William and Mary zooms through 58th Colonial Relays

JULIANA GOMIEN // THE FLAT HAT William and Mary put on a strong showing during the Colonial Relays, finishing second overall for the men and third for the women.

Thursday, April 4 to Saturday, April 6, William and Mary track and field hosted the 58th annual Colonial Relays at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Va. The men’s team placed second out of 28 teams, and the women placed third out of 24 teams. 

Bucknell won both the men’s and women’s contests, with the Tribe trailing the Bisons by five points on the men’s side and 25 on the women’s side.

In the 100-meter dash, junior sprinter Melissa Cunningham placed second with a time of 11.84 seconds, followed by graduate student sprinter Jacqueline Jones in sixth with a time of 12.19 seconds. Cunningham’s time notches her as the fastest 100-meter dash performance in program history, breaking the record of 11.96 seconds previously set by Amaya Johnson ’23 at the 2023 Dan Stimson Memorial Invitational in Williamsburg, Va.

For the 200-meter dash, junior sprinter/jumper Emily Ervin placed third with a time of 24.65 seconds. Ervin was followed by Cunningham, who ran a fourth-place time of 24.94 seconds. Jones and sophomore sprinter Charlotte Robinson placed 12th and 35th, respectively. 

Senior sprinter Lizzy Gregory, placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.86 seconds. Gregory holds the program record of 54.20 seconds for this event, which she set at the 2023 CAA Championships. Senior middle distance runner Makenzie Joiner followed Gregory in eighth, and freshman sprinter Jamison Gilmore placed 16th. 

Senior middle distance runner Molly Coyle recorded a time of 2:11.26 minutes in the women’s 800-meter invitational. Joiner, freshman distance runner Becca Harkness and sophomore distance runner Lydia Wallis placed fifth, seventh and eighth, respectively. In the regular 800-meter run, senior middle distance runner Jennifer Gerson placed 19th and freshman jumper/sprinter Aurora Schwaner placed 36th.  

For the 1,500-meter run invite, sophomore distance runner Jennifer Tsai placed 11th with a time of 4:37.96, followed closely in 12th by sophomore distance runner Kelly Ann Sutterfield, who recorded a time of 4:38.69. In the regular 1,500-meter run, senior distance runner Emily Sell placed first with a time of 4:37.67, followed by senior middle distance runner Hannah Holland, in 25th.

In the 5,000-meter run invite, senior distance runner Kyra Holland placed third, recording an impressive 16:27.99 finish. Freshman distance runner Taylor Gibson, sophomore distance runner Tessa Dobrinski and graduate student distance runner Olivia Haller followed in 27th, 29th and 31st, respectively.

For the 10,000-meter run invite, graduate student distance runner Heidi Fortin placed eighth with a time of 37:03.34.

In the 100-meter hurdles, freshman sprinter/hurdler/jumper Katriel Amoyaw placed second, recording a time of 14.92 seconds. As for the 400-meter hurdles, junior sprinter/hurdler Clare Howard placed fourth  with a time of 1:03.49, followed by freshman hurdler Evelyn Brantley in 12th.

For the 3,000-meter steeplechase, junior middle distance/distance runner Lucy Young placed seventh with a time of 11:06. Junior middle distance/distance runner Annika Griggs followed in 12th. 

William and Mary placed eighth in the 200-meter relay with a time of 1:47.19. The team included Amoyaw, Schwaner, senior Elizabeth Upright and senior Megan Heidebrecht. As for the 400-meter relay, the Tribe team of Gregory, Ervin, freshman Jamison Gilmore and Joiner finished second with a time of 3:49.85 minutes. In the 1,500 relay, the Tribe placed second again thanks to the team of Tsai, Sutterfield, senior Annie Wicker and junior Arianna DeBoer, who finished with a time of 19:01.93. 

In the high jump, Amoyaw tied for 12th place with a height of 1.55 meters. In the pole vault, freshman Elizabeth Strobach placed second with a height of 3.93 meters. She was followed by Upright in third place with a height of 3.78 meters. These athletes were also followed by Tribe teammates junior Sophie Fernandez in eighth place and junior Fiona Basewitz in 10th place.

