University of Richmond Athletics
Busy Weekend For XC And T&F
02/03/2011 | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 3, 2011
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - Richmond cross country and track & field will be spread out across the nation this weekend as the teams prepare to compete in three separate meets.
"Athletes within our program are traveling to numerous meets this weekend," said women's head coach Lori Taylor. "It's an opportunity for everyone to compete at the level they are ready for and to develop... It's all about competition and improvement. Our staff is looking forward to seeing results."
Four Spiders will travel to San Diego, Calif. to participate in the USATF National Cross Country Championships. The event, hosted by USA Track & Field, will be held at Mission Bay Park on Saturday, Feb. 5.
"The weather is perfect and the course sits along the Mission Bay Park Beach," said Taylor. "It's a great venue and a beautiful place for a cross country course, especially one hosting our nation's best distance runners. We are looking forward to previewing the course on Friday and the races Saturday. Be sure to tune in and watch our Spiders compete live... there will be some great racing on this course."
To view the USATF National Cross Country Championships' live stream, click here.
Senior Amy Van Alstine will be the only female Spider to compete in the event, and she will run in the Open Women's 8K at 1:15 p.m. As for the men, freshman Ryan Lee will run in the Junior Men's 8K at 12:30 p.m., and redshirt-seniors Matt Llano and Jon Wilson will run in the Open Men's 12K at 2:00 p.m.
"The USATF National Cross Country Championships are a great opportunity for our athletes to compete against the best distance runners in the country," said men's head coach Steve Taylor. "These races also serve to select the USA National Team that will compete next month in Spain... The best of the best race in this meet every year."
Eight Richmond runners will head to New York City, N.Y. for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 4-5.
"We have a great group of athletes traveling to NYC to compete on one of the fastest indoor tracks in the nation," said Steve Taylor. "Most of our team has competed this season, except for Andrew Benford and Tim Quinn who are making their 2011 debut here. We are looking forward to everyone competing."
The women's travel squad includes sophomore Andrew Benford, junior Levi Grandt, senior Tim Quinn, and sophomore Chris York.
Lori Taylor said, "It seems like everyone has competed at the New York City Armory at some point in their career... This meet provides a great level of competition at the perfect time for our team. We are two weeks away from our Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, so it's time for our athletes to be compete and to be ready for this level of competition."
Friday's events are scheduled to begin at 10:50 a.m. and end around 9:00 p.m., then continue Saturday morning at 8:55 a.m. Ninety-five university programs are participating in the NB Collegiate Invitational, including A-10 rivals Fordham, La Salle, Temple, Xavier, and UNC Charlotte. To view the full list of teams, click here.
To view the live stream of the NB Collegiate Invitational, follow the link.
The majority of the track & field athletes will compete in the VMI Winter Relays in Lexington, Va. on Saturday. The meet, hosted by Virginia Military Institute, will be held in the Alumni Memorial Field on VMI's campus, and is scheduled to begin with field events at 8:30a.m., followed by the running events at 10:00 a.m.
"[VMI] will give many of our athletes an opportunity to improve upon the last two weeks," said Steve Taylor. "Others will compete in events they do not typically. We want to see competitive effort in every event. When athletes compete the performances will follow."
Stay tuned to RichmondSpiders.com for a complete report of this weekend's meets.
For more in-depth coverage on the races, visit Coach Taylor's blog, or follow him on Twitter.
