The William & Mary men's track & field team picked up right where it left off Saturday, competing at the Patriot Games in Fairfax, Va. The Tribe earned nine IC4A qualifying marks at the meet, and also had four winning performances.
- As has become usual, the throwing crew set the tone for the day early. Junior All-American
KJ Cook (Buena Vista, Va.) won the weight throw with a lifetime-best toss of 18.85m (61-10.25), and sophomore
Troy Yearwood (Chesapeake, Va.) also qualified for the IC4A meet with his throw of 18.05m (59-2.75). Cook's effort was the 16th-longest throw ever at W&M, and improves his position at third all-time among Tribe athletes, while Yearwood vaulted all the way up to eighth in school history among athletes.
- Cook was back at it in the shot put, earning another IC4A mark and finishing second with a put of 16.51m (54-2). His classmate
Connor Scott (Mechanicsville, Va.) was right behind him in third place, qualifying with an indoor-best put of 16.23m (53-3) to improve to ninth in school history.
- In the pole vault, redshirt-sophomore
Michael Fairbanks (Fairfax Station, Va.) made a big improvement over his previous indoor best to win the competition at an IC4A-qualifying height of 5.10m (16-8.75). That was 20 centimeters above Fairbanks' previous best indoors, and is tied for the 13th-best vault in school history. All-time at W&M, Fairbanks now ranks second in the indoor vault.
- W&M got another win and another IC4A qualifier in the 500m, after redshirt-junior
Theo Chambers (McLean, Va.) ran 1:06.22 to cross the line first and re-qualify for the championship meet.
- In the mile, redshirt-junior
JP Trojan (Chardon, Ohio) was the first man across the finish with an IC4A-qualifying time of 4:10.93. Redshirt-sophomore
Patrick Lynch (Vienna, Va.) also punched his ticket for Boston, running 4:16.20 for fourth place.
- The final IC4A mark came in the distance medley relay, as the team of
Evan Goodell (St. Louis, Mich.),
Colin Grip (Acton, Mass.),
Andrew Lagattuta (Glen Rock, N.J.), and
Tyler Lipps (Virginia Beach, Va.) combined to take third in 10:20.29. For Lagattuta and Lipps, it was their first race in a Tribe uniform.
- Other notable performances included in the heptathlon, where true freshman
Daniel Layton (Waynesburg, Pa.) tied for third with 4,371 points. That was tied for the 11th-most points in school history, and ranks Layton fifth all-time among Tribe athletes. During the seven-event conglomeration, Layton won the 1,000m run in 2:50.55, and broke W&M's all-time multi-event record in the 60m hurdles by running 8.77 seconds for third place.
- In the 60m dash, redshirt-junior
Matt Chabala (San Ramon, Calif.) tied his personal-best at 7.23 seconds in the prelims, and then improved to 7.20 seconds for 10th place in the semifinals. That lifted Chabala to sixth all-time among Tribe athletes.
- Redshirt-junior
George Cross (Leesburg, Va.) was just a single centimeter off his collegiate best (indoor or outdoor) in the triple jump, finishing second overall with a leap of 13.71m (44-11.75).
- In the open 60m hurdles, sophomore
Ryan Thomas (Leesburg, Va.) took third overall in both the prelims and the finals. His prelims time of 8.66 seconds was a personal-best by 0.17 seconds, and rocketed Thomas up to eighth all-time at W&M. He also compete in the high jump on Saturday, finishing fifth overall with a jump of 1.91m (6-3.25).
- Rounding out the notables was W&M's 4x400m relay team of
Jack Bunting (Summit, N.J.), Grip,
Chris Short (Toano, Va.), and
Raul Chavez-Gutierrrez (Marshall, Va.). The quartet took third overall on Saturday evening, crossing the finish for the final time in 3:25.50.
William & Mary will be back in action next weekend, heading to Pennsylvania for the Penn State National Open on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
