University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Set To Host 8th Annual Fred Hardy Invitational
03/27/2013 | Women's Track & Field
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Spiders return home for the second weekend of the outdoor track season to host the eighth annual Fred Hardy Invitational on Friday and Saturday. This weekend's running and jumping events 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:
The meet will open on Friday with the men's hammer throw set to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Upper Practice Fields. Events at the Fred Hardy Track begin at 3:00 p.m. with the men's and women's pole vault and the running events are slated to start at 5:00 p.m. with the 3000m steeplechase. Saturday's events kick off with the men's discus at 9:00 a.m. Running events will commence at 11:00 a.m. with the women's 100-meter hurdle. A full schedule of events can be found here.
The Spiders welcome 22 collegiate teams and 11 running clubs including: Concord, Dallas Baptist, Duquesne, Hampden-Sydney, Hampton, Howatd, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Longwood, Marist, Medgar Evans, Prince George's CC, QuickStars, Quinnipiac, RBC Runners, Rutgers, Shippensburg, Speed Elite, St. Francic (N.Y.), St. Peter's, Terp Sprinters, VCU, Virginia State, Virginia Union, Wagner, William and Mary, NYNJ Track Club, Georgetown Running Club, Norfolk Elite, The SSP, and the UVA Track Club.
Amongst those competing are 2011 Pan American Gold Medalist Yvette Lewis, 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Francena McCorory, and Olympic qualifier Nickiesha Wilson .
Former Spiders Meaghan McGovern and Nicol Traynor are also slated to compete with their respective running clubs.
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 on the 2013 Fred Hardy Invitational Central page.
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
For the seventh-consecutive year, SpiderTV will provide a live video stream featuring the running and jumping events. The video steam will be free and Friday's 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 round on RichmondSpiders.com following each day of action.
LAST TIME OUT
The Richmond men's and women's track and field squads completed their first meet of the outdoor season this past Saturday at the William and Mary Tribe Invite in Williamsburg.
Freshman Mary Allen continued fantastic freshman campaign, taking 3rd in the 200 meter to earn her third A-10 Rookie of the Week nod.
Melanie Overall record a personal best mark of 37.92 in the javelin throw to earn 3rd place overall.
Five Spider women competed in the 100m hurdle, where Kelsey McKenna finished seventh (16.22) and Amber Young rounded out the top ten with a mark of 16.55.
On the men's side six Spiders competed in the 1500m. Kyle Ragan finished the highest for the Spiders with a time of 4:04.52. Patrick Love clocked in at 4:07.00 and Paul Meyer finished in a time of 4:07.19.
Scott Sommers won the first flight of two in the javelin throw to take 9th overall with a 45.70m mark.
The Fred Hardy Invitational meet will be the first outdoor meet for the majority of the team including Alyson McGonigle, Jill Prentice, Jason Skipper, and Justin Keefe.
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
