him to qualify for IC4A's...And qualify he did, running a PR of 9:09 in the steeple to make this coming weekend's Championships. That meet will be in Princeton, N.J. and VMIKeydets.com will be on hand with a live blog, chronicling such storylines as Sagar and Satterwhite's efforts in the steeple, the performances of Chad Lawson and Cody Davis and Felix Kitur's efforts to become a two-time IC4A champ.
That blog is going to be a little different from what you see at the Big South Championships...I'll be using the software provided by www.coveritlive.com, which is also used by such sites as Yahoo Sports (they use it every week for their NASCAR in-race chat). Check out an example of it here.
What this allows for is more of a chat room feel, with you, the viewer, able to ask questions as I'm typing, without having to take the time to send me an email, etc. I can then put the comment into the window, verbatim, with just one click. At the same time, I can moderate to ensure that one person is not asking all the questions, keep the atmosphere family friendly (and focused on track!), etc. I can also plug in photos, video, and link the blog window itself to our Twitter page if I have to go across track to cover a field event (some may recall I did this several times at the BSC Championships in April). Hopefully there will be some other, different features as well, but those are depending upon conditions at the facility.
Tim Moran led the postseason honorees for VMI lacrosse, as he was named to the all-conference first team for the third time in his illustrious career. Moran wrapped up his four years in Lexington sixth in goals, eighth in assists and seventh in total points in program history. You can read all about that here.
Basketball wrapped up its signing class with the announcement of Sean Armstrong's signing...He looks to be pretty solid, at least based on his background listed here.
Oh yeah, by the way...VMI women's water polo has its first coach! Welcome to the I, Anna Phelps.
That'll do it for now...Check back next week!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - May 4
Baseball finally got off its epic slide, ending its 11-game losing streak Sunday and going into exams with a 7-5 win over Radford.
The Keydets don't play again until May 11, when they host Richmond at Gray-Minor, so if there ever was a time to have gotten a win...Sunday was it. Still left on the schedule? The Winthrop Eagles, who VMI is currently battling with for control of one of the top four spots in the conference. Those spots are critical, because they get you out of the play-in games held the first day of the tourney, and make it where you have to lose your first game to draw Coastal Carolina...If you miss the play-ins and win game #1, you have a chance to build momentum and get on a roll before you face the Chanticleers, and who wouldn't want that?
Other sports have seen interesting weeks, particularly track. Felix Kitur took part in an epic 800-meter race at Liberty Thursday night, as he posted what was, at the time, tied for the fifth-fastest time in the country (1:47.78). The race's story was picked up by letsrun.com, and VMIKeydets.com's video was noted by Liberty, UVA and letsrun. Anyway, that time remains the fifth-fastest time in the East Region, and puts him in good shape for the upcoming regional meet.
On the women's side, Michelle Feole led a VMI sweep of the top three spots in the javelin, while Jennifer Sing and Kate Collins both had strong outings in the pole vault. Sing's, in particular, was notable, as she became just the third VMI woman ever to clear 11 feet in the pole vault.
We were speaking of track's regional meet earlier...The format of Regionals and Nationals has changed a bit this year. What used to be the Regional meets have now become the first round of the Championships, as the meets have been combined to act as one, all-encompassing get-together. View more details on this, as well as a PDF of the structure of this meet, here.
In another track-related tidbit, alum Donnie Cowart '09 hit the B standard in the 3K steeple this past week. Take a look at that here.
Lacrosse ended its season Saturday at Patchin Field with a 12-11 overtime loss to Canisius, one of the most epic games I've seen in a long time. The careers of Tim Moran, Brett Leonard, Sean McCoy, Dave Padgett, and the rest came to an end with the final horn. The Golden Griffins, VMI's archrivals, were left out of the MAAC Tournament after losing in a random draw.
Men's soccer released its schedule this past week...Games with some new opponents (Mercer comes to mind), as well as the return of the Sculley Memorial Tournament. The women's schedule shouldn't be too far behind the men's.
Finally, football held its final spring scrimmage this past Friday. You can check out the recap from that here, and also, check out Coach Woods' Twitter account @SparkyWoodsVMI.
Thanks, as always, for joining us...We will have a condensed blog next week, despite the fact that there won't be any events to recap. Enjoy the slower time period, but keep watching VMIKeydets.com for news that could come out during this time. Anything's possible.
The Keydets don't play again until May 11, when they host Richmond at Gray-Minor, so if there ever was a time to have gotten a win...Sunday was it. Still left on the schedule? The Winthrop Eagles, who VMI is currently battling with for control of one of the top four spots in the conference. Those spots are critical, because they get you out of the play-in games held the first day of the tourney, and make it where you have to lose your first game to draw Coastal Carolina...If you miss the play-ins and win game #1, you have a chance to build momentum and get on a roll before you face the Chanticleers, and who wouldn't want that?
Other sports have seen interesting weeks, particularly track. Felix Kitur took part in an epic 800-meter race at Liberty Thursday night, as he posted what was, at the time, tied for the fifth-fastest time in the country (1:47.78). The race's story was picked up by letsrun.com, and VMIKeydets.com's video was noted by Liberty, UVA and letsrun. Anyway, that time remains the fifth-fastest time in the East Region, and puts him in good shape for the upcoming regional meet.
On the women's side, Michelle Feole led a VMI sweep of the top three spots in the javelin, while Jennifer Sing and Kate Collins both had strong outings in the pole vault. Sing's, in particular, was notable, as she became just the third VMI woman ever to clear 11 feet in the pole vault.
