Thursday, Feb. 23, William and Mary finished competing in the inaugural Colonial Athletic Association indoor track and field championship at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. The men’s team placed sixth in the overall standings with 68 points, while the women’s team finished fifth overall with 58 points.
The two-day title meet is the first of its kind for the CAA, and included numerous teams from the conference.
Last year, the Tribe men’s team competed in the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships, placing No. 14 out of 44 teams. The women’s team finished No. 9 out of 39 teams in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.
While the Tribe found success at these larger meets in the past, the introduction of the new CAA championship allowed the Tribe to be more competitive, facing schools solely in their conference.
William and Mary’s opponents in the men’s championship featured Hofstra, Hampton, Northeastern, North Carolina A&T, Monmouth and Stony Brook. On the women’s side, the Tribe competed against longtime CAA schools Charleston, Delaware, Elon, Hofstra, Northeastern, Towson and North Carolina Wilmington, along with newcomers Hampton, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T and Stony Brook.
On day one of the competition, the men’s team started strong with notable finishes across multiple events.
Freshman Jason Nwosu placed No. 5 in the weight throw at 16.58m (54-04.75), recording a personal record and moving him into No. 15 on The Tribe’s all-time performers list in the event.
Senior Harrison Duncan also placed No. 5 in the long jump event, recording a 6.82m (22-04.50), while junior Ethan Buenviaje finished No. 14 in the event at 6.28m (20-07.25).
In the pole vault, sophomore J.P. Mintz cleared 4.35m (14-03.25), placing him No. 5 overall.
In the last event of the opening day, senior Andrew Lagattuta, and freshmen Gabriel Albers, Brendan DiStefano and Luke Henkel notched a place on the podium in the distance medley relay event, finishing No. 3 with a time of 10 minutes, 13.78 seconds.
This opening day filled with Tribe PRs and all-time program performances settled the men’s team No. 5 in the overall team standings with 19 points. Monmouth led the table with 51, followed by Northeastern and Stony Brook with 40 and 30, respectively, heading into the second day.
On the women’s side of the opening day, the Tribe shined with multiple historic performances across the events.
In the distance medley relay event, juniors Molly Coyle and Makenzie Joiner, sophomore Arianna DeBoer and freshman Sofia Istnick secured a second-place finish with a time of 11:42.72, marking the sixth-fastest finish in Tribe program history.
Junior Olesya Sitkowski also secured a top-three finish, taking bronze in the pole vault after clearing 3.70m (12-01.50).
Senior Keeley Suzenski spearheaded an impressive Tribe performance in the weight throw event, posting a PR of 16.84m (55-03.00) and finishing No. 11, resecuring her position as the third-best performer in Tribe program history. Freshman Talia Anderson also posted a PR, finishing 19th at 15.19m (49-10.00). Freshman Ella Carlson placed No. 22 at 14.68m (48-02.00), improving her to No. 14 on the program’s all-time performers list.
Sophomore Emily Ervin dazzled in the 400m event, recording the second-fastest finish in William and Mary program history with a time of 55.28. This marks the second time in the past month Ervin has set a new PR in the 400m event. Ervin also recorded a 24.64 in the 200m event prelims, setting the fifth-fastest time in program history.
These impressive performances represented an exceptional opening day for the Green and Gold, putting together 16 points and sitting in sixth on the overall team rankings. Northeastern led with 57 points, trailed by Elon and Delaware with 38.5 and 28, respectively.
In the second and final day of the championship meet, the men’s team found success across several events recording podium finishes.
Senior Daniel Layton led the Tribe, earning gold in the heptathlon event with 4,381 points. Layton recorded a time of 8.35 in the heptathlon 60m hurdles, breaking his own program record. Layton posted this previous mark at the Brant Tolsma Invitational last month, the same meet that he set the Tribe overall heptathlon record with 4,967 points.
After finishing No. 5 in the first day’s weight throw event, Nwosu captured bronze in the shot put with a performance of 15.63m (51-03.50). Freshman Jonathan Kumer recorded a PR of 1:51.08 to also take bronze in the 800m event. This time improves Kumer to No. 5 on William and Mary’s all-time performers list.
Overall, the Tribe finished No. 6 in the overall team standings with 68 points. Northeastern secured first place with 171 points, followed by Monmouth and North Carolina A&T with 155 and 119 points, respectively.
Suzenski shined on the second day of the women’s championship. The senior captured gold in shot put, putting on the most dominant performance of her already impressive season so far. Suzenski recorded a 15.39m (50-06.00), second-best in Tribe program history. Suzenski now owns the top 12 performances by a Tribe athlete in this event.
DeBoer also captured gold in the 3,000m event, posting a time of 9:35.52. This performance moves DeBoer into No. 14 on the William and Mary all-time performers list.
The Tribe’s 4×400 relay team notched a podium finish, too. Ervin, seniors Carly Swierbut and Amaya Johnson and junior Lizzy Gregory placed third with a time of 3:43.47, the second-fastest time in William and Mary history and the second time this season the quartet has posted that mark. They previously recorded a 3:44.80 at the Doc Hale Virginia Tech Meet earlier this month.
Altogether, the Tribe placed No. 5 with 58 points. Elon captured No. 1 with 129.83 points, Hampton No. 2 with 121.33 points and Northeastern No. 3 with 93 points.
William and Mary men’s and women’s track and field will compete at the NCAA Championships on March 10-11 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.