Track: Men finish fifth in Duke Invitational, women earn eleventh

COURTESY IMAGE / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Saturday, April 20, William and Mary travelled to Durham, North Carolina to compete in the Duke Invitational. The men finished the meet fifth overall with 43 points, losing to Minnesota’s 137.5 total. The women finished tied for 11th in the meet with a total of 20 points, losing to the Golden Gophers as well, who took the meet with a total of 144.5.

Finishing out the day with a win in the 4x400m relay, the Tribe ran a 3:16.36 to requalify for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships. Contributing to this win were junior Theo Chambers, senior Duncan Goodrich, junior Skander Ballard and sophomore Colin Grip.

In the field events, the men were likewise very successful, including three IC4A qualifiers in the discus. Sophomore Connor Scott took second overall with his lifetime-best 50.66m, improving his best by more than three feet, and earning his place in school history as seventh best. Graduate student Preston Richardson took fourth with 50.10m, while freshman Troy Yearwood took eighth with 48.29m.

In shot put, Richardson put out his season-best 17.71m, just two inches short of his personal best, and the seventh-longest put in school history. With this, he was able to requalify for the IC4A Championships, and is likely to receive a bid for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, having the best mark in the Colonial Athletic Association.

In pole vault, sophomore Michael Fairbanks placed ninth and requalified for the IC4As at a height of 4.90m.

For the women, among their top performances of the day was that of sophomore Jadyn Currie who finished 10th in the 100m hurdles with a lifetime-best and Eastern College Athletic Conference-qualifying 14.33 seconds. For Currie, this was the 11th-fastest race in school history, and it moves her to fifth all-time amongst Tribe athletes.

In pole vault, junior Lauren Graves earned her lifetime best for the third week in a row, placing eighth with a clearance at 3.80m, requalifying her for the ECAC Championships.

Senior Brianna Miller was likewise very impressive in her horizontal jumps, with two top-10 performances, and two top-10 all-time marks. In long jump, she took ninth overall at 5.63m, the eighth-longest jump in school history. In triple jump, Miller was 10th overall at 11.81m, which was the 10th longest jump at the College.

The College will return to action next weekend with a team split between a pair of meets. Several athletes will be at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 25-27, while others will head to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Grand Prix April 26-27.

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