Keyandre Midgett ’24, sprinter and jumper, was the top point-scorer at the SoCon meet, where he posted a pair of podium finishes and received SoCon honors to cap the 2023 indoor track and field season.—Photos courtesy VMI Keydets.
The 2023 indoor track and field season was memorable for Zack Scott ’89, second-year head coach and director of track and field and cross country, as the team earned many accomplishments and made gradual progress every meet.
On the men’s side, Keyandre Midgett ’24, sprinter and jumper, was named the Southern Conference Male Most Outstanding Performer as well as the Heath Whittle Male Most Outstanding Athlete as voted upon by the league’s nine head coaches. The honor marks the second year in a row that a VMI athlete has earned the Heath Whittle award.
Midgett was the top point scorer at the SoCon meet and posted a pair of podium finishes. The Portsmouth, Virginia, native won the triple jump Feb. 26, 2023, after finishing second in the long jump the day before. He also finished second in the 60-meter hurdles en route to a meet-best 26 points. His point total assisted the Keydets in placing fourth overall at the meet. He earned a 15.24-meter triple jump to place first and came in second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.18 seconds.
Andrew Granger ’24 won the SoCon individual title in the weight throw by placing first with a personal-record distance of 16.78 meters, while Herbert Brooks ’23 came in third with a personal-best mark of 16.68 meters.
Liam McBride ’24 placed third in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.20 seconds to earn All-SoCon honors just ahead of Xander Topos ’25, who placed eighth with a time of 8.68 seconds.
Women’s indoor track and field performed strongly in the 2023 SoCon Indoor Championships, including winning performances by Eleyah Armstrong ’25.
Nick Brown ’25 earned a second-place time of 48.25 seconds in the 400-meter finals ahead of Topos’ sixth-place mark of 49.95 seconds.
Trent Whittaker ’23 arrived in third place in the 800-meter finals with a time of 1:52.94 to earn All-SoCon honors for the event.
The VMI foursome of Topos, Edwards, Whittaker, and Brown came away with a second-place time of 3:18.04 in the 4×400 relay to secure All-Conference honors, capping a successful indoor season for VMI.
The VMI women’s track and field team completed the 2023 SoCon Indoor Championships with excellence Feb. 26, 2023, at VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility. Eleyah Armstrong ’25 led the women’s side with first place finishes in the 60-meter dash and long jump.
Armstrong won her second event of the meet by coming in first in the 60-meter dash with a school record time of 7.56 seconds, beating the 7.58 seconds time of former Keydet Kerisha Goode ’18 from the 2018 indoor season. The day before, Armstrong took the podium in first place in the long jump with a new school record and personal-best distance of 5.86 meters, or 19’2.75”. She beat the former mark of Bria Anderson ’18 of 19’1.5” in 2016 as Armstrong earned VMI’s all-time best distance for the event.
Taylor Hill ’26 finished tied for second in the pole vault event with a height of 3.55 meters to earn All-SoCon honors for the event.
The VMI women finished in seventh place overall with 38.33 points.
The Keydets again made full use of the state-of-the-art Corps Physical Training Facility, leaving Lexington for only two of their seven competitions. The SoCon Championship meet was held at the CPTF for the sixth year running.
