Virginia Announces 2012-13 Track and Field Schedule
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Oct. 22, 2012
Virginia Track and Field Schedule
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—The Virginia track and field program released its 2012-13 track and field schedule, UVa director of track and field/cross country Bryan Fetzer announced Monday (Oct. 22). The Cavaliers’ slate features three home meets and eight competitions that are a three-hour or less drive from Charlottesville.
“What we try to accomplish with our schedule is to go to competitions that fit where we are at (as a program),” Fetzer said. “We also are going to keep the schedule somewhat local because there’s no need to travel too far with the facilities we have and what’s around us. At the same time, we’re going to send our student-athletes to places where they have the opportunity to succeed at the highest level.”
The indoor slate begins Jan. 19 with the Indoor Terrapin Invitational in Landover, Md., before the Cavaliers travel to State College, Pa., for the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup on Feb. 2.
The weekend of Feb. 8-9 will see UVa split up for two meets, the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., and the VT Elite Meet in Blacksburg, Va., before returning to Virginia Tech for the ACC Indoor Championships Feb. 21-23.
The following weekend will see Virginia again split up, this time with members of the team competing at the Alex Wilson Invitational (Notre Dame, Ind.), the Columbia Last Chance (New York) and the VT Final Qualfier (Blacksburg), leading up to the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held in Fayetteville, Ark., March 8-9.
The Cavaliers‘ outdoor season will feature three home meets, including the Virginia Cup on March 23, which will feature JMU, Liberty, Radford and VCU, and the Virginia Invitational on March 30. Virginia’s final 2013 meet at Lannigan Field will once again be the Virginia Challenge on May 10-11.
“We are always going to have three home meets each year,” Fetzer said. “The Virginia Cup is a new meet. We are trying to bring the local Virginia schools together in a dual scoring format and get the season started off with a local flavor.
“The Virginia Challenge will be the same as last year with an elite field of high-level talent from all around. This year we added the heptathlon and the decathlon because those are events we want to excel in.”
Admission to all home meets at Lannigan Field is free.
A new addition for 2013 is a west coast trip with Virginia competing in a tri-meet against California and Michigan in Berkeley, Calif., on April 6. The meet will be the first of three meetings between the schools over the next three years. 2014 is scheduled for Lannigan Field, while Michigan will host in 2015.
“The Virginia-Cal-Michigan meet is what track and field needs,” Fetzer said. “It brings three of the top public universities together, showcasing the East Coast, the Midwest and the West Coast. We are like-schools and have like-minded coaches trying to be successful. We’re scoring the meet and going to have a winner, that’s what sports is about. I wish more universities who do meets like this.”
The George Mason Spring Invitational on April 13 in Fairfax, Va., will be the final meet before the ACC Outdoor Championships, which will be hosted by NC State in Raleigh, N.C., April 18-20.
The Cavaliers will send a few student-athletes out to the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on April 28.
The NCAA East Preliminary Rounds will be held in Greensboro, N.C., May 23-25, leading up to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 5-8.
The 2013 USATF Jr. and Sr. National Championships will be contested June 19-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.