(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

The William and Mary men's track and field won four events Saturday at the Patriot Games, in addition to four IC4A qualifiers as the season reached the half-way point.  The Tribe scored 120 points to finish second out of nine Division I teams, behind only host George Mason (211).

Complete Results

As he has all year long, sophomore strongman Taylor Frenia (Virginia Beach, Va.) set the tone from the throwing circle, winning both the shot put and the weight throw.  First, in the weight, he threw a lifetime-best 17.43m (57-2.25) to eclipse the IC4A barrier and improve to fifth all-time at W&M.  His throw was the 10th-best ever for the Tribe, and makes Frenia the only man in school history to surpass 57 feet in both the shot and the weight.  Later in the afternoon, he won the shot with an IC4A-qualifying put of 16.99m (55-9), the fifth-best effort all-time.  Also in the throwing events, redshirt-sophomore Brian Waterfield (Chesapeake, Va.) also qualified for the IC4A Championships in the weight throw with a lifetime-best toss of 17.36m (56-11.5).  The 14th-best throw ever at W&M, it improved Waterfield up to sixth all-time among athletes.  In the shot, he was third overall with a put of 15.68m (51-5.5).

Victory also went to freshman Trevor Sleight (Asheville, N.C.), winner in the 3,000m with a time of 8:38.83.  Classmate Faris Sakallah (Chantilly, Va.) was second in 8:41.95.  The DMR provided the fourth win of the day, with the team of Kurtis Steck (Williamsburg, Va.), Ricky Cappetta (Stafford, Va.), David Gunnerson (Yorktown, Va.), and Ian MacFawn (LaVale, Md.) combining to run 10:35.23.  In the mile, sophomore David Barney (Lynchburg, Va.) qualified for IC4As in his second event of the year, running 4:17.52 for fifth place overall and eight team points.

Other notable perfomances included in the 60m dash, where Bob Smutsky (Dillsburg, Pa.) ran two of the eight fastest races ever.  In the prelims, he ran 7.16 seconds, tied for the third-fastest time in school history, and placed fifth in the finals at 7.17 seconds, the eighth-fastest race all-time.  In the pole vault, freshman Lucas Wratschko () finished second overall at a height of 4.45m (14-7.25), and redshirt-junior Mark Moran (McLean, Va.) took fifth in the 800m, running 1:57.44.  Cappetta scored six points in the 1,000m with his sixth-place 2:33.52, and freshman Troy Sevachko (Centreville, Va.) added five more points in the 500m with his eighth-place 1:06.75.  The Tribe's 4x400m rounded out the top scorers, with the team of Jomar Aryee (Hillside, N.J.), Matt Pittard (Lynchburg, Va.), Sevachko, and Michael Wilkens (Woodbury, N.Y.) scoring five points with their 10th-place time of 3:29.24.

William and Mary returns to action next weekend at CNU, competing in the Vince Brown Invitational.  Events begin Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Freeman Center in Newport News.

2014 Patriot Games
1. George Mason 211
2. William and Mary 120
3. Howard 111
4. VCU 59
5. UMBC 56
6. Mount St. Mary's 49
7. American 30
8. Coppin State 15
9. Hampton 3