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SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championship Set for the Weekend
VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility to host the event for the seventh straight year
SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championship info page
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place at VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility in Lexington, Virginia, this Saturday and Sunday. This year marks the 89th edition of the men’s championship and 37th women’s championship. VMI is hosting the meets for the seventh straight season.
Samford swept the team titles again last year, with the Bulldog men claiming their fourth straight SoCon indoor title and the Samford women winning their eighth straight. The Bulldogs will seek to become the first SoCon women’s program to win nine straight titles, as they already hold the record for the longest streak of consecutive titles.
Samford’s men scored 174.5 points to outdistance runner-up Western Carolina, which scored 122.33. ETSU was third with 102.5 and host VMI was fourth with 96.33. The Bulldogs claimed four event wins Sunday, with Furman, VMI and Western Carolina winning two events apiece.
The Samford women totaled 183.33 points on the day, nearly doubling their day-one advantage of 32 points over runner-up Wofford. The Bulldogs broke a tie with App State, who twice won seven straight team titles, for the most consecutive championships in league history.
This season’s power rankings – determined by the top eight times or scores that are reported by the schools for each event that will be conducted at this weekend’s championships – predict successful title defenses for both Samford programs.
The Samford men totaled 153 points in the power rankings, less than 30 points ahead of second-place Western Carolina’s 125.32. Furman is close behind with 114 and VMI is fourth at 99. Samford boasts a healthy lead in the women’s power rankings with 191.66 points, well ahead of Wofford’s 127. Furman is third with 103 points.
Spectators are welcome at the championships and day two of the meet will air live on ESPN+ beginning at noon Eastern, with Jason Patterson and Phil Cox on the call. Live results, daily recaps, photos, and video highlights can be found at SoConSports.com.
Storylines:
- Lexington, Virginia, is the site of the men’s event for the 42nd time, more than double the total of the next-highest sites, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Johnson City, Tennessee, which have hosted 18 times each. The men’s championship was contested in Lexington for 28 consecutive years from 1954-81. The women’s championship was held in Lexington for the tenth time last season. Prior to 2018, the last time VMI hosted the championships was in 2000.
- The winners of 11 of the 15 individual men’s events and 12 of the 15 individual women’s events from last year’s meet return this season.
- Five of the six superlative winners are back for their respective schools. They include men’s track MOA Cagan Campbell (SAM), women’s track MOA Abigail Robertson (FUR), men’s field MOA Keyandre Midgett (VMI), women’s field MOA Hannah Daffin (SAM), and Women’s Freshman on the year Jenna Mulhern (FUR)
- Additionally, Samford coach Rod Tiffin is the defending coach of the year on both the men’s and women’s sides. He’s won the award six times on the men’s side, including in each of the last four seasons, and has claimed the award seven times on the women’s side.
-Four meet records fell last year, one on Saturday and three on Sunday. One individual record setter and three of the four members of the record setting team are back in the field this year.
-Samford accounted for two new records with Ty Kimblerlin scoring 5, 442 points in the heptathlon and Titus Moore turning in a time of 7.79 in the 60mH.
-Furman accounted for the other two with Dylan Schubert running a 13:54.58 in the 5000m and the distance medley team consisting of Kaylie Armitage, Erin MacDevette, Camryn Wennersten, and Megan Marvin recording a time of 11:25.6.
-Abigail Robertson claimed Furman’s third straight 3,000m women’s title, as she finished in 9:26.48 to win by more than seven seconds and is looking to defend her title this year. The next day, she won the 5,000-meter run in 16:23.42, finishing less than a second behind the meet record, to give Furman nine straight titles in the event.
-Furman’s women’s team broke the meet record in the distance medley relay for the second straight season. Kaylie Armitage, Erin MacDevette, Camryn Wennersten and Megan Marvin turned in a school-record time of 11:25.60 to take nearly six seconds off the previous meet standard. The SoCon title was Furman’s seventh straight in the event. MacDevette is the only member who did not return this year.
- Hannah Daffin will be looking to defend her shot put title and extend her career winnings to three conference titles. Last year, Daffin took gold with a throw of 14.21 meters. She currently leads the conference for the season with a throw of 13 meters.
- Samford’s Bishop will be looking for her fifth straight title in the pole vault. Her top mark of 3.67 meters this season has her in third place in the conference. One of just three women to win the pole vault three times, last year she became the first four-time winner in SoCon history and is looking to extend that record to five. Samford has had a stranglehold on the event, winning it each year since 2018.
- Furman’s Marvin will be chasing her fourth straight title in the 800-meter run. Her top time this season, the 2:09.65 she ran at the Carolina Challenge on Jan. 19, has her in third place in the conference this season.
