The William & Mary men's track & field team put on a show Friday at the Navy Select Meet, winning 10 events and earning a total of 15 IC4A qualifiers. The Tribe also broke a pair of school records, both coming courtesy of the legs of redshirt-junior
Theo Chambers (McLean, Va.).
- The first record for Chambers came in the 400m dash, when he ran 48.54 seconds for the win and IC4A qualifier. That broke the W&M record of 48.71 set just last year by
Duncan Goodrich '19, and also broke the converted quarter-mile record (48.5c equivalent), run by
Walter Cooke '74 back in 1972 in a tri-meet against Ohio State and Florida.
- Next up for Chambers was the 200m dash, where finished first in an IC4A-qualifying 21.83 seconds. That broke the record he himself set two weeks ago at Penn State of 21.92 seconds.
- In the 500m, redshirt-sophomore
Colin Grip (Acton, Mass.) ran a personal-best 1:05.47 for the victory and an IC4A qualifier. That improved Grip to 15th all-time among Tribe athletes.
- Redshirt-senior
Chris Short (Toano, Va.) earned the win and another IC4A-qualifier in the 800m, crossing the finish in 1:52.57. Senior
Raul Chavez-Gutierrez (Marshall, Va.) was third in 1:54.26, and redshirt-sophomore
Johnny Rogers (Vienna, Va.) ran 1:55.27 for fifth.
- In the 3,000m run, redshirt-junior
JP Trojan (Chardon, Ohio) ran a personal-best 8:16.65 for the win and IC4A qualifier, and helped two of his teammates also get their qualifying marks. Redshirt-sophomore
Evan Goodell (St. Louis, Mich.) was second in 8:26.22, and junior
Spencer Tsai (Eugene, Ore.) ran a lifetime-best 8:27.56 for third overall.
- The mile run saw senior
Cooper Leslie (Camp Hill, Pa.) take win in an IC4A-qualifying time of 4:13.21. Redshirt-sophomore
Patrick Lynch (Vienna, Va.) was second in a lifetime-best 4:14.79 to also qualify, and freshman
Andrew Lagattuta (Glen Rock, N.J.) ran a personal-best of his own 4:17.51 for fifth overall.
- All three of W&M's shot-putters re-qualified for the IC4A Championships, and finished in a 1-2-3 sweep. Junior All-American
KJ Cook (Buena Vista, Va.) was the winner with a put of 16.83m (55-2.75), with his classmate
Connor Scott (Mechanicsville, Va.) second at 16.74m (54-11.25), and sophomore
Troy Yearwood (Chesapeake, Va.) placing third with a put of 16.48m (54-1).
- Those three also competed in the weight throw. Cook won with a throw of 19.49m (63-11.5), tied for the 11th-longest throw in school history. Yearwood was second with a throw of 18.79m (61-7.75) to also qualify for the IC4A Championships yet again, and Scott took third with a lifetime-best throw of 16.16m (53-0.25). That improved him to 13th all-time among W&M athletes.
- Rounding out the IC4A qualifiers was redshirt-sophomore
Michael Fairbanks (Fairfax, Va.), who won the pole vault with a jump of 5.00m (16-4.75).
- W&M put together a middle-distance team on the 4x400m, just looking to get a bit more speed work in. The Tribe did more than that, however, winning the event in 3:25.44. That line-up included Chavez-Gutierrez, Short, Lagattuta, and
John Cacciatore (Indialantic, Fla.).
- In the 60m hurdles, freshman
Daniel Layton (Waynesburg, Pa.) took third overall in 8.47 seconds, and sophomore
Ryan Thomas (Leesburg, Va.) was fourth with a lifetime-best race of 8.62 seconds. That improved Thomas to eighth in school history among W&M athletes.
- Thomas also came back later in the day in the high jump, placing fifth overall with a jump of 1.90m (6-2.75).
William & Mary closes out the regular season next weekend, competing at the CNU Qualifier on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 29 and March 1, in Newport News, Va.
