__Saturday’s snowstorm ends competition one day early__
The return of the Colonial Relays to the College also marked the return of winter this past weekend. After Friday’s unseasonably cool temperatures, a classic Southern snowstorm raced through Williamsburg Saturday and forced the cancelation of day two of the Colonial Relays. Nevertheless, Friday provided plenty of strong performances from the College’s track athletes, including two record-breaking performances, as the Tribe men and women both finished second in the shortened meet.
p. A week after just missing the school record, sophomore Abby Lemon’s propelled herself into first place all-time at the College in the hammer throw with a heave of 161 feet and 3 inches; her throw broke the previous record of 159’ 8” held by Cassidy Harris. Lemon’s feat also captured her first place in the competition and the Tribe’s sole field event title at the Colonial Relays.
p. Equally impressive for the men was sophomore David Groff’s 1,500-meter triumph; timing 3 minutes and 46.98 seconds for the win, Groff set the meet record and qualified for the NCAA Regional meet. Prior to Groff’s victory, senior Sean Anastasia-Murphy took first place in the 3,000-m steeplechase in a NCAA Regional qualifying time of 9:04.23 as he edged Georgetown’s Dan Gerber by a mere 15 hundredths of a second. Junior Rob Dennis followed Anastasia-Murphy to the finish line in 9:06.08 to capture fourth place and an NCAA Regional qualifier.
p. Junior Ian Fitzgerald extended the Tribe’s distance-event dominance when he won the 5,000-m in an IC4A-qualifying time of 14:16.48. Sophomore Ryan Jones qualified for IC4A’s after taking second place in the 800-m, and fellow sophomore Alex Heacock moved into fifth place in the school record-books in the javelin after his 196’ throw. All told, the men’s team saw 13 individuals earn bids to IC4A’s.
p. Meanwhile, on the women’s side, senior Meghan Bishop posted an ECAC-qualifying time of 16:55.09 seconds en route to winning the 5,000-m. Junior teammate Kait Hurley followed quickly behind to take second place in 16:56.53 and qualify for ECAC’s as well. In addition to Bishop and Hurley, sophomore Lynn Morelli and junior Emily Gousen earned bids to ECAC’s as well.
p. The women’s distance corps also featured a third-place finish from freshman Anna Brousell in the 3,000-m steeplechase as she climbed to fifth all-time at the College in the event. Two Tribe women ran to the ninth-fastest times in school history in the 800-m and the 1,500-m respectively. Junior Allie Lewis finished the 800-m in 2:12.48 and freshman Emily Anderson completed the 1,500-m in an ECAC-qualifying time of 4:31.26.
p. The men and women return to action this weekend at the Lou Onesty/Milton Abramson Invitational in Charlottesville and the James Madison Open.
