NCAA Regional
May 26-27
In the 800m, sophomore David Groff (Centreville, Va.) was the top Green and Gold finisher, crossing the line 18th overall in 1:51.15. Junior Matt Warco (McMurray, Pa.) was 21st in 1:51.94, and sophomore Ryan Jones (Harrisburg, Pa.) crossed in 1:53.85. Senior Keith Bechtol (Alexandria, Va.) held the lead in the 5,000m race for a little under two laps in the evening’s nightcap, but finished out of the top-12 in 14:34.21. He is still a strong candidate to receive a bid to the NCAA Championships, however, as his provisionally-qualifying 10,000m time of 28:55.57 ranks 19th nationally among all collegians. Junior Ian Fitzgerald (Glenshaw, Pa.) also toughed out an exceptionally warm Florida evening to finish in 14:50.96. story continued full results

Video of the CAA Championships

Interview with ECAC Champion Bonnie Meekins

Q. What attracted you to the heptathlon?
A. Well, I did most of the events already in high school and was recruited knowing I was going to be a multi-eventer. Doing just one or two events just isn't satisfying enough....so why not 7?

Q. What and why are your most and least favorite events?
A. I was mostly a high and long jumper in HS, so they have been one of my strongest and favorite events. I also enjoy the hurdles and javelin. Why??....because they are fun. My least favorites are the 200 and shot put (because they are my weak events). And as far as the 800 goes...I hate doing it, but unfortunately it's a strong event for me.

more from the interview

IC4A/ECAC Championships

Bonnie Meekins led W&M to a 14th place finish at the ECAC champtionships with her heptathlon victory and school record bringing the title to the Tribe for the second consecutive year. Also pacing the team were Emily Gousen who finished 2nd in the 5K and Lynn Morelli who also garnered an All-East title...results

Meanwhile the men finished 8th in the companion IC4A meet with the 4x800 team (see above finish line photo) pacing the way with their dramatic .09 victory over Columbia. Freshman Kiernan Lofland cracked the 16-foot barrier for the first time in the pole vault competition, clearing the bar at 16’ 0.75” to break Dave Lipinski’s outdoor freshman record of 16’, set back in 1975. The distance corps showed their strength with five all-East titles paced by Senior Keith Bechtol who set a life-time best in the 5,000m run, running 14:08.76 for third place. Also earning All-East honors in the 5,000m was junior Ian Fitzgerald, who took fifth in 14:13.12. Junior Anthony Arena placed third in the 3,000m steeplechase, running an NCAA-qualifying 9:02.54. Senior Joel Parker also qualified for the NCAA Regional, running 9:05.31 to place sixth and earn his first All-East honor on the track. Junior Dave Mock finished the 10,000m run in 31:21.99, good for eighth place...results

Ian Fitzgerard Blog

To be honest this is my first blog ever and Ken Halla has asked me to talk about my upcoming 5k at regionals. Very recently I ran 13:57 at Stanford and have a possible chance of qualifying for nationals. I will be the first to say that my race at Stanford wasn't the greatest and I missed a few decisions which probably cost me a few seconds. That race is in the past and now I turn my attention to the IC4A meet, which should be an excellent stepping stone to the regional meet. more from Ian

Tribe Track Competes at Duke Twilight
William and Mary’s men’s track team competed last night at the Duke Twilight Invitational, a last-chance qualifying meet for the IC4A Championships. ... more... Tom Mulcahy Qualifies for IC4A with Fourth-Best Discus Throw Ever - William and Mary’s men’s track team had a fiesta on Cinco de Mayo at the Mason Last Chance Invitational, turning in a pair of IC4A-qualifications and three all-time top-10 performances in one of the last meets before the championship season kicks off...more. Rebecca Ward Qualifies for ECAC 1500 at Duke William and Mary’s women’s track team earned two bids to the ECAC Championships last night at the Duke Twilight Invitational. ... more. Abby Lemon Qualifies for ECAC Championships -William and Mary’s women’s track team pursued qualifying marks for next weekend’s ECAC Championships at the Mason Last Chance Invitational on Saturday, notching one such performance and also turning an all-time top-10 performance. ...
more...

Team Updates

Okay. We are going to use this spot to have periodic team updates, videos of races, interviews, links to articles, etc. So let's start with Ed Moran (03). When Ed graduated he had barely broken 14 for 5K, a notable accomplishment, but lately he has really been on fire. In the last three weeks he has run 13:20 for 5K and 27:43 for 10K (which is the 17th best performance ever for an American). No one in W&M history has ever gone faster - even 11 time All-America Matt Lane. There are several links you can click on. To see him run the 5K click here .
and to see him run th entire 10K click here

There is even a Runner's World interview with him which you can get by clicking here.

Now how about the team. The men's cross country team was named by the Flat Hat as the W&M team of the year.

There are a few great sites that some of you might want to visit. www.flocasts.com has video from a number of races and from start to finish. www.letsrun.com has a link to virtually every running article and website out there. Finally if you want to see Kenyan marathoners up close and personal, go to www.chasingkimbia.com . The company was started by one of my former Boston training partners and actually has videos of kids running to school (yes they still are doing that), shows their schools, goes into their homes, and generally shows that Kenyans are good because they train so very hard.

Ian Fitzgerald just ran 13:57 for a NCAA regional qualification. This is in addition to the NCAA qualifying performance turned in by Keith Bechtol of 28:55. Keith has also been accepted into a PhD program at Stanford where he will be moving in the fall.

Coach Newberry just ran 34:29 and barely missed the Olympic trials standard. Go here to see a Runner's World interview with Kathy.

Also Ali Mann (00) ran 4:24 for the 15oo meters.

The men's 4x800 ran 7:32 at Penn and won the college division. Also at Penn, Anthony Arena ran 8:57 in the steeplechase making him the 6th fastest in school history.
Meghan Bishop ran 16:45 to qualify for the regional meet