Track and Field Southern Conference Championship

Despite poor weather, the VMI men’s and women’s track and field teams saw some excellent individual performances in the 2025 Southern Conference Championship in Birmingham, Alabama, May 12–13. Placing fifth overall with 73.5 points, the men’s team saw excellent individual performances that led to medals on the podium. The women’s team came in ninth but also saw strong performances, especially a record-breaking performance by Shea Hart ’26, despite being without the strengths of Eleyah Armstrong ’25.

Zack Scott ’89, VMI Director of Track and Field

“We had a hard-fought SoCon Outdoor Championship, led by a dedicated group of seniors, among which 10 will commission on Thursday [May 15]. While we didn’t achieve the results we hoped for, we earned every outcome with grit and determination. This experience will serve as a valuable lesson, one that we’ll carry forward as we work toward a brighter future with our returning athletes.

“One of our commissioning seniors, Keyandre Midgett [’24], still has one more opportunity to represent the Institute. He’ll compete in the triple jump at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Florida, Friday, May 30. We’re proud of him and all our seniors for their leadership and commitment.”

Men’s Day 1

All-Conference Honors

Midgett won the long jump for a second consecutive outdoor season with a season-best distance of 7.29 meters, marking his fourth long jump individual title in the past 2 years between the 2024–25 indoor and outdoor seasons.

Zachary Denton ’27 also earned All-Conference honors for the event by placing second, close behind Midgett at 7.09 meters, also a season-best mark.

Cameron Thomas ’27 earned All-Conference honors in the pole vault by placing second overall at a height of 4.85 meters.

Finals Qualifiers

• Nick Brown ’25 placed third in the 400-meter preliminaries with a season-best time of 48.18 seconds to qualify for the final round.
• Xander Topos ’25 came in sixth in the 110-meter hurdles prelims in a season-best time of 14.90 seconds to qualify for the final round.
• By placing seventh in the 800-meter, Ben Hagerich ’26 qualified for the final round with a time of 1:53.31.
• Isaac Osouna ’28 earned a PR in the 400-meter hurdles prelims in 57.57 seconds to qualify for the finals.
• Kevin Koumondji ’28 came in eighth in the 100-meter prelims with a PR time of 10.86 seconds to qualify for the finals.

After five events, Rye Jackson ’28 is going strong in the decathlon after placing second in the 400-meter dash and fourth in the 100-meter dash. His time of 49.54 seconds in the 400-meter was just four-hundredths of a second behind Samford’s Garner Ezell. Jackson came in fifth in the high jump at 1.77 meters and seventh in the long jump at 5.95 meters while finishing 10th out of 11 competitors in the shot put at 8.89 meters.

Great Performances

• Colin Crenshaw ’27 earned a PR in the 3000-meter steeple in 9:56 for third place.
• Destin Moore ’27, football transplant, came in 11th in the 100-meter in 11.06, just ahead of the time of 11.07 by Jeremiah Wilks ’25.
• Patrick Kiernan ’25 logged a PR time of 33:47.32 for 12th place in the 10,000-meter run.

Women’s Day 1

In an altered meet schedule due to rainy weather in the area, the Keydets were paced by Hart, heptathlete. She earned first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.35 seconds—a new SoCon record for the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles.

She placed second in the 200-meter dash in 26.24 seconds before placing eighth in the high jump at 1.46 meters. She also competed in the shot put and logged a distance of 8.77 meters for ninth place out of 11 competitors.

Finals qualifiers

• SeMore Green ’26 placed eighth in the 200-meter dash preliminaries in 25.14 seconds.
• Reagan Gilman ’28 was the final qualifier in the 800-meter with a ninth-place time of 2:14.20.

Great Performances

• Hart competed in the regular 100-meter hurdles prelims and finished 10th overall in 14.53 seconds, just a few hundredths of a second off from qualifying for the final round.
• Jeniya White ’28 competed in the heptathlon alongside Hart, placing fourth in both the 200-meter (26.73) and high jump (1.52 meters). She placed 10th in the shot put and 11th overall in the 100-meter hurdles.
• Gretal Shank ’25 placed 11th in the 800-meter prelims in 2:17, while Evelyn Anderson ’27 came in 13th in 2:21.
• Heaven Hall ’26 arrived in 14th place in the 100-meter hurdles prelims in 15.52 seconds, a new personal record. She also ran the 400-meter hurdles prelims in 14th place in 1:14.25
• In the 100-meter dash, Naturale Faison ’28 came in 11th overall in 12.45 seconds, ahead of the 13th-place time by Miracle Eric ’28 of 12.59 seconds. Jennifer Koumondji ’27 also ran and placed 14th in 12.66 seconds
• Ruth Dickersheid ’28 earned 13th place in the hammer throw at 32.96 meters.

