The William & Mary men's track & field team had a strong opening day to the 2021 indoor season on Friday, winning five events in a friendly dual at Navy.  In addition to the Tribe's five wins, W&M also broke a long-standing freshman record and three new entries in the all-time top marks lists.

1,000m Run
In the 1,000m, freshman Josh Lewin (West Chester, Pa.) ran a very strong second overall, and broke the Tribe rookie mark with his time of 2:25.43.  The previous freshman record had stood at 2:28.13 by Mike Brown '98 since 1995.  Lewin's time was also the 15th-fastest single race in school history, and ranks him 10th all-time among Tribe athletes after just one race in his collegiate career.

Pole Vault
The Tribe's first win of the day came in the pole vault, where redshirt-junior Michael Fairbanks (Fairfax Station, Va.) was just two centimeters off his personal-best with a winning vault of 5.18m (17-0).  He went out after three attempts 5.32m (17-5.5), which in addition to being a lifetime-best would also have ranked him top-10 in the NCAA so far this season.  Fairbanks' clearance at 5.18m is the seventh-highest vault ever indoors at W&M.

Throws
As has become customary over the last several years, the Tribe throwing corps swept the wins in the shot put and the weight throw.  First in the shot, senior Connor Scott (Mechanicsville, Va.) won the event with a put of 16.93m (55-6.5), and his classmate KJ Cook (Buena Vista, Va.) was just behind him in 16.79m (55-1) for second.  Sophomore Daniel Layton (Waynesburg, Pa.) was eighth overall, with a personal-best of 11.86m (38-11).  Earlier in the afternoon, it was Cook picking up the victory in the weight throw was a toss of 18.97m (62-3).  Redshirt-junior Jason Wright (Huntington Station, N.Y.) was fifth overall with a throw of 16.64m (54-7.25), and Scott was eighth at 16.04m (52-7.5).

400m Dash
In the 400m, grad student Theo Chambers (McLean, Va.) had yet another great race on the Navy track, winning the event in 50.12 seconds.  Sophomore Jack Bunting (Summit, N.J.) was fifth overall, crossing the finish in 52.62 seconds.

3,000m Run
W&M's fifth win came in the final event of the day, and it was a freshman leading the way as Alex Sawyer (Virginia Beach, Va.) made his collegiate debut with a win in 8:29.11 for the 3,000m.   Redshirt-junior Johnny Rogers (Vienna, Va.) was fourth overall in 8:32.04, while redshirt-freshman Joshua Shackelford (Hayes, Va.) was sixth in 8:41.03.  The Tribe also had sophomore Andrew Lagattuta (Glen Rock, N.J.) take seventh in 8:45.14, just ahead of freshman Sam Pritchard (Springfield, Va.) who was eighth in 8:47.03 and his classmate Harrison Vives (Mendham, N.J.), ninth in 8:47.63.  Redshirt-sophomore Ryan McCracken (Richmond, Va.) rounded out the event in 10th place with a time of 9:06.36.

Long Jump
Freshman Ethan Buenviaje (Chesapeake, Va.) was third in the long jump, hitting the sand at 6.35m (20-10).

60m Hurdles
Before his personal-best in the shot put, the sophomore Layton was fourth overall in the 60m hurdles, clearing the course in 8.53 seconds.

800m Run
Redshirt-junior Colin Grip (Acton, Mass.) was just off his collegiate best in the 800m, taking fifth overall in 1:55.42, while redshirt-sophomore Alex Loukili (Reston, Va.) was sixth overall in 2:01.98.

60m Dash
In the 60m dash, grad student Matt Chabala (San Ramon, Calif.) was just a few hundredths off his lifetime best, and took seventh overall in 7.26 seconds.

William & Mary is back in action next weekend, Feb. 12-13, traveling to Lynchburg, Va., for the Darius Dixon Memorial Meet.