Saturday, April 13, numerous top-caliber marks from all around the track carried William and Mary to two top-three finishes, with the men’s team winning the meet with a score of 83 points. The women finished third in the field of 22 strong teams, while the men snuck past Saint Francis and George Mason to win the 18-team competition.
The College entered the meet coming off a strong performance at the 54th annual Colonial Relays last weekend in which the College registered numerous top performances led by defending Colonial Athletic Association athletes of the week, sophomores Miles Owens and Michael Fairbanks. The meet featured several top teams from across the country, as well as the host Patriots and would hopefully provide a stepping stone as the teams head into the crucial part of the season.
The College recorded numerous Eastern College Athletic Conference qualifying performances, led by Owens, who ran a lifetime-best of 1:49.48 to finish second in the 800m run. The time is the fastest for any Tribe athlete in this event since 2007. On the women’s side, junior Charlotte Kowalk finished fourth with a time of 2:10.46, just off of her lifetime best. Just behind her was senior Lindsay Schott, who ran a lifetime best to finish in sixth place. Senior Ryan McGorty continued his impressive season on the track with a third-place finish in the 1500m, running 3:44.94, just off of his lifetime best. Redshirt-freshman Evan Goodell finished close behind in seventh with an impressive ECAC-qualifying time of 3:50.88.
The Tribe continued to impress in the field events, starting with the shot put. On the men’s side, the College placed three athletes in the top ten, led by senior Preston Richardson. Richardson recorded an ECAC qualifying performance of 17.53m to launch himself to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association rankings. He was followed by senior Vlad Castillo Jr. and freshman Troy Yearwood, who threw 15.62m and 15.04m respectively. On the women’s side, freshman Chelsea Wallace recorded a lifetime-best throw of 13.40m to place third overall. The Chesapeake, Va. native has now moved into the top-ten in school history in the event. The men continued their dominance in the discus, again placing three athletes in the top ten. Yearwood and Castillo again placed in the top ten, with sophomore Connor Scott finishing in third place with a throw of 49.65m, a lifetime best. Fairbanks won the pole vault with a monstrous leap of 4.92m, which requalified him for the ECAC championships. In the women’s pole vault, two Tribe athletes tied for third place, with junior Lauren Graves and sophomore Taylor Jones both vaulting 3.72m for new personal bests. Both Graves and Jones also recorded lifetime bests last weekend at the Colonial Relays.
In the sprints, sophomore Theo Chambers led the way with a personal best time of 48.88 seconds in the 400m dash, placing fifth overall. On the women’s side, the Tribe sprinters picked up a few crucial points in the 400m as well, with juniors Susanna Maisto and Gabby Runge finishing 2nd and 6th respectively with times of 55.52 and 57.99, both personal bests. While the sprinters have not been as active this season, they provided some much-needed support for the College this weekend.
Overall, the Tribe recorded 17 total ECAC qualifiers in addition to the 23 lifetime-best marks on the women’s side. The College leads the CAA in numerous events including the men’s shot put heading into the tail end of the season, with the CAA championships just three short weeks away. Both men’s and women’s teams have three meets remaining and will travel to Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina within the end of the month. Both teams will then travel to Elon University along with the rest of the conference for the conference championships starting May 3. The final meet of the season for most of the Tribe will be the ECAC championships, May 11-12 hosted by Princeton University. Both teams will be back in action at the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C. next weekend, action kicks off on Friday.