(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

The William and Mary men's track and field team began competition Thursday at the NCAA East Prelims in Greensboro, N.C., with athletes competing in three events.  The Tribe is vying for top-12 finishes in each event, which would earn a trip to the NCAA Finals June 5-8 at the University of Oregon.

Complete Results

The toughest performance of the day for W&M belonged to senior Josh Hardin (Sterling, Va.), who was just six seconds shy of advancing in the 10,000m.  Hardin ran 30:07.24 in the rain, finishing in 14th and just two spots out of qualifying.  The strong performance brought to a close the senior's spring, which was highlighted by achieving the distance-double at the CAA Championships, where he won both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles.

Also competing earlier in the day was senior John Muller (LaGrangeville, N.Y.), who ran 3:54.54 for 42nd in the 1,500m in his NCAA debut.  Muller earned runner-up honors in the 1,500m at the CAA Championships each of the past two years.  Freshman Austin Vegas (Kernersville, N.C.) tied for 38th in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 4.75m (15-7).  Vegas, the CAA champion in the vault, qualified for the NCAA meet by breaking the Tribe's freshman record two weeks ago with a 5.01m (16-5.25) at the Virginia Challenge.

W&M still has four athletes left to compete over the next two days, in the 3,000m steeplechase (Friday), the javelin (Saturday), and the 5,000m run (also Saturday).