Jan. 12, 2017
Event: Commodore Invitational
Dates: Jan. 13-14
Site: Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility
Commodore Invitational Records and History
Vanderbilt track and field will return back to action this weekend by hosting the third annual Commodore Invitational. The Commodores will welcome 18 other schools to Nashville for the two-day meet, which begins this Friday at 4:00 pm (CT) and will conclude on Saturday. The field features seven other schools from the SEC, including Alabama, Auburn, Florida (distance), LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri and Tennessee, giving Vanderbilt its first competition against conference foes this year. The meet will also include some familiar faces for the Commodores with seven programs who competed in the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener returning for this weekend’s meet (Austin Peay, Belmont, Lipscomb, Middle Tennessee, Murray State, Trevecca Nazarene, and Western Kentucky).
Some athletes to watch for in the meet include Ole Miss thrower Raven Saunders, Auburn sprinter Teray Smith, and Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer. Saunders, the collegiate record holder for shot put, was one of 10 women named to the 2017 preseason watch list for The Bowerman Award, collegiate track & field’s highest individual honor. Saunders also finished fifth in the shot put at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Auburn’s Smith was also a 2016 Rio Olympics participant, representing the Bahamas in the 200m dash, the same event he will run in at the Commodore Invitational. Schweizer is the reigning NCAA Cross Country National Champion and 2016 SEC Women’s Runner of the Year. She will compete in the mile run.
The Commodore Invitational is the second of five home meets that Vanderbilt track and field will host this season. In last month’s Vanderbilt Indoor Opener, the Commodores had several strong performances, highlighted by a first-place finish from senior Courtney Clayton in the mile run with a time of 4:51.57 and by freshman Caleigh Lofstead earning a new personal-best height of 13′ 5.25″, a mark that is tied for tops in the NCAA. The Commodores also came away from the Indoor Opener with three athletes ranking among the Top-10 on VU’s all-time performer’s list. Lofstead now ranks second all-time in program history for pole vault, fellow freshman pole-vaulter Margaret Ollinger ranks fifth on the list with a height of 12′ 3.5″, and senior Sarah Goodale set a new PR and now ranks sixth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.85 seconds. Check out the Home Meet Information page to see other upcoming meets at Vanderbilt’s Multipurpose Facility this season.
Quoting Head Coach Steve Keith:
On getting a first look at SEC opponents for the 2017 season:
“We are really looking forward to hosting seven other SEC opponents this weekend and using this meet as a measuring stick as to how we stack up against the rest of the conference and to see what we’re doing well and where we need to improve going forward. The competition within the conference is stout this season with nine teams earning Top-25 honors in the USTFCCCA preseason rankings, so we’ll be competing against the best of the best.”
On what he is looking for from his team from the Commodore Invitational:
“It is always important to get better from meet-to-meet. We did lots of good things as a team at the Indoor Opener last month, but that was just a starting point and now its our job as a team to continue to put in the work to improve every time out, and this meet provides a fantastic opportunity for us to compete against nationally-recognized programs and makes ourselves better.”
The meet will be $7 for spectators and is free for Vanderbilt students who have a valid student ID.