TROY, NY -- After one day of competition at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, the Williams men's track and field team sits at fifth place with 15 points. The spring season has concluded for most members of the team, but the two-day ECAC Division III Championship serves as one more opportunity for certain athletes to attain qualifying times/distances for the NCAA Championships. MIT, the New England Division III team champion, currently leads the competition with 24 points.
The performance of the day for Williams went to senior captain Tomas Kearney, who came up with a huge season-best under tremendous pressure. In what was to be the last meet of his collegiate career, and down to his last attempt in the triple jump, he unleashed a wind-legal leap of 14.66 meters. This was over half a meter better than his previous season-best, and only .03 meters off his career outdoor best. More importantly, the jump moves him to 16th on the list for Division III athletes across the country, inside the group of 20 athletes who will qualify for NCAAs. Barring other athletes eclipsing his mark this same weekend, Kearney has effectively punched his ticket to California. The mark also placed first at the ECAC meet, earning ten points for Williams.
The remaining five points for Williams came from a fourth-place effort by the 4x400 meter relay squad. The team of junior Jabulani Blyden, senior captain Richard Fusco, and freshmen Emmanuel Daring and Eric Schneider clocked a time of 3:16.57, about a second and a half off their mark from last weekend. Their season-best of 3:15.12 is currently tied for 15th nationally, which would make them one of the last two teams that get into the Nationals meet.
Junior Chris Fogler is through day one of two of the decathlon, and currently sits atop the leaderboard for that event at this meet. He will aim for a strong day two to propel him into the top-20 nationally, needing a season best to improve from his current position of 25th. The mark to hit right now is 6193 points, whereas Fogler's season-best is 6067.
Freshman Laye Samoura won his heat in the preliminary round of the 110 meter hurdles, which qualifies him to compete in Friday's final. His time of 15.39 was run into a 1.3 m/s headwind, so Samoura should be ready for a strong showing in the final.
Senior captian Anthony Raduazo ran what was likely his last race as an Eph, finishing tenth in the 5000 meters in 15:07.21. Raduazo caps off an excellent career, which saw him as one of the leaders of the Williams distance squad for several years.
Stay tuned for Day 2 results and updates on NCAA qualifiers.
