By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
After the greatest accomplishment of his pole vaulting career,
Michael Fairbanks could have kept going. Instead, he chose to call it a day. Who could blame him?
He had already clinched first place in the Navy Spring Invitational, qualified for the East Regionals, set a personal record, and broke the facility record. Then he cleared 5.43 meters, otherwise known as 17 feet, 9.75 inches.
The William & Mary school record, previously held by Derek O'Connell '16, was the gravy.
"After that, I was done," Fairbanks said. "I was tired and there were a lot of emotions. That was the bar I had wanted for a long time.
"When you're a vaulter, you always end on a miss. It felt good to end on a make. A wave of emotions. It was crazy."
Fairbank's record-setting vault ranks 12th nationally this outdoor season and second in the East Region.
"Technical events can be fickle, but you'll get days when it really comes together," said
Alex Heacock, W&M's director of track and field. "That was certainly one of them.
"You know, 17-9 is high on paper. Then you actually see a bar set that high, and it's really incredible."
Proud owner of a new school record, Fairbanks now has other goals in mind.
"Number one is to qualify for nationals," said Fairbanks, a redshirt junior. "You've got to go to the prelim meet and get top 12. That should be like 5.25 (17-2.75).
"The next logical bar would be 5.50, which is 18 feet. If we can get good conditions one day, that would be something we'd be looking to do."
W&M will host the Colonial Relays this weekend. Fairbanks is hoping to break the meet record of 5.15 (16-10.75) and the facility record of 5.35 (17-6.5)
Tribe women also shine at Navy
On the women's side, William & Mary got first-place finishes by
Taylor D. Jones in the 800-meter run (2:12.36) and
Lauren Finikiotis in the 1,500 (4:34.45) and an outstanding performance by the 4x400 relay team of
Amaya Johnson,
Grace Bir,
Carly Swierbut, and Mary Gregory.
The relay time of 3:48.42 was more than four seconds ahead of runner-up Loyola of Maryland. The Tribe's "B" team of
Gabby Runge,
Makenzie Joiner, Jones, and
Josie Landis finished third at 3:54.15.
"One of the things we're really excited about is our depth in the 4-by-400," Heacock said. "We probably have about six women who can run really good quarter miles for us. That's really helpful when putting a relay together — especially looking at a conference meet."
Around the horn …
Ashley Drum and
Lily Saunders scored within 3 ½ minutes of each other in the second quarter, and W&M's field hockey team held on for a 2-1 win over Drexel Thursday. It was W&M's sixth consecutive win at Busch Field dating back the fall of 2019. …
Brenden Volk and
George Davis sealed the doubles point with a 7-3 tiebreaker at No. 1, and men's tennis defeated James Madison 4-3 for its third consecutive win. …
Tribe baseball went 0-3 against VCU over the weekend, but
Jack Cone and
Ben Williamson each had an outstanding series at the plate. Cone went 9-for-15 with five RBI while Williamson was 7-for-13 with three runs. …
A bright spot in a 5-2 loss at Virginia Tech in women's tennis was
Mila Saric's 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 1. Saric is 4-2 at the top spot this season. Also winning for the Tribe was
Alisia Manolescu, who rallied at No. 5 with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win.
