Just two weeks after traveling to Boston to compete in the indoor conference championships, William and Mary took to the track again hosting the Tribe Invitational Saturday at Zable Stadium. The College’s men and women both took first place and earned several conference qualifiers.
The men ended the invitational with six event wins and five qualifiers for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Outdoor Championships.
All of the IC4A qualifications came from the throwing squad, which was dominant in Saturday’s meet at the nearby Stimson Throwing Events Area. Junior Brian Waterfield, who competed earlier this month in shot put at the IC4A indoor meet, earned an outdoor qualification for both shot put and hammer throw. Waterfield finished second in shot put with a distance of 16.22 meters, and won the hammer throw of 57.17 meters, tying for fourth all-time at the College.
Junior Taylor Frenia claimed the win in both shot put and discus, earning two IC4A qualifications. Frenia is the defending shot put champion for the Colonial Athletic Association and he maintained his stride from last season with 16.4 meters. His discus throw was not only good for the win and qualifier, but also a lifetime-best as he threw 49.91 meters.
Freshman Derek Trott earned the last IC4A qualification of the meet winning the javelin event with his first collegiate attempt, tossing 62.64 meters.
On the track, the men did not qualify for any conference meets but still won some events. Junior Nathaniel Hermsmeier won the 3,000-meter run in 8:31.98; the top nine spots in the event were all members of the Tribe. The last win came from the 4×400-meter relay, where the College led for the second half of the race and ultimately finished in 3:23.19 for the best Tribe relay in eight seasons.
The women’s team earned one Eastern Conference Athletic Conference qualifier and seven event wins in its victory at the home invitational.
Junior Ashley Woodards earned distinction as an ECAC Championships qualifier by winning the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.03. Woodards was also part of the first-place 4×400-meter relay team, which crossed the line in 3:57.94.
Highlighting the day was the women’s mile run, which had not occurred in Zable Stadium since the mid-1970s. Freshman Regan Rome broke the longest-standing stadium record with her winning mile time of 4:57.06, breaking the 1974 record of 5:00.07 by 3.01 seconds. The Tribe also had two other women finish under five minutes in the mile: freshman Molly Breidenbaugh and senior Dylan Hassett both ran lifetime-bests with respective 4:57.22 and 4:57.45 finishes for second and third place.
Rachel Rabbitt rounded out the track victories for the Tribe, finishing the 3,000-meter run in 10:17.14, far ahead of her competition.
In field events, the College took wins in the hammer throw, high jump, and triple jump. Freshman Leia Mistowski won the hammer after tossing 48.12 meters, freshman Minna McFarland finished first in high jump with a 1.64 meter performance, and sophomore Susannah Philbrick led the triple jump with a 10.86 meter jump.
The men’s squad finished in first with 215 points, 69 points ahead of second-place George Mason. The women won with 301 points, almost triple the score of second-place finisher Richmond, who finished with 106 points.
Next weekend the Tribe travels to Richmond, Va., to compete in the Fred Hardy Invitational Friday and Saturday.