Men’s Day 2

All-Conference Performances

• Brown finished his VMI career in style with an individual title in the 400-meter as he took first place in a season-best time of 47.52 seconds.
• A day after winning the long jump title, Midgett placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 14.88 meters.
• The 4×400 relay team of Anthony Wilkerson ’28, Wilks, Isaac Osouna ’28, and Brown placed third in 3:18.96.
• The 4×100 relay squad also earned All-Conference with a third-place mark of 41.93 seconds. Koumondji, Wilks, Midgett, and Brown composed the team.
• Tazewell Rae ’28 proved he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future as he took third place in the shot put at 15.81 meters for All-SoCon recognition.

Great finishes

• Koumondji finished sixth in the 100-meter finals with a new PR time of 10.72 seconds.
• Osouna achieved a new PR time of 56.98 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.
• Elisha Williams ’27 came in sixth in the shot put at 15.21 meters, while Hunter Davis ’25 came in 10th at 13.70 meters.
• Grant Fraser ’28 came in seventh in the high jump at 1.82 meters.
• Hagerich logged a 1:58.75 for eighth place in the 800-meter.
• Kevin Shank ’27 arrived in 10th place in the 5000-meter in 14:58.65.
• Rye Jackson ’28 finished ninth in the decathlon with 5579 combined points over the 10 multi-events. His best finishes were a second-place mark in the 1500-meter run in 4:32 and sixth place in the 110-meter in 16.36 seconds
• Elisha Williams ’27 led the way in the discus throw in 10th place at 36.03m, a new PR

Men’s Team Scores

1. Samford – 217.5
2. Western Carolina – 175
3. Furman – 110
4. ETSU – 85
5. VMI – 73.5
6. The Citadel – 70
7. Wofford – 56
8. UNCG – 25

Women’s Day 2:

Multi-athlete Hart led VMI on Day 2 of the SoCon Championships by earning All-Conference honors in the pentathlon.

Competing without the services of Armstrong, the Keydets finished in ninth place overall with 22 points over the 2 days of competition. Samford won the team title for a fifth straight year with 215 points, while Western Carolina finished second, well behind at 136.5 points.

Hart took the podium with a bronze medal after placing third with 4417 combined points in the pentathlon, just three points shy of her career-high set earlier this season. She took first in the 800-meter in 2:25.98—a new SoCon record for the event within the pentathlon. She placed fifth in the javelin throw at 25.61 meters and eighth in the long jump at 4.96 meters.

Great Performances

• Morgan Fraser ’27 took fourth in the high jump at 1.66 meters—a new personal-best height—as she came up just shy of All-SoCon honors.
• The 4×100 relay group of Eric, Green, Koumondji, and Faison placed fifth overall in 48.20 seconds.
• Green would go on to take sixth in the 200-meter in 25.15 seconds.
• The 4×400 relay team, consisting of Hall, Gilman, Anderson, and Shank, took seventh in 4:01.
• Gilman achieved eighth place in the 800-meter in 2:12.24, a new personal record and all-time program best for the event
• Julie Freitas ’25 earned an 11.45-meter in the triple jump for eighth place.
• Diamond Baker ’26 came in ninth place in the shot put at 11.40 meters, and Ruth Dickersheid ’28 placed 12th in 10.59 meters.
• E’yana Watson ’28 earned ninth place in the high jump at 1.56 meters.
• Jeniya White ’28 finished 12th in the pentathlon with 3620 points, with her best finish coming in the 800-meter in 2:33.44. She placed 12th in both the long jump and the javelin throw.
• Baker came in 12th place at 31.93 meters in the discus throw.
• Natalia Dias ’28 arrived in 14th place in the 1500-meter in 5:17.

Women’s Team Scores

1. Samford – 215
2. Western Carolina – 136.5
3. Wofford – 134
4. ETSU – 107.5
5. Furman – 85
6. Chattanooga – 51
7. Mercer – 42
8. The Citadel – 24
9. VMI – 22
10. UNCG – 2

Complete results from the championship can be found here.

Editor’s Note: These articles were first published on vmikeydets.com.