This Week in VMI Athletics - Jan. 26

Welcome back to another edition of This Week in VMI Athletics...We certainly have plenty to report here, as we'll open with the news of a radio show.

As you may have seen in the sidebar of the basketball game notes, we'll be hosting a radio show, the "Winter Sports Showcase Presented by Buddy's True Value", Wednesday, Feb. 3 at Salerno's here in Lexington. The show is at 6:30, and will be broadcast on 96.7 3WZ in the area...Guests are still forthcoming, but they will be a series of VMI coaches. We're just not sure which ones yet.

Wrestling returns to action tomorrow, having won three consecutive dual matches, including a sweep of Davidson and Millersville this past Friday. The Keydets will take on Liberty at 7:30 at the Thunderdome, and the match will be broadcast on the Big South Network. VMI has not lost at home this year, so it should be a fun night.

Track comes off a strong performance at one of the more historic venues in the country, the Armory in the Bronx, New York. The men finished ninth overall, with efforts that included a runner-up finish in the weight by Chad Lawson and an IC4A qualification by Felix Kitur. The women saw Hannah Granger finish third in the 3,000-meters and set a school record, while her sidekick Jenna Moye PR'd by some 35 seconds to finish fourth. T&F will now be off this weekend (along with the rest of VMI athletics), and will not return to action until Feb. 6, when they host the Winter Relays at Cormack Field House.

Basketball pulled one out against High Point Saturday, as the Keydets survived a second-half rally to get a much-needed Big South road win. Austin Kenon made six free throws in the final 14.1 seconds to seal the win, and send the Keydets into tonight's matchup with Southern Virginia (and hopefully, Thursday's game at Liberty) on a good note.

VMI baseball was picked sixth in the Big South preseason poll...Multiple-time defending champ Coastal Carolina was the preseason favorite, but in an odd twist, it wasn't unanimous.

Swimming and diving competed in its final regular season event Sunday, as the men split the tri-meet (defeating Howard but losing to St. Peter's), while the women dropped three decisions. The CCSA Championships are Feb. 18-20 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Finally, in perhaps the biggest news of all, the Keydets announced next year's football schedule this week. Trips to UVA and Army will highlight the slate, as well as the return to the list of William & Mary. Tickets go on sale July 1.

Tomorrow

Check back in tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 26) for the latest edition of This Week in VMI Athletics.

This Week in VMI Athletics - Jan. 18

Welcome to another week here in the exciting life of VMI...Let's open by looking forward. This week, the Media Relations office will send a member of its team to the Great Dane Classic (in New York City) with Track and Field. There will not be a live blog due to the layout of the meet, potential lack of a secure, consistent work area, etc, but there will be Twitter updates throughout the event, both here and (we expect) here as well. We'll also be taking pictures, as our equipment allows, both for a post-meet photo gallery and for our files throughout the year...Certainly excited about this event, as it's held at the home of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, one of the more noted indoor T&F facilities in America.

Speaking of track, their interactive guide was released to the world on Sunday. Take a look here...Special thanks to Joel Balthaser Design for his extra effort on this project. The team also competed in Ohio this past week, with James Alexander and Jenna Moye leading the way. Moye now tops the conference results for the women's mile, although granted, it is still early in the year.

Basketball's Stan Okoye was named Big South Freshman of the Week just a few moments ago, thanks to his two double-doubles for the Keydets' in Big South action last week. Unfortunately, the team suffered two setbacks in those games...Now, they have to get off the slide by facing the defending conference champion Radford Highlanders. That game is Thursday at 7 in Radford...The Highlanders are beatable, as they come off a game in which they were, to be honest, defeated quite handily by the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (70-55). Of course, CSU has been VMI's lone conference win thus far in 09-10...Strange.

Wrestling had a great week, winning two matches, including pulling off the 21-18 upset at Duke Sunday afternoon. The Keydets also knocked off Franklin & Marshall earlier in the week (33-10) and fell to the Citadel in their SoCon opener (24-10). Josh Wine remains undefeated on the season, as the Keydets recorded their first win against an ACC opponent since defeating Duke, 22-15, on Nov. 13, 2005. It also marked VMI's first road win since a triumph over The Citadel on Feb. 18, 2007 (strangely, the score that day was also 21-18).