In the long jump, Heidebrecht placed second with 5.85 meters. Heidebrecht also placed first in the triple jump with a winning distance of 12.23 meters.

In the shot put, sophomore Ella Carlson placed 10th with a best throw of 11.84 meters. In the discus, fifth-year Keeley Suzenski  placed fourth with a final throw of 44.64 meters. Sophomore Talia Anderson placed first in the hammer throw with a meet-best distance of 45.07 meters. 

Finally, in the javelin throw, senior Liv Cantby placed third for the Green and Gold with a best throw of 42.92 meters.

On the men’s side, senior Jackson Cooley placed fifth in the 100-meter dash, finishing with a blinding time of 10.76 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, freshman Jacob Robinson had an impressive first place finish. Robinson’s record-breaking time of 21.72 seconds beat the previously set record by .11 seconds. In the 400 Meter Dash, sophomore Austin Rice placed fourth with a time of 47.98 seconds, followed by  juniors Gabriel Albers and Cole Harris in 30th and 31th places respectively, and freshman Brian Walsh in 37th. 

In the 800 meter, sophomore distance Jonathan Kumer, finished fourth with a time of 1:51.61 minutes, followed by fifth-year Stephen Larson in sixth. In the 800-meter, sophomore distance Lucas Thompson finished second for the Tribe with a time of 1:54.04. He was followed by freshman Quinn Green, sophomore Matthias Oettl and junior Owen Lipps in 18th, 19th and 20th places, respectively.

In the 1,500 meter, senior Sam Pritchard finished sixth with a time of 3:48.43. He was followed close behind by freshman Eric Fagan, who finished in 15th place. In the 5,000 meter, junior Nate Jennings placed 12th, fifth-year Jacob Jones placed 19th, sophomore Brendan DiStefano placed 21st, freshman Carson Rackley placed 27th and sophomore Luke Henkel placed 40th.

In the 10,000 meter, freshman distance Wyatt Townsend secured another Tribe top-10 finish in seventh with a  time of 31:00:13. 

In the men’s 110-meter hurdles, freshman Brian Walsh finished first with a time of 15.27 seconds. He was closely followed by Albers in third, who finished with a time of 15.37 seconds. Harris also placed eighth in this event for the Tribe.

In the 400-meter Hurdles, freshman David Seekford  took third place with a time of 53.97 seconds.

For the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Ellwood placed fifth with a time of 9:23.95, followed by sophomore Braedan Gallagher in 14th place. 

In the 4×200-meter relay, the Tribe placed sixth thanks to the team of Walsh, Albers, Harris and senior Ethan Buenviaje, finishing with a time of 1:30.22. In the 4×400-meter relay, the Tribe finished first with a time of 3:15.35. The team, composed of Rice, Kumer, Seekford and Robinson, finished with the third fastest time in program history. 

The Tribe also placed first in the 4×1,500-meter relay with a time of 16:04.68. The team included Thompson, junior Zack Ericksen, Pritchard and Jones.

The Tribe placed fourth in the distance medley with a team of Fagan, Oettl, Lipps and Thompson. 

In the long jump, Buenviaje finished third with a best jump distance of 6.88 meters. In the triple jump, sophomore Josh McCormick placed 11th with a final distance of 12.88 meters. 

Sophomore Jason Nwosu won the shot put, recording an incredible winning distance of 17.67 meters. Nwosu also placed eighth in the discus throw and placed fourth in the hammer throw with a longest distance of 54.90 meters. Also in the regular discus throw, the Tribe secured two more top-15 finishes courtesy of Walsh finishing ninth and Albers finishing in 12th. 

In the javelin throw, senior Chris Arias finished first with a top throw of 64.56 meters, followed by freshman Raiden Lafortune in third and junior Alex Ust in fifth. 

The Green and Gold will look to continue its strong performances April 19 as the team travels to face Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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