- Samford’s Brenden Vanderpool, Jed Sisco, and Walker Smith, the defending champion in the pole vault, are ranked one, two, and three, respectively, in the conference. Sisco won the event in 2022.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place at VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility in Lexington, Virginia, this Saturday and Sunday. This year marks the 89th edition of the men’s championship and 37th women’s championship. VMI is hosting the meets for the seventh straight season.
Samford swept the team titles again last year, with the Bulldog men claiming their fourth straight SoCon indoor title and the Samford women winning their eighth straight. The Bulldogs will seek to become the first SoCon women’s program to win nine straight titles, as they already hold the record for the longest streak of consecutive titles.
Samford’s men scored 174.5 points to outdistance runner-up Western Carolina, which scored 122.33. ETSU was third with 102.5 and host VMI was fourth with 96.33. The Bulldogs claimed four event wins Sunday, with Furman, VMI and Western Carolina winning two events apiece.
The Samford women totaled 183.33 points on the day, nearly doubling their day-one advantage of 32 points over runner-up Wofford. The Bulldogs broke a tie with App State, who twice won seven straight team titles, for the most consecutive championships in league history.
This season’s power rankings – determined by the top eight times or scores that are reported by the schools for each event that will be conducted at this weekend’s championships – predict successful title defenses for both Samford programs.
The Samford men totaled 153 points in the power rankings, less than 30 points ahead of second-place Western Carolina’s 125.32. Furman is close behind with 114 and VMI is fourth at 99. Samford boasts a healthy lead in the women’s power rankings with 191.66 points, well ahead of Wofford’s 127. Furman is third with 103 points.
Spectators are welcome at the championships and day two of the meet will air live on ESPN+ beginning at noon Eastern, with Jason Patterson and Phil Cox on the call. Live results, daily recaps, photos, and video highlights can be found at SoConSports.com.
Storylines:
- Lexington, Virginia, is the site of the men’s event for the 42nd time, more than double the total of the next-highest sites, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Johnson City, Tennessee, which have hosted 18 times each. The men’s championship was contested in Lexington for 28 consecutive years from 1954-81. The women’s championship was held in Lexington for the tenth time last season. Prior to 2018, the last time VMI hosted the championships was in 2000.
- The winners of 11 of the 15 individual men’s events and 12 of the 15 individual women’s events from last year’s meet return this season.
- Five of the six superlative winners are back for their respective schools. They include men’s track MOA Cagan Campbell (SAM), women’s track MOA Abigail Robertson (FUR), men’s field MOA Keyandre Midgett (VMI), women’s field MOA Hannah Daffin (SAM), and Women’s Freshman on the year Jenna Mulhern (FUR)
- Additionally, Samford coach Rod Tiffin is the defending coach of the year on both the men’s and women’s sides. He’s won the award six times on the men’s side, including in each of the last four seasons, and has claimed the award seven times on the women’s side.
-Four meet records fell last year, one on Saturday and three on Sunday. One individual record setter and three of the four members of the record setting team are back in the field this year.
-Samford accounted for two new records with Ty Kimblerlin scoring 5, 442 points in the heptathlon and Titus Moore turning in a time of 7.79 in the 60mH.
-Furman accounted for the other two with Dylan Schubert running a 13:54.58 in the 5000m and the distance medley team consisting of Kaylie Armitage, Erin MacDevette, Camryn Wennersten, and Megan Marvin recording a time of 11:25.6.
-Abigail Robertson claimed Furman’s third straight 3,000m women’s title, as she finished in 9:26.48 to win by more than seven seconds and is looking to defend her title this year. The next day, she won the 5,000-meter run in 16:23.42, finishing less than a second behind the meet record, to give Furman nine straight titles in the event.
-Furman’s women’s team broke the meet record in the distance medley relay for the second straight season. Kaylie Armitage, Erin MacDevette, Camryn Wennersten and Megan Marvin turned in a school-record time of 11:25.60 to take nearly six seconds off the previous meet standard. The SoCon title was Furman’s seventh straight in the event. MacDevette is the only member who did not return this year.
- Hannah Daffin will be looking to defend her shot put title and extend her career winnings to three conference titles. Last year, Daffin took gold with a throw of 14.21 meters. She currently leads the conference for the season with a throw of 13 meters.
- Samford’s Bishop will be looking for her fifth straight title in the pole vault. Her top mark of 3.67 meters this season has her in third place in the conference. One of just three women to win the pole vault three times, last year she became the first four-time winner in SoCon history and is looking to extend that record to five. Samford has had a stranglehold on the event, winning it each year since 2018.
- Furman’s Marvin will be chasing her fourth straight title in the 800-meter run. Her top time this season, the 2:09.65 she ran at the Carolina Challenge on Jan. 19, has her in third place in the conference this season.
- Samford’s Brenden Vanderpool, Jed Sisco, and Walker Smith, the defending champion in the pole vault, are ranked one, two, and three, respectively, in the conference. Sisco won the event in 2022.