W&M Invite Results

W&M swept the throwing events with a pair of two-event champions.  Sophomore Rochelle Evans(Christiansburg, Va.) won the hammer throw on Friday afternoon with a lifetime-best toss of 42.74m (140-3), improving to 11th all-time in school history, and followed up Saturday with a win in the shot put.  She put the shot 13.70m (44-11.5) to qualify for the ECAC Championships.  Classmate Katie Johnston (Haddonfield, N.J.) won both her signature event, the javelin, at 40.12m (131-7), and also edged out Evans in the discus with a collegiate-best 38.50m (126-4).  Johnson now ranks 16th in school history with the discus.

The Tribe got a fifth victory in the field events thanks to freshman Susannah Philbrick (Salem, Ore.), who won the triple jump with a mark of 11.02m (36-2).  Philbrick now ranks 13th all-time at W&M outdoors in the event.  On the track, wins came from senior Olivia Harding (Roanoke, Va.) in the 800m with a time of 2:19.68, as well as juniorBrittany Biagi (Mullica Hill, N.J.), who ran 1:05.51 to take the 400m hurdles.  Rounding out the winners was sophomore Meghan McGovern (North Wales, Pa.), leading a Tribe sweep of the top three spots in the 1,500m with a time of 4:32.87 in her debut at the event. More

As it has been all year long, the strength of the Tribe field eventers led the way.  In the pole vault, redshirt-freshmanDerek O'Connell (Virginia Beach, Va.) took gold at a height of 4.90m (16-0.75), his fifth meet over 16 feet in the past two months, and took three solid looks at a school-record 5.10m (16-8.75).  O'Connell qualified himself for the IC4A Championships and his height was tied for the eighth-best single performance ever at W&M, while he now ranks tied for fourth all-time among athletes.  Freshman Lucas Wratschko (Fairfax, Va.) was third overall, clearing the bar at 4.65m (15-3) to rank 13th in school history.  Also in the jumps, redshirt-freshman Dominic Burkett(Chesapeake, Va.) won the long jump, his first of two victories on the day, with a leap of 6.60m (21-8).

In the throws, sophomores ruled the roost.  Taylor Frenia (Virginia Beach, Va.) was a double-winner, taking both the shot put and the discus.  His put of 16.15m (53-0) qualifies him for the IC4A Championships, and his best throw in the discus went 46.13m (151-4).  Classmate Bob Smutsky (Dillsburg, Pa.) also qualified for the IC4A Championships, in his signature event of the javelin.  The Team USA veteran and 2013 U.S. Junior Champ opened up the spring with a throw of 64.38m (211-3) to take the victory, and second-place went to freshmanTucker Rizzi (Westport, Conn.) with a lifetime-best throw of 54.58m (179-1).  After just one meet, Rizzi ranks 10th all-time in school history. More