FAIRFAX, VA. – The Dayton women's team and the George Mason men's team are in first place after the first day of the 2022 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Flyers lead the women’s field with 33.5 points while the Patriots are on top with 51 points on the men's side. The two-day event concludes Sunday at the George Mason Fieldhouse.
Rhode Island is in second place on the men’s side with 49 points, just two points shy of George Mason’s lead. VCU currently sits in third place with 24 points, followed by La Salle (16) and Massachusetts (15), and Saint Louis (15) to round out the top six.
The Patriots led day 1 with four first place finishes, led by sophomore Xavier Shirley's a record-breaking long jump of 7.46 meters. Shirley edged former record holder Cordell Livingston's mark of 24'5' / 7.44 meters that was set in 2013. Mason senior Jaylen Simmons launched a throw of 20.29 meters in the weight throw to win gold. Forest Flynn and Decker Barborek placed second and third for Mason in the Pole Vault, both clearing 4.65
Davidson set a new meet record in the Distance Medley Relay with a 9:56.25. The team of Owen Drometer, Cory Gaither, Ben Gordon Sniffen, and Joe Dos Reis broke the previous mark of 9:56.46 set by George Washington in 2018. Rhody's Mason Brubaker won the pole vault with a 4.85 meter vault. Toby Gillen of Saint Louis won 5,000 meters with a time of 14:22.51.
George Mason is in second place in the women’s championship with 32 points, and UMass in third place with 31 points, followed by Richmond (26), VCU (22), Duquesne (20) to round out the top six.
Dayton took the lead behind a first-place finish by Taylor Flight, who registered a 19.07 meters in the weight throw. Taylor Robertson earned a third place finish in the pole vault, clearing 3.80 meters. Lainey Studbaker placed second in the 5,000 meters with a 16:34.53.
Additionally, UD freshman Chante Clinkscale recorded a record-breaking time of 7.40 in the 60 meter preliminaries. Kira Kopec of UMass had the other record-breaking performance Saturday, tallying 3,962 points in the Pentathlon, finishing top three in four of the five events, including winning the shot put, long jump, and 800 meters events. Kopec broke the previous mark of 3,869 that was set by UMass' Bridget Deveau in 2019.
Richmond’s women’s distance medley relay team of Brooke Fazio, Kendra Smither, Kate McAndrew, and Kayla O’Connell had a first place finish with a time of 11:46.37. Kayla Woods took first place in the women’s long jump for the Spiders at 5.92 meters. Davidson's Meghan Burkholder won the pole vault, topping 3.80 meters, as did second place Autumn White of George Mason and Robertson. Eleanor Mancini won the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:21.54.
The championship will resume Sunday with field events starting at 9:00 am and running events beginning at 11:45 am. The championship will be steamed live on ESPN+.