2003 Men's Track Outlook

11/30/02

- The William and Mary men’s track and field squad awaits the start of the season with the potential to reach the highest levels of success. Returning several experienced athletes, introducing several accomplished newcomers, and boasting a heritage of triumphs, the Tribe looks to move up in the conference and national rankings.

The team is led by Director of Track and Field Dan Stimson and head coach Andrew Gerard, who have tallied a combined 22 years at W&M, earning six Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year awards and 23 CAA titles. In the 2001-02 season, the Tribe produced four individual conference champions, 16 all-conference honorees, six All-East performers and a second-place team finish at the CAA Championships. With a busy and competitive schedule, the Tribe should have ample opportunity to shine once again.

The distance events, traditionally among the strongest for the squad, contain numerous gifted athletes, including seniors Jacob Frey, West Garrett, Sean Graham, Ed Moran, and sophomore Matt Maline. Graham, the Southeast Region and CAA Cross Country Runner of 2001, competes after redshirting the 2002 seasons. In previous years, he qualified for NCAAs in the 3,000m and ran in the school-record breaking DMR that finished 11th nationally. Maline redshirted the outdoor season last year but broke the 3,000m freshman indoor school record in 2002. He was also selected as the 2001 CAA Cross Country Rookie of the Year after finishing third at CAAs, and competed at NCAAs with the Tribe after individually placing in the top-40 at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet. Moran, a two-time cross country All-American, finished 10th in the 3,000m at the indoor IC4As. Frey returns this season after claiming his first CAA title in the 5,000m and earning All-East honors at the IC4A indoor (5,000m, 5th) and outdoor (10,000m, 5th) championships. Garrett also saw a breakthrough year in 2002, competing at the IC4A championships in all three seasons, finishing fourth in cross country and competing in the 5,000m indoors and the 10,000m outdoors.

Bolstering the front-runners will be a very able line-up of returnees with significant conference and regional level experience. Senior Michael Keeling finished second at CAAs in the 3,000m steeplechase, earning all-conference honors, while junior Adam Otstot finished third in that event. Senior Tyler Kirk ran to a fifth-place finish at CAAs in the 5,000m, with sophomores Jesse Contario and Patrick Comstock close behind, finishing seventh and 10th, respectively. Sophomores Trevor Cable and Jeff Hedley scored at the conference meet in the 1,500m, placing seventh and eighth, respectively. Also look for improvements from junior Brendan Gaffney, an All-CAA (third) honoree in the 10,000m last spring, sophomores Paul Costello, Jon Healey, Charlie Hurt, and Kyle Pawlaczyk and newcomers Sean Anastasia-Murphy, Wes Boone, Billy Bylund, Brian Doherty, Mike Dominguez, Matt Keally and Jason Schoener.

Dropping down in distance, seniors Sean Conway, John O’Connor, Josh Watson and Chris Wilber will likely anchor the middle-distance crew. Wilber redshirted both seasons in 2002, but previously participated as the 400m leg of the record-setting DMR relay, finished fourth in the 800m at CAAs and earned All-East honors in the 4x800 relay as a junior. Conway represented the Tribe well during Wilber’s redshirt seasons, finishing third in the 800m at CAAs after a fifth-place showing at the indoor IC4As in the 1,000m. O’Connor excels at the 1,500m, winning the 2002 CAA title with his bold, front-running style. Senior Josh Watson has also competed numerous times at the IC4A level, most recently qualifying individually in the indoor mile.

Junior Scott Ickes should also be major contributor in the middle distance events. After a solid season in 2002, he looks to jump ahead again this winter and spring. Watch for the following athletes to contribute: junior Tim Oliver, sophomores Chris Healey, Matt Roughton and Bill Tarantino, and freshmen Bill Patchak, Robert Pitts and Matt Wolak.

The Tribe’s sprinters and jumpers are led by the versatile senior Curtis Smith. Smith ran his fastest 400m at CAAs to finish in seventh place and anchored the Tribe’s 4x400m relay on numerous occasions. Fellow senior Phil Agee and newcomer Justin Benabdallah will also be solid sprinters for W&M.

In addition to his sprinting duties, Smith will anchor the horizontal jumps. Smith competed in the triple jump at IC4As both indoors and out, jumping to a 12th-place finish outdoors. He also finished second in that event and fifth in the long jump at CAAs and looks poised to challenge the 50’ barrier in his specialty, the triple jump, this season. Freshman Garrett Spitz will contribute in the high jump after a very solid high school career, while Benabdallah is expected to contribute immediately at the collegiate level, primarily as a long jumper.

Senior Scott Moorhead returns as the top 400m hurdler after his third-place finish at CAAs, while Agee and junior Kyle Wisian return as the top short hurdlers. Agee, an experienced hurdler, is expected to team up with Wisian, who finished 11th in the 110m hurdles and 13th in the 400m hurdles at the CAA Championships. Adding to this crew will be frosh James Hipolit, a 400m hurdling specialist.

Moving to the field events, versatile junior Chris Parsons leads a parade of young, but very effective throwers. A national caliber javelin thrower, Parsons placed first (shot), second (hammer), third (javelin), and fourth (discus) at the 2002 CAA Championships. He finished eighth at both the outdoor and indoor IC4As in the hammer and shot put, respectively, after placing as a frosh in the javelin. Parsons returns as the school record holder in the javelin (223’2”) and a two-time CAA champion (javelin and shot) as a freshman.
W&M will also rely heavily on a quartet of versatile sophomores, Andy Smith, Nick Hecker-Thompson, Matt LaFauci and Aaron Mitchell. Smith returns this season as the defending CAA Champion in the javelin, while Hecker-Thompson and Mitchell will provide solid depth. Hecker-Thompson had three impressive throws at the conference meet, finishing eighth (discus), 10th (shot) and 11th (hammer), while Mitchell finished in second (shot) and seventh (hammer). LaFauci has improved remarkably and should also add depth in the hammer, javelin and discus.

The multi-event/pole vault duo of Agee and junior Aaron Spicer will be enriched by newcomers Nathan Chubb and Noah Gabriel-Landis. Agee took top honors in the decathlon at CAAs, beating the competition by over 1,000 points and capped off the outdoor season with an eighth-place finish at IC4As, earning All-East honors. Spicer was also a major contributor last year in the decathlon, finishing fifth in the conference. Chubb was primarily a vaulter in high school but is learning the other multi-event disciplines, as is the versatile Gabriel-Landis.

All together, the 2003 version of the men’s track and field team should feature more talent, depth and potential than has been available in a number of years and looks to capitalize on that at top level conference, regional and national level meets.