The William & Mary women's track & field team got 2020 off to a fast start on Saturday, competing at the Patriot Games in Fairfax, Va.  The Tribe earned five ECAc qualifying marks at the meet, and also broke its second freshman record of the young season.

- The record and the first ECAC mark both came in the 400m dash, where freshman Carly Swierbut (Newtown, Conn.) made her individual debut in a blazing time of 57.59 seconds for second place overall.  That qualified the rookie for the ECAC Championships, and broke the Tribe's freshman mark that had stood since 1984.  Swierbut now ranks seventh all-time among W&M athletes.

- In the 500m dash, redshirt-juniors Victoria Gersch (Mercer Island, Wash.) and Susanna Maisto (Silver Spring, Md.) both re-qualified for the ECAC meet, finishing second and third in 1:16.59 and 1:16.76, respectively.  Senior Gabby Runge (Midlothian, Va.) was fourth in 1:18.33, but was already qualified thanks to her efforts in December.

- The Tribe got another qualifying time in the 1,000m run, where junior Taylor D. Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) took second overall in a lifetime-best 2:55.69.

- The final qualifying mark came in the 4x400m relay, where the team of Runge, Gersch, Swierbut, and Maisto combined to run 3:54.25 for the win.  That was also the 12th-fastest single race in school history.

- Other notable performances included in the pole vault, where redshirt-junior Sophie Caplan (Clarksville, Md.) set a lifetime-best for the second meet in a row.  She cleared the bar at 3.41m (11-2.25) for 12th overall, and improved herself to 14th all-time at W&M in the pole vault indoors.

- Senior Alexis Brender a Brandis (Williamsburg, Va.) earned a pair of silver medals on the day in the horizontal jumps.  First, she took second in the long jump at 5.26m (17-3.25), then she came back in the afternoon for another second in the triple jump, jumping 11.21m (36-9.5).  Junior Taylor E. Jones (Fairfax Station, Va.) was fourth in the triple jump, hitting the sand at 11.12m (36-5.75).

- Also with a silver medal was redshirt-freshman Monay James (Chester, Va.), who took second in her first-ever pentathlon with 2,999 points.  Over the course of the five-event gala, James won two component events, the long jump at 5.24m (17-2.25), and the shot put at 10.81m (35-5.75).  Her 2,999 total points ranks James 15th all-time among Tribe athletes.

- In the mile run, senior Deirdre Lewin (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) finished third overall with a lifetime-best performance of 5:05.40.  Her classmate Liv Paxton (Rock Hill, S.C.) was right behind her in fourth place at 5:10.21, another personal-best.

- Junior Jadyn Currie (Virginia Beach, Va.) was fourth in the 60m hurdles at 9.22 seconds, and in the 800m, freshman Hope Stephens (Springfield, Va.) added another fourth in 2:19.52.

- Rounding out the notable performances were a pair of fifth-place showings.  In the 600m dash, redshirt-junior Josie Landis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) took fifth with a lifetime-best race of 1:42.17, while junior Megan Kolbe (Doylestown, Pa.) also ran a lifetime-best and crossed the finish of the 3,000m run in 10:28.53.

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.