Sept. 12, 2011
Nashville, Tenn. –
On Saturday, September 17th, the Vanderbilt Commodores will play host to the annual Commodore Classic, where over twenty schools will compete at Percy Warner Park.
This year, the women’s team will be represented by a young group of runners, including freshmen Hannah Jumper, Rebecca Chandler, Amira Joseph, and Claire Benjamin.
“We’re just trying to show how deep a team we have,” said head coach Steve Keith, a Vanderbilt Alum himself. “Four of the seven running are freshman girls that have bonded well, and hopefully they will race well together.”
Keith knows it will be a pressure situation for his newest runners, throwing them into a race situation with an opportunity to prove what they can do early in their Commodore career, but he expects them to fare well.
“We’re putting it all on their shoulders, so I’m sure they’re going to be excited about trying to represent the team as well as they can,” he said. “It’s our home race, it’s parents’ weekend, a lot of our young kids will have their parents in town, so that’ll be special for them.”
Providing support and experience will be seniors Erin McManus and Erlena Josifi, and sophomore Megan Yohe. “They’ll be a solid little 7 person team, and hopefully they can be proud of what they accomplish and proud of the depth of our team,” said Keith.
The event starts at 8:45 a.m. CT, when the men run their 8,000-meter course. The women compete in the 5,000-meter course at 9:30 a.m. CT.