University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Kick-Off The 2010-2011 Track & Field Season
12/02/2010 | Women's Track & Field
Dec. 2, 2010
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - The Richmond Spiders' track and field season will commence on Dec. 3 at the 7th annual Liberty Kick-Off in Lynchburg, Va. The women's team will compete in the two-day meet, scheduled to start at 2 p.m. on Friday and resume at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
"We are very excited to start the track & field season this weekend," said women's head coach Lori Taylor. "Our athletes have been training hard throughout the fall and have the opportunity to compete for the first time this weekend. This is the beginning for our team."
The event, hosted by Liberty University, will be held at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center in Lynchburg, Va. For the meet schedule, click here.
"We have a lot of young athletes, so leadership from our upper classmen will be a key to our success. It's important that our captains serve as role models for our new men and women."
The women competing in this weekend's meet include senior Amanda Caporelli (60m dash, long jump, 4x400m relay), freshman Grace Gibson (pole vault), sophomore Meghan Hart (pentathlon), senior X'auntasia Johnson (60m dash, long jump, 4x400m relay), freshman Kelsey McKenna (60m hurdles, triple jump, 4x400m relay), sophomore Sarah Nuttycombe (triple jump, long jump), freshman Ann O'Toole (pentathlon), and freshman Molly Reilly (60m hurdles, 200m dash, 4x400m relay). For the entire track and field roster, follow the link.
"This weekend we want to watch our athletes compete and see how they respond to their competition. It's a starting point for the rest of the season. We'll see where we are and determine the areas that we need to improve upon as we move into the heart of our indoor season following the holidays."
Richmond will be up against a number of in-state track and field programs, including James Madison, Radford, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, as well as various out-of-state teams. For the complete performance list, click here.
"We are coming off our most successful cross country season in school history. That's a great place to build upon for the track & field seasons. We have several experienced distance runners and throwers along with a great freshman class."
As for the men's team, head coach Steve Taylor said, "[They] will actually open their season in January after we return from Christmas and the holidays. Although we do not have any men competing this weekend, we are looking forward to a great year. Like our women, our men are coming off our most successful cross country season in school history. Winning the Atlantic 10 Conference and placing 24th at the NCAA National Championships shows how competitive we are among the distance events. To have success as a team we will look for several athletes from our football program to join us next semester, which will help in the sprints, jumps and throws areas. As a staff we are looking forward to getting our team competing this indoor season."
Lori Taylor went on to say, "For our team to have the success we desire we need those athletes with experience to help lead our freshmen and for everyone to perform at or beyond our expectations. Consistency will be important to our success and that comes through hard work and intelligent training combined with passion for competition."
The meet begins at 2 p.m. on Friday. Stay tuned to RichmondSpiders.com for a complete report following Saturday's meet. For more in-depth coverage on the race, visit Coach Taylor's blog or follow him on Twitter.
