University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Return Home to Host Fred Hardy Invite
03/28/2012 | Women's Track & Field
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Now two weeks into its outdoor season, Richmond Track & Field returns home this weekend to host the seventh annual Fred Hardy Invitational. This weekend's running events and jumps will be held at the Fred Hardy Track at Robins Stadium, with the throwing events taking place at the Upper Practice Fields on the Westhampton side of campus along Crenshaw Way behind Parking Lot W39.
INSIDE THE FRED
HARDY INVITE
Friday's opening day of action will get underway with the men's hammer
throw at 1:30 p.m., with running events set to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the 400
Meter Hurdles. Saturday's events kick off with men's discus at 9 a.m. Running
events will commence shortly thereafter at 11 a.m. with the women's 100 Meter
Hurdles. A full schedule of events can be found here.
The Spiders will welcome 20 teams to this year's invite, including fellow Atlantic 10 member Duquesne, cross-town rival VCU and BIG EAST members Pittsburgh and Rutgers.
Admission is free to the general public and concessions will be open on the West side of Robins Stadium. More information on the Fred Hardy Invite, including meet/facility records and directions to the track, can be found at the 2012 Fred Hardy Invitational Central page.
MULTIMEDIA
MEET COVERAGE
For a sixth-consecutive year, a SpiderTV will provide a live video stream featuring both running events and jumps in addition to on-air
Spider alumni commentators. The video stream is available for a monthlong subscription fee of $9.95. Friday's live video stream is available here, while Saturday's stream can be found here.
Live results and live Twitter updates will also be provided during the meet. A recap together with complete results can be found on RichmondSpiders.com following each day of action.
For those attending this year's meet, printed results will be posted near the concession stand of the West side of the stadium following each event.
LAST TIME
OUT
The Richmond men's and women's track
& field squads completed their second meet of the outdoor season this past
Saturday with what was a consistently rainy affair at William and Mary's Tribe
Invite in Williamsburg.
Senior Meaghan McGovern (North Kingston, R.I./North Kingston) continued her strong start to the season in the hammer throw, hurling the hammer a distance of 46.90 meters (153'10") to take third in the event.
Sophomore Meghan Hart (State College, Pa./State College) also recorded a top-five finish on the afternoon, crossing the line in 15.89 to finish fifth in the 100 Meter Hurdles.
Also in action on Saturday were newcomers Taylor Parson (Severn, Md./Old Mill) and Alexis Williams (Virginia Beach, Va./Green Run) in the 400 Meters. Parson pulled out a ninth-place showing with a time of 1:00.09, while Williams was just behind in 1:01.32 to take 12th.
Sophomore Sean Livesey (Philadelphia, Pa./Devon Preparatory School) locked up his first-ever top finish in the javelin, recording a toss of 45.68 meters (149'10") to capture the event.
Classmate Richard Arnett (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) finished in the second spot in the 400 Meters with a time of 51.79, while freshmen Micah Morton (Lebanon, N.H./Lebanon) and sophomore Thomas Smail (Troy, N.Y./LaSalle Institute) rounded out the top-five with times of 52.80 and 55.53, respectively.
Continuing what has been an ever-promising rookie year for the Spiders, newcomer Billy Fayette (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Hinsdale) clocked a 4:00.71 to capture a runner-up honors in the 1,500 Meters. Junior Jason Skipper (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) was right behind in third (4:02.44) and sophomore Adam Owens (White Post, Va./Clarke County) finished just outside the top-five in sixth (4:05.20).
Among the events canceled due to Saturday's weather were the men's and women's high jump, women's pole vault, men's triple jump, men's and women's 200 Meters, women's 3,000 Meters and the men's and women's 4x400 Meter Relays.
MORE
ON LEGENDARY COACH FRED HARDY (1916-2005)
Legendary track & field coach and
University of Richmond Hall of Fame member Fred Hardy, for whom this meet is
named after, passed away in December of 2005 at the age of 89. Hardy coached
track & field and cross country for 35 years (1950-1985) at the University
of Richmond and established an elite program that succeeded on the collegiate
and international level.
He was known by his student-athletes as a great teacher that elevated every athlete beyond their initial potential. During his years at Richmond, Hardy coached 45 All-Americans on the men's side and 20 All-Americans on the women's side. He also guided two Kenya Olympic team members (Edwin Koech, who took sixth in the 1984 Olympic Games in the 800 meters and Sos Bitok, who took sixth in the 10,000 at the 1984 Olympic Games), along with three NCAA national champions and one AIAW Champion.
Hardy guided Edwin Koech to the NCAA indoor 1,000-yard run and his two-mile relay team won the NCAA indoor event in 1983. He also guided a two-mile relay team to a world record (7:23.09) for an 11-lap track in the Milrose Games and Josephine White to the AIAW 1,000-meter National Title (2:43.33). White went on to establish the women's NCAA Indoor Record in the Mile (4:31.12).
Hired during the summer of 1950, Hardy retired from the University of Richmond on August 20, 1985. Before coming to Richmond, Hardy coached at John Marshall High School, where he had set the Virginia state high school record in the mile (4:33.3) in 1936. Hardy received both his bachelor's degree and master's degree from the University of North Carolina. He was one of the Tar Heels' top distance runners and served as team captain during the 1940 season.
Players Mentioned
