The Armory Foundation announced its Armory Track Invitational will be renamed the Dr. Sander Invitational to honor its longtime President Dr. Norbert Sander, who passed away last spring.

“Dr. Sander helped transcend the Armory Invitational into one of the top track & field meets in the country,” said Rita Finkel, co-President of the Armory Foundation. “He was a part of every Armory Track Invitational and took great pride and satisfaction that so many wonderful track & field athletes, especially the collegiate student-athletes, were a major part of the Armory Track Invitational.”

This marks the 18^th edition of the meet and last February’s meet featured 50 college track teams, including Duke, Maryland, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

The meet is one of the largest, most prestigious college indoor meets in the country, and counts among its past competitors numerous record holders and Olympic champions, including Ashton Eaton, Matthew Centrowitz, Renaud LaVillenie, Phyllis Francis, Sandi Morris, Nia Ali, Lolo Jones, Natasha Hastings and Ryan Crouser.

This 2018 meet will be held Friday and Saturday January 26-27 and is being restructured to allow for a daylong college meet on Friday and a separate event, theColumbia Challenge, on Friday night and Saturday. The 2018 Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge will have a limited field including such teams as St. John's, Wisconsin, Missouri, Penn, Brigham Young, Villanova, Duke, Connecticut, Albany, Oregon and the host Lions. NBC Sports Network will broadcast the meet for two hours on Saturday afternoon.

“This is the first of many ways The Armory and sport of track & field will rightfully pay tribute to Dr. Sander,” said Jonathan Schindel, co-President of the Armory Foundation. “Dr. Sander was a Hall of Fame runner for Fordham University and enjoyed helping make this a signature meet on the schedules for college track & field programs of all sizes.”

In 1993, then-New York City Mayor David Dinkins handed over “the key to The Armory” to Dr. Sander, who ran at The Armory in the late-1950s for Fordham Prep and early-‘60s for Fordham University, to elevate the indoor track & field facility into the finest of its kind in the country.

His vision for The Armory exists today: the landmark facility’s track & field setting encased in an enormous vaulted ceiling are: a 200-meter banked track that has paved the way to start track & field careers to national and world records; state-of-the-art timing, lighting and sound systems; an enclosed media center; and home to the renowned Armory College Prep program that helps high school student-athletes’ continue their dreams toward a college education.