W&M's Ashley Williams Earns All-East Honors on Day 1 of ECAC Indoor Championships

Senior Put the Shot 46-11.75 for Fourth Place; Second-Best Indoor Effort Ever for Tribe

03/06/10 8:09PM

BOSTON, MASS - The William and Mary women's track and field team got underway Saturday at the ECAC Indoor Championships, and earned one All-East honor and two all-time top-10 performances on the first day of action. The Tribe currently stands tied for 14th in the team standings with five points, while Connecticut leads with 29.5 points.

Complete Results

Shot Put
Senior Ashley Williams (Williamsburg, Va.) broke her all-time best effort in the shot put, and earned fourth for All-East accolades Saturday with a put of 46-11.75 (14.32 meters). The put moved her to third all-time on the Tribe's top performers list, and stands as the second-best effort ever indoors for the Tribe behind the 47-2.25 (14.38m) put by Ayanna Jones '05 exactly six years ago. Classmate Carly Morse (Sumerduck, Va.) also competed today, putting the shot 44-1.5 (13.45m) for 12th place.

Mile Prelims
Sophomore Heather Beichner (Cary, N.C.) improved her personal-best in the mile to 4:56.32 in the qualifying heats today, but did not advance to tomorrow's finals after placing 14th overall. The time marked an almost two-second improvement for Beichner, who now stands ninth in school history in the event.

5,000m Finals
The College had a pair of seniors in the finals of the 5,000m, with Kayley Byrne (Oak Hill, Va.) timing 17:20.56 for 18th and Sallie Ford (Lynchburg, Va.) crossing the line in 22nd.

1,000m Prelims
Senior Kelly McElroy (Wyomissing, Pa.) just missed on advancing to tomorrow's finals in the 1,000m, only a few thousandths of a second behind the final qualifier in 2:54.22 for 10th place. However, all is not lost yet, as McElory was in thse same position last May and ran the finals of the 800m anyway after a runner ahead of her decided not to compete in the last race. Sophomore Avery Mattingly (Blacksburg, Va.) also ran in the preliminary heats, placing 18th.

The ECAC Championships continue tomorrow, and events include the pole vault where senior Nicole Kazuba (Chantilly, Va.) has placed first or second in each of the past four championships, and the the distance medley relay, which saw W&M break the decade-old school record earlier this season.