One of the oldest school records on the books went by the wayside on Saturday, as the William and Mary men's track and field team competed at a pair of meets around the state. A select few competed at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, with the majority of the squad at the New Captains Classic in Newport News.
Virginia ResultsCNU ResultsThe UVA crew came up trumps, with four school-record throws as well as two likely NCAA qualifiers and another bid to the USAT&F Junior Championships. Junior
Taylor Frenia (Virginia Beach, Va.) broke the school record in the shot put on his very first put, 16.99m (55-9) in the afternoon to take the first-round lead in the competition. That eclipsed the record of 55-7 that had stood since Hall of Famer
Drexell George '78 set it at the 1976 State Championships, coincidentally also a meet that was held in Charlottesville. Frenia's second throw was just two centimeters back, and he broke his own record with a 17.08m (56-0.5) put in the third round. The finals round began with a put just a shade over 55 feet, and then on the fifth throw, Frenia jumped back up to scond place with a huge put of 17.55m (57-7), matching the all-time Tribe mark set by George indoors in 1977. Then came the sixth and final round, where Frenia wound up and uncorked a put that sailed 17.66m (57-11.25), tying the best mark in the meet, and giving the junior the win on the basis of the second-throw tiebreak (second-best effort among tied athletes wins). In addition to being Frenia's first school-record performance, it also qualified him easily for the IC4A Championships and is above what it took to make the NCAA Semifinals last spring.
Also in Charlottesville, redshirt-sophomore
Bob Smutsky (Dillsburg, Pa.) most likely re-qualified himself to the NCAA Prelims in the javelin, taking fifth overall at 66.70m (218-10). In addition to being an IC4A qualifier and a season-best for W&M, the throw is also better than what it took to advance to the national championships in 2014. Earlier in the day, freshman
Mac Haight (Vienna, Va.) ran 14:36.42 to win the unseeded 5,000m, a collegiate-best by more than 28 seconds and fast enough to qualify him for the USAT&F Junior Championships. Sophomore
Faris Sakallah (Chantilly, Va.) was also fifth in the 5,000m, running 14:48.91. In the 1,500m, freshman
Dawson Connell (Yorktown, Va.) ran a personal-best by 5.5 sconds, taking sixth overall in 3:55.24.
Two and-a-half hours eastward on I-64, the Tribe also earned several top performances at CNU and the New Captains Classic. Freshman
Davion Hutt (King George, Va.) ran 10.86 to take second in the 100m dash, then came back with a personal-best 21.89 for fifth in the 200m. That was the 13th-fastest race in school history, and improves Hutt to seventh all-time among Tribe athletes. Sophomore
Troy Sevachko (Centreville, Va.) etched his name in the record books as well, ran a collegiate-best 49.84 to win the 400m dash. That time was the fastest for W&M since 2005, and ranks Sevachko 15th all-time in school history.
The Tribe took two more gold medals on the day in addition to the quarter, with redshirt-sophomore
Paul Gates (Fairfax, Va.) winning the 3,000m in 9:15.63 after a long lay-off due to injury. In the pole vault, it was a Green and Gold sweep led by sophomore
Alex Hedrick (Falls Church, Va.), who tied his personal-best at 4.50m (14-9) to win. Redshirt-sophomore
Greg Gallagher (Elmsford, N.Y.) was second at 4.25m (13-11.25), and sophomore
Michael Wilkens (Woodbury, N.Y.) was third over the bar at 4.10m (13-5.25). Both relays took silver, with the 4x100m of
Dominic Burkett (Chesapeake, Va.),
Kent Grisamer (Mansfield, Conn.),
Matt Nelli (Richmond, Va.), and Hutt timing 43.21 seconds. The 4x400m team ran 3:27.50, combining the talents of
Ryan Thomas (Fairfield, Conn.), Grisamer, Wilkens, and
Matt Pittard (Lynchburg, Va.).
William and Mary returns to action next weekend, competing at the world-famous Penn Relays Thursday-Saturday, April 23-25.
