This Week in VMI Athletics - Feb. 8

With apologies to the Colts fans who might be reading, one has to feel good for the Saints today. What a story...I truly believe this year's New Orleans team was one that, 20-25 years down the line, you look back on and remember. Now then...

A vicious winter storm hit the Mid-Atlantic this week (picture at left - Saturday, 5 p.m., about two miles from the Hill), and even though we here at the I didn't get the three feet Washington did, we were still belted pretty well...But the sporting events marched on in true VMI fashion. We'll start with track.

Hannah Granger was profiled by the Big South this week, as she was put in the "Musco Women's Spotlight". The lengthy interview revealed some interesting answers by the 2009 Big South Women's Cross Country Champion...Take a look here.

Despite the snow you see above, the VMI Winter Relays ran on...Didn't mean the pun (track "ran" on) :-). Anyway, the weather precluded all visiting teams except Washington & Lee from attending. Cody Davis posted two personal bests (and is likely to be the VMI Athlete of the Week for the first time in his career), and Aquisi Harris set a new PR in the weight throw. Track's back in action this coming weekend, splitting into two groups. One set of athletes will go to Akron, Ohio, while the other travels to Liberty. Results will be posted on VMIKeydets.com as always.

Speaking of this next weekend, lacrosse will open its season for the third consecutive year at the Naval Academy (Noon, Saturday). The 2010 LAX interactive guide is in its final proofs right now and hopefully will be released by Wednesday, followed by game notes and a preview sometime Thursday. We'll be there, but are still working out the details of what we'll be able to do (live blog, tweeting, etc).

Wrestling was in action this past weekend, as they braved the bad weather to go up to the All-Academy Championships, where they placed fifth. Five Keydets finished in third place in their weight classes, including Josh Wine, who suffered his first loss of the year. Wine now stands at 17-1 on the season.

And finally, basketball went 1-2 this week. A loss to Radford started the week, as Art Parakhouski tied a Cameron Hall record with 22 rebounds (oh yeah, he also had 30 points). This just in: He's pretty good. The Keydets rebounded Thursday with a rout of Presbyterian, overcoming an early 22-8 deficit, before falling to Winthrop (despite a furious rally in the last 3:40) to conclude the week. VMI's back in action this Thursday, taking on Gardner-Webb in a road game that is, without a doubt, the Keydets' biggest game of the season.

In other news, Reggie Williams '08 was named to the D-League's All-Star squad this week. We've got everything you ever wanted to know about those festivites, but were afraid to ask.

Of course, it was football signing day on Wednesday, and the Keydets were not idle. 12 student-athletes inked deals to become cadet-athlete, and you can read capsules on them here.

Finally, Wade Branner hosted the Winter Sports Showcase (presented by Buddies True Value Hardware) on 3WZ radio this past Wednesday, and the event was taped for 'Roo-Tube (picture at left). Several VMI coaches, including Sparky Woods, Duggar Baucom, Rocky Trudgeon and Darrin Webb all discussed the current state of their programs...The event is linked here.

That's all we've got for this week...Baseball's season opener is just 11 days away, but no events are on Post until Feb. 16, when basketball returns to action vs. High Point. We'll talk to you next week.