William and Mary Leads after Day One of CAA Championships

Wilhelm, Massam Win Gold

04/19/08 10:41AM

WILLIAMSBURG - William and Mary swept the distance events Friday night at the Colonial Athletic Association Track and Field Championships to leap out to a 94-50.5 lead over UNC Wilmington after the first day of competition.

Day One Results
Heptathlon Day One
Decathlon Day One

Sophomore Patterson Wilhelm (Lynchburg, Va.) earned his first CAA title and second IC4A-qualifying time of the day in the 5,000m, running 14:27.80 to lead a Tribe sweep of the top five places. By virtue of the victory, Wilhelm also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional. Finishing second was classmate Ben Massam (Chatham, N.J.), with an IC4A-qualifying time of 14:31.96, and senior Dave Mock (Johnstown, Pa.) rounded out the top three in 14:32.12. Sophomore Charlie Swartz (Manassas, Va.) finished fourth in 14:32.42, and senior Ian Fitzgerald (Glenshaw, Pa.) was fifth in 14:39.97. Both Mock and Swartz also qualified for IC4As.

Only 40 minutes after the end of the 5,000m, Massam came back and won the 10,000m in 30:39.80, qualifying for the IC4A Championships in his second event. Senior Jared Campbell (Franklin, Ind.) also qualified for IC4As, taking third in 31:07.04 for all-conference honors. Skeeter Morris (Burkeville, Va.) took fifth in 31:24.08, and Max Werner (Sterling, Va.) was sixth in 31:47.67, qualifying for the USAT&F Junior National Championships.

William and Mary also earned a pair of silver medals, in the throwing events. Junior Alex Heacock (Lititz, Pa.) took second in the javelin with a throw of 189’ 9”, and classmate Cam Shriver (Oxford, Ohio) took eighth in the same event with a career-best throw of 166’ 9”, becoming the 10th-best thrower in school history. In the discus, sophomore Dan Klatzkin (Gaithersburg, Md.) threw 148’ 10” for second place. Senior Tom Mulcahey (Staunton, Va.) was sixth after throwing for 138’ 9”.

In the hammer throw, sophomore Brandon Oliver (Richmond, Va.) threw 156’ 2“ for third place and All-CAA honors. Freshman Zach Jordan (Dublin, Ohio) threw a personal-best 153’ 7” for fifth place, and sophomore Adam Gawne (Lyndonville, N.Y.) was sixth with a personal-record throw of 153’ 5”. Sophomore Alex Ball (Winchester, Va.) threw 150’ 11” and earned two points for the Tribe with his seventh-place finish. In the pole vault, sophomore Kiernan Lofland (Crozier, Va.) finished sixth with a jump of 15’ 1”.

The Tribe also had several athletes qualify to Saturday’s finals in three events. In the 400m hurdles, Chris McIntosh (Owings Mill, Md.) ran 54.28 seconds to advance as the sixth seed, and move up to eighth on the College’s all-time top performers list. In the preliminaries of the 1,500m run, Wilhelm had the day’s top performance, qualifying for the IC4A Championships in 3:51.34. Also advancing from the College is junior Harry Miller (Portland, Ore.), in 3:54.15, and Fitzgerald in 3:54.28.

In the 800m run, freshmen Brian Sklodowski (Newark, Del.) and Sean Sewell (Raleigh, N.C.) ran 1:54.52 and 1:55.50, respectively, to advance to the finals. In the decathlon, sophomore Doug Zimmer (McLean, Va.) stands fourth after five events with 3,355 points. In the decathlon 400m, Zimmer ran 50.64 seconds, ranking 12th on the College’s top-10 list.

The CAA Championships finish Saturday.

CAA Men's Track and Field Championships
1. WILLIAM AND MARY 94
2. UNC Wilmington 50.5
3. Northeastern 41
4. Virginia Commonwealth 36
5. Delaware 31.50
6. George Mason 12
7. Georgia State 8