Friday and Saturday at George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia, William and Mary racked up numerous top performances including four event wins and nine qualifying marks for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships.
Freshman Daniel Layton got the action started Friday evening in the heptathlon. A local of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Layton placed third overall in the event which consists of seven different events and races. Layton won the 1000–meter run as a part of the heptathlon and also picked up top three finishes in the pole vault and 60-meter hurdles. Saturday, the relay team of sophomores Evan Goodell and Colin Grip, and freshmen Andrew Lagattuta and Tyler Lipps placed third in the distance medley relay with a time of 10 minutes, 20.29 seconds.
In the men’s mile, the College dominated, placing four athletes in the top nine. Senior JP Trojan won the race in a time of 4:10.93. Trojan picked up right where he left off in an impressive cross–country campaign in which he won two races and placed second at the Colonial Athletic Association championships. Sophomore Patrick Lynch placed fourth in the same race, with a time of 4:16.2 and sophomore Spencer Tsai and senior Christopher Short placed eighth and ninth respectively. In the 60–meter hurdles, sophomore Ryan Thomas set a lifetime best of 8.70 to place third overall. Redshirt junior Theo Chambers won the 500–meter dash in another lifetime best of 1:06.22. In the final running event of the day, the College placed third in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:25.2.
In the field events, the Tribe again impressed throughout the meet. Junior George Cross placed in the top 10 in the long jump to set an indoor personal best and was just three inches shy of his overall personal best. Cross also placed second in the triple jump with a personal best jump over 44 feet. In the pole vault, sophomore Michael Fairbanks set a massive personal best of 5.10 meters and captured first overall. Junior KJ Cook set a lifetime best en route to victory in the weight throw and also placed second in the shot put. The All-American looked poised for another breakout season. Led by Cook, the College placed three athletes in the top eight in the shot put with junior Connor Scott finishing just behind Cook and sophomore Troy Yearwood finishing eighth overall. Yearwood also placed sixth in the weight throw with a heave of 18.05 meters.
On the women’s side, freshman Carly Swierbut impressed in her collegiate debut in the 400-meter dash. Swierbut placed second overall in the race with a new Tribe freshman school record time of 57.59 seconds. Friday in the pentathlon, freshman Monay James scored 2,999 points in the five-event competition, good for second place. James won the shot put and long jump events in the competition. Similar to the men, the College picked up several key performances in the mile. Seniors Deirdre Lewin and Olivia Paxton both recorded personal bests and placed third and fourth in the race, running 5:05.40 and 5:10.21, respectively. Freshman Kaycee Cox-Philyaw placed ninth in the same race. In the 60-meter hurdles, junior Jadyn Currie finished just one hundredth of a second off her personal best and placed fourth with a time of 9.22 seconds.
The Tribe picked up three qualifying marks in the 500-meter dash, with juniors Victoria Gersch and Susanna Maisto placing second and third respectively, and senior Gabriel Runge right behind in fourth. In the 800-meter run, freshman Hope Stephens placed fourth in her collegiate debut with a time of 2:19.52. Juniors Lauren Finikiotis and Taylor Jones picked up top-10 performances in the 1,000-meter run. In addition to her performance in the 1,000, Jones recorded a sixth-place finish in the pole vault and a fourth-place mark in the triple jump. In the final running event of the day, the Tribe again impressed in the 4×400-meter relay. The relay team of Runge, Swierbut, Maisto and Gersch won the race in a qualifying time of 3:54.25.
In the field events, junior Leah Earnest recorded a sixth-place finish in the shot put, throwing 11.66 meters. Senior Alexis Brender a Brandis placed second in the long jump with a leap of 5.26 meters. Brender a Brandis would also go on to place second in the triple jump, jumping 11.12 meters.
Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams will be back in action Friday and Saturday on the road at the Penn State National where they will look to continue racking up top performances.