We were speaking of track's regional meet earlier...The format of Regionals and Nationals has changed a bit this year. What used to be the Regional meets have now become the first round of the Championships, as the meets have been combined to act as one, all-encompassing get-together. View more details on this, as well as a PDF of the structure of this meet, here.
In another track-related tidbit, alum Donnie Cowart '09 hit the B standard in the 3K steeple this past week. Take a look at that here.
Lacrosse ended its season Saturday at Patchin Field with a 12-11 overtime loss to Canisius, one of the most epic games I've seen in a long time. The careers of Tim Moran, Brett Leonard, Sean McCoy, Dave Padgett, and the rest came to an end with the final horn. The Golden Griffins, VMI's archrivals, were left out of the MAAC Tournament after losing in a random draw.
Men's soccer released its schedule this past week...Games with some new opponents (Mercer comes to mind), as well as the return of the Sculley Memorial Tournament. The women's schedule shouldn't be too far behind the men's.
Finally, football held its final spring scrimmage this past Friday. You can check out the recap from that here, and also, check out Coach Woods' Twitter account @SparkyWoodsVMI.
Thanks, as always, for joining us...We will have a condensed blog next week, despite the fact that there won't be any events to recap. Enjoy the slower time period, but keep watching VMIKeydets.com for news that could come out during this time. Anything's possible.
Monday, April 26, 2010
This Week in VMI Athletics - April 26
Welcome back to our weekly sojourn through all things Keydet...
Let's open with lacrosse...Honestly, Saturday's ending was the strangest I've ever seen...
"During a Wagner (1-11, 1-5 MAAC) timeout with 52 seconds remaining in the overtime, the Seahawks set up a play. After several deliberate passes, Travis cut to his right, toward the middle of the field. He fired off a shot from about 10 yards out, angled just to the right of VMI (2-11, 0-6) keeper Kelly McMinn. Originally, it was ruled that the attempt was just wide, but after conferring, the officials determined that Travis’ shot had gone through a small portion of the net in the upper right-hand corner of the mesh, just over McMinn’s left shoulder. The ball had then come out of the back of the cage, meaning that the goal would stand and the Seahawks had prevailed."
That's right, the ball went through a part of the net and out the back. A one-in-a-million shot, believe me. The LAXers will try to get back on the winning track versus Mount St. Mary's, a game that will match the Keydets against the top RPI team in the MAAC. The Mount are currently #23 in that ranking system...Game notes will hopefully be out later today.
Track saw a pair of IC4A qualifying efforts this week, as the 4X800-meter relay team finished 15th in its section at the Penn Relays and qualified for IC's in the process. Also qualifying was Matt Satterwhite, thanks to a PR in the steeplechase during Sunday's meet at High Point. The next meet for the team is Thursday at Liberty, and VMIKeydets.com is expected to be on hand to get photos and, likely, to have periodic twitter updates for the middle portions of the event.
Baseball's had a rough week...The losing streak is now at seven, following a 6-2 loss to #7 Coastal Carolina Sunday. The Diamond Dwellers are back in action tomorrow night, and it doesn't get much easier. Virginia Tech is the opponent, fresh off taking two of three at #3-ranked Georgia Tech.
In a bit of news, the men's soccer schedule is nearly finalized. We hope to publish it within the next 10-14 days, barring an unexpected setback.
Wrestling also had news...Josh Wine was named to the VaSID All-State team.
Let's open with lacrosse...Honestly, Saturday's ending was the strangest I've ever seen...
"During a Wagner (1-11, 1-5 MAAC) timeout with 52 seconds remaining in the overtime, the Seahawks set up a play. After several deliberate passes, Travis cut to his right, toward the middle of the field. He fired off a shot from about 10 yards out, angled just to the right of VMI (2-11, 0-6) keeper Kelly McMinn. Originally, it was ruled that the attempt was just wide, but after conferring, the officials determined that Travis’ shot had gone through a small portion of the net in the upper right-hand corner of the mesh, just over McMinn’s left shoulder. The ball had then come out of the back of the cage, meaning that the goal would stand and the Seahawks had prevailed."
That's right, the ball went through a part of the net and out the back. A one-in-a-million shot, believe me. The LAXers will try to get back on the winning track versus Mount St. Mary's, a game that will match the Keydets against the top RPI team in the MAAC. The Mount are currently #23 in that ranking system...Game notes will hopefully be out later today.
Track saw a pair of IC4A qualifying efforts this week, as the 4X800-meter relay team finished 15th in its section at the Penn Relays and qualified for IC's in the process. Also qualifying was Matt Satterwhite, thanks to a PR in the steeplechase during Sunday's meet at High Point. The next meet for the team is Thursday at Liberty, and VMIKeydets.com is expected to be on hand to get photos and, likely, to have periodic twitter updates for the middle portions of the event.
Baseball's had a rough week...The losing streak is now at seven, following a 6-2 loss to #7 Coastal Carolina Sunday. The Diamond Dwellers are back in action tomorrow night, and it doesn't get much easier. Virginia Tech is the opponent, fresh off taking two of three at #3-ranked Georgia Tech.
In a bit of news, the men's soccer schedule is nearly finalized. We hope to publish it within the next 10-14 days, barring an unexpected setback.
Wrestling also had news...Josh Wine was named to the VaSID All-State team.
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