Finally, Swimming and Diving got back to action at Davidson, suffering a setback on Friday evening. That's all for this week, as it's expected to be pretty quiet around Post until the 26th, when Southern Virginia visits Cameron Hall for the annual Rockbridge County Shootout (that's not the official name) with the Keydets.

Reggie Raining on Versus Network

Reggie Williams '09 will play in the NBDL's first nationally televised game of the year, Sioux Falls vs Fort Wayne, this Saturday night on the Versus Network. Check your local listings for time and channel.

This Week in VMI Athletics - Jan. 12

Well, after quite the sabbatical, we're back with you for another edition of This Week in VMI Athletics...And it's been a strange one. Two basketball losses, one each to Winthrop and Presbyterian, before last night's surviving of (sorry, but there's no other way to put it) a furious rally by Randolph College, has marked an odd week for VMI basketball. Thankfully, the losing skid is over, and we are about to resume conference play. UNC Asheville comes to Cameron Thursday night, followed by Gardner-Webb Saturday evening (NOTE THE 7 P.M. start) for a pair of crucial Big South games among three teams that are, indeed, struggling.

Before we see Asheville in Lexington, wrestling returns to action tomorrow by taking on Franklin & Marshall. Live updates will be provided on the VMISID Twitter page, accessible here. Two setbacks, to N.C. State and George Mason, comprised the Keydet grapplers past seven days. During the break, they conquered the Wilkes Open, as Josh Wine won five straight matches to claim that crown. Wine was named the SoCon Wrestler of the Month for December, as he went undefeated in the month to earn the honor.

Basketball roundball lunch returns tomorrow, back in action at Salerno's at noon. Later in the week, Coach Baucom's talk should be posted to 'Roo-Tube.

Track and Field returns to action this weekend, traveling to the Doug Raymond Invitational at Kent State. The next weekend will see the Keydets travel to the historic Armory in New York City, a meet which VMIKeydets.com will be there for. We hope to provide some sort of coverage live from that meet, although we haven't quite worked out the details yet.

That's all for now!

One Day Delay

For those of you interested, we'll go ahead and push the blog back to tomorrow (Tuesday) this week, since we have a game tonight in Cameron. Basketball looks to break its losing streak and takes on Randolph College at 7 p.m...This is a time change from what was originally listed in some formats, so come on out and support the Keydets!

We'll be back here tomorrow for a full week in review.

This Week in VMI Athletics - Jan. 4

Hello all, and welcome back to the blog for a new year. The snow from Dec. 18-19's storm continues to be on the ground, although nothing new has fallen in several days.

Let's open with a quick note: Basketball's Jan. 16 game against Gardner-Webb, previously scheduled for 1 p.m., is now a 7 p.m. tip at Cameron Hall. Again, now a 7 p.m. start.

There's not that much else to report, but let's quickly hit what's happened around Post since we last checked in.

Basketball's gone 0-2, including losses to George Mason and Liberty. Coach Baucom was not happy Saturday, saying that "Until guarding becomes important to us, it's going to be a long season." Follow along Thursday, as the Keydets try to break their recent skid at Winthrop. The 7 p.m. start will be broadcast on the VMI Sports Network and available via vmikeydets.com.

Josh Wine's heavyweight title led wrestling's lone outing over the holidays, a trip to the Wilkes Open in Wilkes, Pa. Wine won five straight matches to prevail, and was joined in placing by Ronnie Ellsworth, who finished fourth at 197 lbs.

The Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) announced their All-State women's soccer team over the break, and Audrey Falconi and Angela Redmond both made appearances on the squad.

Reggie Williams '08 continues to sizzle in the NBDL, having been named the performer of the week for games of Dec. 21.

Check back next week for updates on the remainder of happenings around VMI Post.