The William and Mary men's track and field team picked up three IC4A qualifications Saturday at the CNU Captains Invitational, defeating Hampton in a dual meet in the process 60-48.  All three of the Tribe's IC4A qualifiers came in the field events, including breaking the facility record in the pole vault with one of the top-50 performances in the country this season.

Complete Results

In the pole vault, redshirt-freshman Derek O'Connell (Virginia Beach, Va.) kept the crowd entertained far past closing time, jumping at five bars beyond the rest of the field before calling quit at 5.07 meters (16-7.5).  That performance was notable for a number of reasons, namely that it was the second-best vault ever at W&M either indoors or outdoors, behind only Dave Lipinski's '78 16-8.5 that won the IC4A indoor title in 1977.  It also broke the Freeman Center record that had stood since 2000 (5.0m), and qualified O'Connell for the IC4A Championships for the first time.  He currently ranks in the top-50 in the country in the event.  Also in the pole vault, freshman Alex Hedrick (Falls Church, Va.) was second with a lifetime-best 4.50m (14-9), and sophomore Greg Gallagher (New Elmsford, N.Y.) took third in 4.40m (14-5.25).  Freshman Michael Wilkens (Woodbury, N.Y.) tried the event for the first time, taking fifth at a height of 4.25m (13-11.25).

In the shot put, sophomore Taylor Frenia (Virginia Beach, Va.) continued his hit parade with a winning put of 17.12m (56-2), the third-best effort all-time indoors and his second effort over 17 meters in the past week.  Redshirt-sophomore Brian Waterfield (Chesapeake, Va.) picked up his first IC4A qualifier of the year by taking second in the event, with a lifetime-best indoor put of 16.15m (53-0).  Waterfield improved to seventh all-time in school history indoors with the performance.

On the track, the Tribe picked up a pair of victories.  In the 400m, freshman Troy Sevachko (Centreville, Va.) improved three-quarters of a second from his opening effort last week to win in 51.43 seconds.  He also came back later in the meet to take third in the 600m in 1:25.19.  In the 3,000m run, Jacob Sears (Cary, N.C.) won the race in 8:42.17.

William and Mary is back in action next weekend, competing Friday and Saturday at the Patriot Games in Fairfax, Va.