Saturday morning, Nov. 2, in New Market, Virginia, William and Mary put in another dominating performance at the Colonial Athletic Association championships. The men placed first overall with 27 points for an unprecedented 20th-consecutive conference title. On the women’s side, the College finished in third with 68 points.
Coming into the meet, redshirt junior Trojan had been one of the most dominant CAA performers all season, with two wins at the Penn State National meet and the Panorama Farms Invitational. The Ohio native ran a blistering time of 24:04 to place second overall, only beaten by Alex Masai of Hofstra who dipped under 24 minutes with a winning time of 23:54.5. Five Tribe athletes finished on the all-conference led by Trojan in second, followed closely by redshirt sophomore Evan Goodell in fourth, junior Spencer Tsai in fifth, senior Cooper Leslie in sixth and redshirt-sophomore Patrick Lynch in 10th overall. All 12 Tribe runners finished in the top 50.
The win marked the 20th-straight year atop the CAA for the Tribe men, which currently stands as the second-longest streak in the nation, behind only Iona of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Gaels have won 29 straight conference titles. The College also owns the third-most conference titles in National Collegiate Athletic Association history, behind national powerhouses Wisconsin and Arkansas.
On the women’s side, the Tribe had four all-conference runners en route to a third-place finish to continue its impressive season. The Tribe scored 68 points to finish just six points behind second-place Delaware. The College was led by freshman Emma Rogers, who finished in 7th place to pace the Tribe. Redshirt junior Liv Paxton finished one spot behind in eighth place while senior Charlotte Kowalk and junior Lauren Finikiotis rounded out the all-conference team in 10th and 12th place respectively. Saturday marked the second year in a row on the all-conference team for Kowalk, while Finikiotis made the team for the third year in a row. Elon put three runners in the top five to finish first overall.
Up next, the men’s and women’s teams will have the weekend off to prepare for the biggest meet of the season, the NCAA Southeast Region Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia. JP Trojan will return to the Panorama Farms course where he last won in September. The men will race kilometers in that race instead of the typical eight and the women will continue to run six. That race will take place Nov. 15, with action set to start at 11:30 a.m. The Tribe will look to qualify for the national championships in Terre Haute, Indiana in that race.
