(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

The William and Mary men's track and field team won four titles Friday to open the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, scoring more than double its competitors in the hunt for the conference trophy.  The Tribe leads with 87 points, ahead of UNCW at 43 and Northeastern at 40.

Complete Results

Javelin Throw
The day began in the javelin, where freshman Bob Smutsky (Dillsburg, Pa.) continued the Tribe's dominance of the spear with a winning throw of 66.02 meters (216-7).  The effort was more than 10 feet past his previous best, and ranks him fourth all-time at the College.  Smutsky ran his ranking up to 26th in the East region, all but guaranteeing his spot at the NCAA semifinals.  A Tribe athlete has now won 12 of the past 14 CAA titles in the javelin.

W&M also picked up eight more points in the event, thanks to the efforts of Brian Waterfield (Chesapeake, Va.) and Jackson Stone (Hingham, Mass.).  Waterfield was third overall to earn All-CAA honors, and threw a personal-best 50.38m (165-3) to improve to 14th in school history.  Stone improved more than 18 inches to 47.48m (155-9), and took fifth in his first event of 11 this weekend.

5,000m Run
Senior Josh Hardin (Sterling, Va.) pulled off the incredibly rare feat of sweeping both the 5,000m and 10,000m just 25 minutes apart, winning his first two CAA titles in the process.  First, in the 5,000m, he ran 14:13.80 to set an outdoor lifetime-best and qualify for the IC4A Championships.  Right behind him, senior Alex McGrath (Marlborough, N.H.) ran 14:17.62 for second, and also broke the IC4A barrier.  Freshman Nathan Thomas (Brentwood, Tenn.) was fifth in 14:52.27, and David Waterman (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) added another team point with his sixth-place 15:08.81.  Freshman Jacob Sears (Cary, N.C.), making his W&M debut, ran seventh in 15:14.84, and Nathaniel Hermsmeier (Charlottesville, Va.) was ninth in 15:31.83.  Paul Gates (Fairfax, Va.) rounded out the team in15:47.17.

10,000m Run
Hardin's sweep was completed in the 10,000m, with an IC4A-qualifying 30:17.64.  He is just the second man in conference history to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the same meet, joining Tribe All-American Jon Grey '11 who won both events in 2009, also at Towson.  McGrath was second again, qualifying for the IC4A Championships in 30:20.94, and Rad Gunzenhauser (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made it a podium sweep with his third-place 30:29.65 (also under the IC4A mark).  McGrath has now finish first or second in four of his last five races at the CAA Championships dating back to 2011 (wins in the 2011 10,000m, 2012 5,000m, and seconds in both this year).  Freshman Ryan Gousse (Apopka, Fla.) was sixth for another team point in 31:09.03, just a second behind the IC4A standard, and Joshua Mercado (Citrus Heights, Calif.) was seventh in 31:10.20.

Pole Vault
W&M's fourth conference title of the day came in the pole vault, where freshmen teammates Austin Vegas (Kernersville, N.C.) and Derek O'Connell (Virginia Beach, Va.) went 1-2 in the event at a height of 4.65m (15-3).  Vegas won the title on the basis of fewer attempts, and became the Tribe's first conference champion in the pole vault since the 1970s.  The last conference title of any sort came in 1977 when Dave Lipinski '78 won the Southern Conference indoor meet, and the last outdoor championship came courtesy of Charlie Strode '72 in his senior-year Southern Conference championship.

Hammer Throw
In the hammer, Waterfield came in seeded fourth and held serve with his throw of 50.06m (164-3) to score four more points for the Tribe.  Freshman Taylor Frenia (Virginia Beach, Va.) snuck into the scoring with his sixth-place showing of 49.04m (160-11), a lifetime-best that broke the Tribe's freshman record by six inches.  The old record was set by Tyler Steel '97 when he won his first of four-straight CAA titles in 1994.  Frenia now ranks 11th all-time at W&M.  Also setting a lifetime-best was junior Matt Renn (Annandale, Va.), who improved more than four feet over his previous best to finish ninth at 44.16m (144-10).

Decathlon
At the halfway point of the decathlon, Jackson Stone is in fifth place overall with 1,926 points, and is in line to earn at least two points for the Tribe with his two strongest events still to come on Saturday (discus and javelin).  Through the first five events, he won the shot put at 12.00m (39-4.25) and was fourth in the high jump at 1.63m (5-4.25), finishing fifth in the other three events.  In his attempt at the decathlon, Stone ranks eighth in school history.

800m Run
The Tribe also advanced two runners to tomorrow's finals in the 800m.  Senior Liam Anastasia-Murphy (Gloucester, Mass.) ran 1:55.58 for sixth place overall in the prelims, and freshman Ricky Cappetta (Stafford, Va.) will join him in the finals after timing 1:55.61.  Junior David Gunnerson (Yorktown, Va.) was 10th in 1:57.13, and freshman Keith Holleran (Herndon, Va.) was 15th with a personal-best 2:00.29.

200m Dash
In the prelims of the 200m dash, Smutsky barely missed advancing to finals after he placed ninth in 22.38 seconds (only the top eight move on).

100m Dash
Smutsky was also just behind the cutoff in the 100m dash, finishing 11th in 11.44 seconds.

Long Jump
The Tribe's final competitor of the day was senior Ben Katz (Manakin-Sabot, Va.), who placed eighth in the long jump at 6.72m (22-0.75).

The CAA Championships finish up Saturday, with the finals in 15 events.

2013 CAA Men's Track and Field Championships
1. William and Mary 87
2. UNCW 43
3. Northeastern 40