William & Mary sophomore KJ Cook (Buena Vista, Va.) earned his first career All-America honor on Friday night at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, finishing 24th overall in the discus to be named Honorable Mention All-America.  Cook threw his best mark of the competition, 51.30m (168-4), in the second round, and becomes the first Tribe men's thrower to be named All-American in an event other than the javelin.

At the Eastern semifinals two weeks ago, Cook threw a pair of lifetime-bests in his three attempts to finish the competition 12th overall at 56.73m (186-1) and advance to the national finals.  He ranks second all-time in school history in the discus both among single performances and among athletes.  Cook is the first W&M thrower to ever advance to the NCAA finals in the discus, and in fact, is the first to advance to the finals outdoors in any event other than the javelin.  This season, Cook was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the CAA Championships after winning both the discus and the hammer throw, setting lifetime-bests in both events, and he also won the college division hammer throw at the Penn relays in late April.  He was the runner-up in the discus at both the Colonial Relays and the IC4A Championships, and also earned All-East honors at the IC4A Championships in the shot put (sixth) and the hammer throw (seventh) as well.  Cook was the first man in school history and Colonial Athletic Association history to qualify for the NCAA Championships in three different events two weeks ago, when he competed in both the hammer throw and the shot put as well as the discus.

W&M Outdoor Throws All-Americans
2012 - Brandon Heroux '12, Javelin, 8th (First-Team All-America)
2015 - Bob Smutsky '16, Javelin, 15th (Second-Team All-America)
2017 - Tucker Rizzi '17, Javelin, 24th (Honorable Mention All-America)
2019 - KJ Cook '21, Discus, 24th (Honorable Mention All-America)

William & Mary's outdoor track & field season is now complete, and for the first time in program history, the Tribe had three men named All-Americans in three different individual events.  Alongside Cook, on Wednesday night senior Ryan McGorty (Fairfax, Va.) and sophomore Miles Owens (Yorktown, Va.) were also named Honorable Mention All-America, in the 1,500m and the 800m, respectively.